Then little children were brought to Jesus for him to place his hands on them and pray for them. But the disciples rebuked those who brought them. Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these” (Matthew 19:13-14).

Yesterday I had the rare treat of being able to spend an entire day by myself wandering through one of the most unique places in North America: The Living Desert nature center in Palm Desert, California. But being a grandfather of seven—six of them under age 8, I soon felt bad that I was not able to have them share this with me. Grandfathering is like that. Most kids were enjoying their time there, but near the end of the day, I overheard a discussion between a mom and dad and their daughter who was complaining about being tired and was clearly bored.

“You’re eleven and can spend hours running around with your friends,” said mom, “and you can’t handle a few hours here?!” “Maybe we better think twice about the vacation we’ve planned for this summer!” said dad. The child muttered something in self-defense. (I felt it was a bit harsh—but then remembered saying some things similar to that when our three boys were kids!)

I was there telling myself that I was enjoying this treat like a kid; but that kid, and a few others I noted, were not enjoying it. As they walked off, I mused about how one would go about motivating kids today to be nature lovers. It’s a tough task—for a number of complicated reasons. Then the biblical account of Jesus rebuking His disciples for trying to shoo off children from “bothering” their Master came to my mind as somehow related to the problem.

To our kids, who, really, is Jesus?

The obvious theological answer to that is that since Jesus is now at the Father’s side and His Spirit is here indwelling believers, Jesus to our children is the same as who Jesus is to the rest of the world today: His body—the church—loving, and caring for each other, their neighbors, the world of lost humanity, and the good earth. To that eleven-year-old girl, Jesus would—if her parents were followers of Him—be personified in them. This is true of all who claim the name of Jesus.

But let me suggest something else here: While Jesus is indeed at His Father’s side, He is also, according to Colossians 1, the One who created all things, presently holds together all things, and who in His death, burial, and resurrection provided redemption for the cosmos, and will one day refresh, restore, reunify, and reconcile all things to God. If our children knew this about Jesus and recognized His hand in the creation in the beginning and continuing now, might they not have a different impression about the regal bighorn sheep, the sun-haloed cactus, the tenacious yucca, and every blooming desert wildflower? By isolating and insulating our kids from the wonders of His creation, are we not in the same boat with Jesus disciples: keeping the children from the Savior who is also our Creator?

That’s some pretty heavy musing, I know!  But think about it—-and feel free to discuss it using the comments feature below.

What may be known about God is plain to [men], because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse (Romans 1:190-20)

I keep returning to this passage because of its huge significance to the meaning of the creation, which in theological circles is known as the “general revelation”—or God’s other book.  This is the “book” that all people can “read” and in which all people with an open mind and heart can detect two important things: Their Creator’s “eternal power” and “divine nature.”  I have written in depth on this in other papers and on other Websites.

One of my continuing “projects” has been to list what it is in the natural world that will show us that God’s awesome power is eternal and that what we take in with our five senses will compel us to worship (the result of grasping that only one who is “divine”—God—could have made all this).  At the end of this post is a partial list of the creation’s attributes that I have collected.

Yesterday a new attribute came to mind: “inspirational patterns and textures.”  This attribute was dramatically revealed on a visit to a  wild desert oasis near Palm Springs, California, where I am visiting my brother and sister-in-law.  I came here to be inspired by what this part of the world reveals in keeping with Romans 1:19-20.

The photos that I have posted here are just a sampling of the inspirational patterns and textures from just one tree: the Californian fan palm.  (Our middle son, Eric, has scars on his chest from runing into the sawtooth edge of a young fan palm when he was a child.)

I will post photos throughout the week that reveal more of the attributes listed below.  [Clicking on a photo will enlarge it.  Then click the back arrow to get back to the full post]

1.   Mysterious light and matter
(which still defy human comprehension)

2.   Seemingly endless time
(no clearly apparentbeginning or end)

3.   Seemingly endless space
(eternality seenin the microcosm and macrocosm)

4.   Astronomical extravagance and magnitude
(“Billions and billions . . .” said Sagan)

5.   Wonderful life
(inexplicable in essence and originand apparent on earth alone)

6.   Fearsome, yet essential, death
(but marvelously linked to life

7.   Profound mystery
(beyond human understanding)

8.   Unfailing orderliness
(out of seeming chaos)

9.   Unfathomable complexity
       (defying human simplification)

10. Awesome power
    (far exceeding our own)

11. Incredibly intelligent design
    (absolutelybeyond human duplication)

12. Virtually endless variety
(biodiversity)

13. Amazing adaptability
(micro-evolution)

14. Overwhelming beauty
      (touching the heart and soul)

15. Unlimited sensory stimulation
(candy for the senses)

16. Unbridgeable gap between people and the other created things
(people alone having the capacityfor creative
thinking, abstract reasoning, and symbolic
language and having innate morality
and the instinct to worship)

 

Be careful to seek out all the commandments of the Lord your God, that you may possess this good land, and leave it as an inheritance for your children after you forever (1 Chr. 28:8). If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever (1 Tim. 5:8 NIV).

In the 1980s, commentators often called the younger generation the “Me Generation” or the “Now Generation.” They saw a disturbing attitude among young people that in essence said, “I want it all, and I want it now.” Considering the greed and materialism the younger generation saw in adults, the cumulative effect of thousands of hours of exposure to “consumer” advertising, the loss of interest in history, the disintegration of the institutions of family and marriage, and the decline of religious values, it is understandable that they would be characterized by self-centeredness.

Contrast that with the attribute of altruism—unselfish concern for the welfare of others. When the Christian values of faith in an eternal God, compassion for others, self-sacrifice, and hope for the future disappear from the general culture, there is little chance that altruism will survive. In fact, most people today would likely have difficulty even defining the term altruism. As the combined Scripture passages above indicate, people of the Word have a responsibility to provide for their children and to leave for them an inheritance of faith and the gift of good land—a creation respected and well-kept.

Christian farmer-philosopher Wendell Berry has written a number of books that underscore the broad meaning of community—community that includes our ancestors, our current family members and neighbors, our animals and land, and our descendants. These words from the book What Are People For? have caused me to consider more carefully the legacy I am leaving:

We do not need to devise a “world of the future”; if we take care of the world of the present, the future will have received full justice from us. A good future is implicit in the soils, forests, grasslands, marshes, deserts, mountains, rivers, lakes, and oceans that we have now; the only valid “futurology” available to us is to take care of those things. We have no need to contrive and dabble at “the future of the human race”; we have the same pressing need that we have always had—to love, care for, and teach our children (p.188).

Berry elaborates on this last line in the book Another Turn Of The Crank:

I know of nothing that so strongly calls into question our ability to care for the world as our present abuses of our own reproductivity. How can we take care of other creatures, all born like ourselves from the world’s miraculous fecundity, if we have forsaken the qualities of culture and character that inform the nurture of children. . . . Whatever the reason, it is a fact that we are now conducting a sort of general warfare against children, who are being aborted or abandoned, abused, drugged, bombed, neglected, poorly raised, poorly fed, poorly taught, and poorly disciplined. Many of them will not only find no worthy work but no work of any kind. All of them will inherit a diminished, diseased, and poisoned world. We will visit upon them not only our sins but our debts. We have set before them thousands of examples—governmental, industrial, and recreational—suggesting that the violent way is the best way. And then we have the hypocrisy to be surprised and troubled when they carry guns and use them (pp.78-79).

This sobers me. As one who believes in Christ, I’d like to think he’s describing only non-Christian people. But I’m afraid I see many of these behaviors and attitudes among those of us who call ourselves followers of Jesus. We’re a long way from being the community that treasures our past, guards our present, and secures our future. While we look for the any-moment return of Christ, we cannot use this expectation to excuse ourselves from the responsibility to leave God’s gift of creation to our children and their children well-kept and as undiminished as possible in its capacity to provide for them what it has provided for us.

[Photos: Lancaster County, Pennsylvania]

Solomon] spoke of trees, from the cedar tree of Lebanon even to the hyssop that springs out of the wall; he spoke also of animals, of birds, of creeping things, and of fish. And men of all nations, from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom, came to hear the wisdom of Solomon
(1 Ki. 4:33-34).

Because I grew up in a Christian home, attended church all my life, and have worked for Christian schools and ministries my entire career, I’ve gone on countless “retreats.” In a military sense, of course, to retreat means to back away from the enemy. This is often done to prevent defeat and capture—with the ultimate aim to strengthen and reequip your own forces so you can once again go on the offensive and hopefully be victorious.

Churches, missions, and ministries sometimes use spiritual retreats for a similar purpose—to provide temporary escape from opposing physical and spiritual forces.  Perhaps taking their cue from withdrawals into the wilderness mentioned in the Bible, some Christian ministries bring their people to attractive and remote natural areas for a retreat. The wisdom of this is evident when we consider what we’re less likely to face in such places:

• Too many voices to attend to
• Too many people to relate to
• An overload of news (information)
• An overabundance of technologies
• Extraneous noise
• The need to talk incessantly
• Constant time pressure

Most of us could benefit from lessening these manmade distractions by going on a “civilization fast.” But while there are some obvious physical benefits from this sort of retreat, this list of negatives relates primarily to the spiritual. When we’re surrounded by the many positive evidences of God’s eternal power and divine nature and are at the same time relieved of these many negatives, our souls have an opportunity to rest and to remain open to the voice and calling of God’s Holy Spirit.  Two of my most profound encounters with the Holy Spirit occurred when I was quiet and alone in the outdoors

While we tend to think of wilderness retreats as being important for adults, we often forget that children need them as well. I would propose, in fact, that children today need these experiences more than ever. When our own children were young, my wife, Marge, was a homemaker, and her activities with the kids were mostly domestic. When the three boys became restless with toys, television, and household tedium, sibling strife frequently broke out. By the weekend, Marge was ready to turn them over to me so she could get out of the house and go somewhere to regain her sanity!

So the boys and I would go fishing, or we would take a trip to the ocean tide pools, the wooded hills, or the desert. “Were the boys okay for you?” she’d sometimes ask when we returned. They always were. Eventually she stopped asking because she came to realize that there is enchantment in the wilderness that can alter the behavior of children. Books have even been written about that kind of magic [see Last Child In the Woods]. Rustic camps and lodges can be an important alternative to comfortable resorts where seemingly endless activities distract from the spiritual benefits of the wilderness. Safe access to wild places offered in these places can help young and old alike to gain knowledge that will increase their sense of wonder in God’s creation.

The solitude and quietness offered there provide opportunities for people to more thoroughly contemplate their Creator’s words in the light of His works. In so doing, they may gain wisdom similar to that attained by King Solomon. When we neglect the chances we have to observe characteristics of God’s eternal power and divine nature that can be discovered in the wild places, we are denying ourselves of knowledge that is critical to our spiritual growth and witness.

Collectively, we buy thousands of books to read about knowing God. What we often miss, however, is the opportunity to enter the wild places that showcase the wonder of God’s handiwork and be once again impressed with aspects of the created world that can only enhance our worship of the One who made it.

The Lord said to Job] “Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place, that it might take the earth by the edges and shake the wicked out of it? The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its features stand out like those of a garment. The wicked are denied their light, and their upraised arm is broken [Job 38:12-15].

I was having coffee with my friend Jack this morning, and he told me about taking a cruise through the Alaskan fjords.  One day he was up early and taking in the awe-inspiring view of mountains beginning to stand out in the early morning sun—like folds of a garment.  While he was taking in the beauty of it all, he overheard a conversation between two men nearby.  One of their comments stunned him:  “What in the world is the value of this land; you could never really do anything with it.”

One would hope that Jack’s inner thought would be common to most of us: “Thank God that mankind can’t do anything with it!”  Sometimes I think we’d all like to see God break a few upraised arms of men.

China's Three Gorges Dam

Every generation seems to have what I call a “pride of the present”: we tend to believe that our thinking is sounder and our worldview more informed than the previous one—perhaps even all previous generations.  This is especially apparent in regard to the natural world—which modern science and technology believes it has virtually mastered.  Because nature has been our easy provider, willing patient, and sometimes cadaver for so long, we have tended to lose respect for it.  And what we no longer respect, we can easily come to abuse.

I feel we modern followers of Christ have also become somewhat blind followers of technology and have adopted the same utilitarian view toward God’s good creation that we see in much of science and industry.  This utilitarian approach, however, is really the child of the humanistic “Enlightenment” and the subsequent Industrial Revolution, not of a true understanding of the theology of nature.

Interestingly, two of the most significant Reformers, John Calvin and Martin Luther, had been quite successful in framing a sound biblical theology of nature in the 16th century that corrected the faulty dualistic theology of the Middle Ages that saw the material world as something low and degraded that needed to be escaped from (a view that goes all the way back to Plato and is also foundational to Eastern religions).  Their followers eventually became the champions of the “Protestant work ethic” that in part led to the Industrial Revolution and the ultimate devaluation of the creation that Calvin and Luther had helped to free from mysticism and dualism.  See the Wikipedia article about it here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protestant_work_ethic

Calvin and Luther both had a high view of the natural world that I think we need to recapture.  I firmly believe we need to trade our pride of the present for humility and an understanding that other generations before us may have had a more biblically sound view of the creation than we do.  I go into depth on that issue in the article “Listening To the Right Voices,” which you can get to by going to the “Articles” button at the top of the page.

To whet your appetite on rethinking how Christians ought to consider the creation, let me drop in a couple quotes on this post that you can also find on this Website under “Creation Quotations”:

From Luther:
“Now if I believe in God’s Son and bear in mind that He became man, all creatures will appear a hundred times more beautiful to me than before.  Then I will properly appreciate the sun, the moon, the stars, trees, apples, pears, as I reflect that he is Lord over and the center of all things.”

From Calvin:

“In every part of the world, in heaven and on earth, he has written and as it were engraven the glory of his power, goodness and eternity…. For all creatures, from the firmament even to the center of the earth, could be witnesses and messengers of his glory to all men, drawing them on to seek him and, having found him, to do him service and honor according to the dignity of a Lord so good, so potent, so wise and everlasting….For the little singing birds sang of God, the animals acclaimed Him, the elements feared and the mountains resounded with Him, the river and springs threw glances toward Him, the grasses and the flowers smiled.”

Because of our generational pride and our loss of sensitivity to the natural world I wonder often if we can ever regain the biblical perspective these influential reformers understood.