The Heavens are Telling

There are many reasons for protecting our environment. Personally, I find ‘future existence of the planet’ to be pretty compelling.

For an organization like ours that focuses on call, there is another reason. Our desire is for people to experience ‘safe and sacred’ places where they might better hear God’s call. We tend to think of that in terms of the kind of temporary community formed on a retreat or a small group experience. But the natural world can also be safe and sacred. Countless times as I have walked beaches, hiked trails, or viewed the night sky, a decision has become clearer. Barbara Brown Taylor says it well:

To lie with my back flat on the fragrant ground is to receive a transfusion of the same power that makes the green blade rise.

Lake Michigan

My parents live along the shores of Lake Michigan. That place, where the (seemingly) infinite vista of water and horizon meet the shore, is the place I have frequently discerned call in some aspect of my life. Many times walking the beach in the warmth of summer, or frozen winter, clarity has come. Sometimes it has been the realization that I needed to set something down; other times the fragile shoot of some new piece of work I need to pick up. Often times I won’t get any particular answer to a question; just a sense of hope in the midst of it.

The Biblical Story

We readers of the Bible should not be surprised. Psalm 19 announces:

The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament proclaims God’s handiwork. Day to day pours forth speech, and night to night declares knowledge.

Later on in the New Testament, Paul is writing to people in Rome. He says,

What can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them. Ever since the creation of the world his eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things that he has made.

God speaks to us through the created world. It is not a verbal thing— most of the time there is no literal voice involved. But day by day, God’s speech is pouring forth.

As we sing our hymns and carols this advent season, we get further reminders that God speaks through creation. The mountains echo back the joyous strain; earth stands hard as iron, water like a stone; the valleys rise in meeting and the hills bow down in greeting. Advent is a time to listen for God’s speech, day by day pouring forth.

Who Knows Where We Will Be Sent

Mary Oliver is one of those whose ears seem to be particularly attuned to God’s speech in creation. Over and over in her poetry she lets us in on something she has heard. In the epilogue of her new book Thirst, she writes:

...grant me, in your mercy, a little more time. Love for the earth and love for you are having such a long conversation in my heart. Who knows what will finally happen or where I will be sent, yet already I have given a great many things away, expecting to be told to pack nothing, except the prayers which, with this thirst, I am slowly learning.

Decisions around what and how much land to conserve are complex, and should not be oversimplified. But I have to say that when I read of a parcel of land being conserved, I am pleased. Not just because it means a protected area of land for hiking and camping; a place that I, or my children or their children may enjoy. But it also represents another place where God is pouring forth speech; a place where many will hear God calling. Who knows where we will be sent?

Books Referenced

Leaving Church, by Barbara Brown Taylor, published by HarperCollins (Available through Faith At Work)

Thirst, by Mary Oliver, published by Beacon Press at w by Doug Wysockey-Johnson

Doug Wysockey-Johnson is the Executive Director of Faith At Work. He, his wife Kathryn, their daughter Isabel Marie, and their son Soren William live in Richmond VT. Read about his call and vision for his journey ahead.