Making Peace with the Land

Making Peace with the Land

I have just started reading Making Peace with the Land: God’s Call to reconcile with creation by agriculturalist Fred Bahnson and theologian Norman Wirzba. This is the seventh book in the resources for Reconciliation series.

All I can say at this point is that this is a very profound book, one that I think is essential for all who are interested in a holistic view of faith. Even reading the prologue has turned some of my thinking on its head. And what time to do this than after Pentecost as we enter the season of Ordinary time or as some prefer to call it Kingdom time. Listen to this provokative beginning talking about the first couple of chapters of Genesis.

We are right to believe that God loves you and me. But in these earliest pages of Scripture, we discover that God’s first love is the soil. This is how it has to be, because without healthy soil and the fertility and food it makes possible, there would be not terrestrial life of any kind. God’s love for us- described definitively in John 3:16 as God’s giving of his Son to us- only makes sense in terms of God’s love for the earth that sustains us. God daily cares for us by providing the nurture of food, as well as the the gifts of fiber and timber and energy, all of which find their origin in soil…. Genesis 2:15 is an invitation to know and share in God’s love for the whole creation. (pp16,18).

Over the next week or so I plan to post several articles about how we can steward God’s good earth in creative ways. If you know of examples of creative approaches to stewardship that you think need to be shared I would love to hear from you.

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What I Have Read This Week

With all the work involved in getting our Lenten guide completed you can imagine that you usual reading discipline has been rather curtailed.  Probably the book that has most held my attention this week is Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson an David Oliver Relin.  This is a must read for anyone interested in missions, Pakistan, Islam or just in a good read about other parts of the world.  I have also been working my way through The Essential Agrarian Reader edited by Norman Wirzba.  This is a great collection of essays by such note worthy writers like Wendell Berry who help us explore the relationship between our food community and the land on which we live.  I particularly enjoyed the challenging questions it raises about our faith and its connection to this discussion, like the statement from Wendell Berry

If we believed that the existence of the world is rooted in mystery and in sanctity, then we would have a different economy.  It would still be an economy of use, necessarily, but it would be an economy also of return… this would involve return or propitiation, praise, gratitude, responsibility, good use, good care and the proper regard for the unborn.” p27

I have also been fascinated by some great blog posts that have distracted me a little.  Here are my favourites for the week

Mike Morrell Revisioning Jesus Atonement

Catalystspace on 9 Ideas for the Church in Bad Economic Times

Matt Stone’s wonderful images of Jesus from different cultures

Enjoy