Coming Alive and Finding God in Nature
June 13, 2021 • Third Sunday after Pentecost
Reading: Psalm 104:1-2, 10-35
Rev. Jeff Wells
[You can view the video recording of this message at Facebook.com/churchofthevillage/videos.]
© iStock Image #1078138346, by SaulHerrera, Used by permission
I love that Psalm! What beautiful, poetic detail! This passage powerfully evokes for us the vast and complex ecological system the author inhabited. This is a song we so much need to hear today! The composer didn’t just study theology and ecology at university. Instead, they speak out of personal observation and experience of the ever-present impact of Divine goodness and love at work in nature. So, praising the Eternal God for their generous provision of all that is needed for all living creatures to thrive, the psalmist cries out, “I will call my God good as long as I live!”
Friends, our creating-evolving God is intimately present in every aspect of the universe and in the life of every atom and every living organism from the smallest to the largest. God is everywhere in what we sometimes call “the natural world.” My appeal today is that we connect intentionally, regularly, and in as many ways possible with this natural world. That’s a bit of an odd way to put it because it can sound like we are not part of “the natural world.” Of course we are – although often we humans act as if we are not. For centuries, we have been doing our best to distance ourselves from nature and then to dominate and destroy the ecological systems we inhabit.
Yet, there is an almost universal desire among human beings to connect with nature. Why is the natural world so powerful for us? – because when we connect to it, we connect to ourselves and we connect to God. This connection is a crucial avenue for us to experience vibrant living. I know this from my own experience. Beyond that, there is widespread scientific and social research to support it.
I recommend to you a wonderful short essay in YES! Magazine. It is titled, “How to make nature part of your everyday life.” And as you can see on the screen, it is presented like a little graphic novel. It is wise and fun. Please check it out. For those online, a link is in the Zoom chat and FB comments. The author asks the question, “How do we keep our connection to an ecological world at the forefront?” Her answer is: “Get outside!”
I was quite shocked to read this week that, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the average American spends 93% of their life indoors (87% inside buildings and another 6% in automobiles). For far too many of us, that leaves only 7% of our entire lives – or one half of one day per week – spent outdoors.
What a sad statistic that is! Getting outside can keep us attuned to our participation in the natural world. Spending time in the open air – in a park, a forest, or by the ocean, can dramatically lower our stress and anxiety levels. Being outside, among the wild things, can help keep us physically and mentally balanced and well.
Even more than that, maintaining a deep and regular connection with nature helps us to live with energy, excitement, and enthusiasm for living. And, as I said, communing with nature connects us directly with God.
For my entire life, and perhaps especially during the past year of the pandemic, the ability to walk, hike, watch and listen to birds, to accompany the life of our new puppy, and other connections with nature have given me so much joy, energy, and enthusiasm for life. This connection to nature and to God has always helped me to flourish, particularly in times of great challenge, anxiety, and sorrow.
How do you connect with nature? Picnics in the park? Hiking through forests? A day at the beach? A lot of people have found refuge in parks during the pandemic – where one could maintain some physical distance from others, but still enjoy being outdoors.
Of course, there are other ways to stay well and sane besides being outdoors. When we were mostly stuck in our abodes this past year, how many of you benefitted from cultivating a plant or two? If you didn’t have a pet already, perhaps like Diane and me, you got a furry friend or a bird or even set up an aquarium.
I can tell you, from personal experience, that you can combine getting a dog with getting outside. In fact, you won’t have a choice.
On the screen, you see my dog Sadie and I enjoying a hike in the woods in early spring this year. Sadie has definitely encouraged me – or should I say forced me – to be outside more. She doesn’t always lower my stress level – like when she steals my shoes – but generally, she is a very calming influence and a joy to interact with.
When it comes to communing with nature, there are justice issues in this part of our common life, just as in every other aspect. While access to nature is pretty widespread, poverty and homelessness surely limit many peoples options. And someone working three jobs in enclosed spaces just to scrape by and provide for a family, may not have the time or energy left to connect with God and themselves through nature. Moreover, a small percentage of the population of the U.S. and other countries has private access to very expensive and very exclusive experiences of nature. Instead of benefiting everyone, nature is turned into a commodity for exploitation.
Fortunately, you don’t need a lot of money to take advantage of the plentiful parks, beaches, biking and hiking paths, and more that abound in and around cities in the U.S. and in much of the world. Part of our justice work as a society has to be to raise wages, reduce working hours, and increase investment in green spaces everywhere so that no one is left behind.
Imagine what a powerful impact it would have if everyone could spend an average of 15 or 20 percent of their time outside, instead of 7 percent. It might help us regain an understanding that we are not above and separate from the natural world. Rather, our very survival is completely intertwined with the survival of millions of species of creatures, along with the health of our oceans, lakes and rivers and the air we breathe. Connecting with nature in a deeper way might finally move us toward an ecological spirituality and can lay the foundation for a new ecological civilization. Perhaps it could even shift us away from a society built on endless consumption and wealth accumulation toward one based on affirming life and assuring the flourishing of all. There is hope. The good news is that progress toward an ecological civilization is already underway. Whole cities have made it a principle of their vision and put aspects of it into practice. China has enshrined it as a goal in their constitution and taken concrete steps to move in that direction. To learn more, use the links below.
In closing this message, I want to talk about trees for a moment, as an illustration of the importance of connecting with nature. I have always appreciated trees – for climbing, for their shade, for fruit, and for what they contribute to the environment – but I never really felt responsible for trees before. Now, I have a house with a lot of trees around it. I have come to not just admire, but to care for them. I have been learning their names. I have come to grasp, at an intimate level, that I inhabit with them the same ecological sub-system. I have learned that decisions I make can affect the trees around me and the ways they live (and die) can directly affect me.
Some of these trees are as old as several generations back in my own family history. So, I have learned to respect them and to assume that they have wisdom and experience to impart. I am still a novice at this, but I am trying to be attentive, to listen, to learn.
Recently, I was considering cutting down a young tree (only six feet tall) that was growing near the house and threatening to obscure the view. When I looked it up in my field guide to trees, I discovered it is a mighty sycamore. It may, one day beyond my lifetime, grow to be 90 feet or more. I remembered that without the trees around us, none of us could survive. Then, I read Wendell Berry's beautiful, powerful poem, “The Sycamore.” I decided my preferred view would have to give way to the need to do my part in caring for the trees, combating climate change, and connecting with the Eternal One.
Beyond that, as a hiker, birder, and lifelong lover of nature, trees have been integral to my life. In my seventh decade on this earth, I am finally learning to befriend the trees. I am learning that to accompany them in this life is a profoundly spiritual experience. If you want to feel fully alive and to grow in yourself an ecological spirituality, get outside!
Copyright © 2021 Jeff Wells
All rights reserved
“Brain Post: How Much Time Does the Average American Spend Outdoors?”, SnowBrains, May 28, 2021
Cambridge English Dictionary. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/vibrancy