Our Land
7 Mar 2020 by Prof John Williams in: Letters, Thoughts, NewsOur Land... sacred... bountiful... bleeding... frightening yet friend.
By John Williams, Presbytery Co-Chair
Audio Presentation (recorded at Cooma Men's Breakfast 2020)
When we examine our thinking and feeling about Land as central to creation and our place and relationship to it I wonder if it can be characterized by at least five emotions.
Sacred
Bountiful
Bleeding
Given all the feeling and senses we have to our land...how should we live? We see the damage, the pressure of our presence, its central to creation, its sacred, its bountiful, its bleeding, its frightening yet we a learning to love it and see more...Land is both a sacred cow and a milking cow. It can harm us , it can feed us, it can nurture us, it can sustain us. But how as people of faith in Jesus the Christ do we see our calling?
I think we have a new story emerging
I see the big picture – that God is reconciling and restoring all creation. This is the story we can share with whoever will listen.
Creator God blessed the whole creation – which includes us...but not only us...
Creator God acts and speaks
both within and beyond creation....
God cared so deeply for humanity to become flesh and dwell with us.
I am convinced that God cares deeply
for all that God has created and continues to create....
To make these re-connections...
to understand the epilogue in Revelations and the Hymn to Christ in Colossians chapter 1 – requires much work.
To see more clearly God’s concern for the reconciliation and restoration of all creation is a fundamental part of the gospel.
It is not a side show, an add-on extra, but rather the gospel at its core.
Engaging this truth ensures that we do have a story to lead us into the future.
This is my passion –
That in the light of this deep gospel story we will need to re-discover, affirm and live out our new story... we need to develop our story...a story that leads us to understand our place and how might live in the ecosystems of the earth so that the whole of creation might be reconciled and renewed.
We need to pray, listen to God, ponder the scriptures and learn, grow our new story, a new song for the earth.
The hope and assurance that we can have is written in Col 1: 19-20
“For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”
Let’s look at this painting by Arthur Boyd.
[Image of Arthur Boyd]
What is it trying to say about Christ and the Landscape?
Join me on a journey as I pose the question:
Has our focus on the historical Jesus been such that we have neglected the post-resurrection Jesus who is alive and with us?
By not giving spiritual attention to the Christ...the post-resurrection Jesus...the word... the logos...the cosmic Christ....have we missed what is so important in our time....the renewal and healing of the ecology and life support systems of the planet...the on-going work of our loving God and creator?
Well that’s my best effort to tell my story.
...but it is very much a story that is unfinished.
Can we who have grown up in a Christian family where the gospel ended with personal salvation and a cry for social justice possibly grasp a much larger and grander view of Jesus the Christ?
My answer is yes we can!
In that case we can be a people of hope when faced with the huge ecological and climate change issues we face to live in a safe operating place on our planet.
If so we can be assured that the post-resurrection Jesus will be the wind under our wings. And join in the words of Norman Habel and say:
Violet announces Christ in our cosmos, Holding our Earth in all of its pain.
Christ now invites us: join in my mission! Cov'nant with me to heal Earth again.
Can you join the journey?
Amen
John Williams
7 March 2020