From a weekend home stay with the Barton Creek old order Mennonites, to in-depth class sessions, God and Nature part II was indeed a journey. We discussed how the places and ecosystems we live in have shaped who we are, and even dug into some heavy duty eschatology. By the end of the course, we soon realized that all topics and ideas we covered are intricately connected.
Our Barton Creek home stay was definitely an eye-opening experience for us, just in that there are communities so different from our own. With no electricity, running water, or vehicles, the Barton Creek community strive to live simply and humbly to better serve the Lord. The intention however is not solely to do without modern technology, but is recognition that these technologies can indeed take away from the valuable time spent with our family, community, and the Lord. This truth of technology’s bite-back effect was something we could all relate to. We also had a unique opportunity for an in-depth question and answer time with the community Pastors. Sifting through different views on family, art, marriage, food, stewardship and scripture wasn’t always easy, but proved to be a fruitful time for everyone involved. Students and staff stayed with several families in the community, enjoying authentic home cooked Mennonite meals made right there on their land. After learning some of the Mennonite basics of milking cows, plowing fields, churning butter, and doing laundry, we were ready to head back to Nabitunich for class. What we now had was an amazing model of how communities can work together to achieve simplicity and stewardship.
To segue these experiences into the big picture reality of an industrialized and globalized world, students brought many issues to the table, Landfills, oil, erosion, illegal logging, cruise ships with high resource and energy demands, human/ predator conflicts, loss of coral reefs and mangrove forests, tar sands, invasive species, eutrophication, poverty and poaching were just a few of the complex issues on our minds this week. To top it off, thinking about Bill McKibbin’s “end of nature” theory (that once the atmosphere’s composition is changed, there is no longer any true “nature” unaffected by humans) brought us into what seemed like a hopeless void.
However, hope was not all lost. As we came to the middle of the week, a solid session of Bible passages reminded us of who we are as God’s children and what we’re here to do in God’s creation. Indeed, we are the Adamah, the humans made from the humus and from the very breath of God. We are here to abad and shamar the creation, which is Hebrew for to serve and protect, revealed to us in Genesis 2:15. In the face of so many troubles and so much destruction, what is our faith even for? Are we to stand aside and watch, expecting our souls to one day be free from this dread place? Or, does our faith empower a sense of solidarity with the creation around us and empower us to work towards establishing God’s Kingdom here and now?
To help answer these questions, Steve guided us through the Epistles and Revelation to analyze how our end-times theology influences our theology, influencing our faith, and in turn influencing how we live with each other and with creation in every moment. As we started to see these texts beyond our cultural lenses, a new vision of the New Jerusalem emerged. The end of the week then, concerned how we’re going to prepare for this kingdom, sparking faith into action in our homes and universities.
Our Barton Creek home stay was definitely an eye-opening experience for us, just in that there are communities so different from our own. With no electricity, running water, or vehicles, the Barton Creek community strive to live simply and humbly to better serve the Lord. The intention however is not solely to do without modern technology, but is recognition that these technologies can indeed take away from the valuable time spent with our family, community, and the Lord. This truth of technology’s bite-back effect was something we could all relate to. We also had a unique opportunity for an in-depth question and answer time with the community Pastors. Sifting through different views on family, art, marriage, food, stewardship and scripture wasn’t always easy, but proved to be a fruitful time for everyone involved. Students and staff stayed with several families in the community, enjoying authentic home cooked Mennonite meals made right there on their land. After learning some of the Mennonite basics of milking cows, plowing fields, churning butter, and doing laundry, we were ready to head back to Nabitunich for class. What we now had was an amazing model of how communities can work together to achieve simplicity and stewardship.
To segue these experiences into the big picture reality of an industrialized and globalized world, students brought many issues to the table, Landfills, oil, erosion, illegal logging, cruise ships with high resource and energy demands, human/ predator conflicts, loss of coral reefs and mangrove forests, tar sands, invasive species, eutrophication, poverty and poaching were just a few of the complex issues on our minds this week. To top it off, thinking about Bill McKibbin’s “end of nature” theory (that once the atmosphere’s composition is changed, there is no longer any true “nature” unaffected by humans) brought us into what seemed like a hopeless void.
However, hope was not all lost. As we came to the middle of the week, a solid session of Bible passages reminded us of who we are as God’s children and what we’re here to do in God’s creation. Indeed, we are the Adamah, the humans made from the humus and from the very breath of God. We are here to abad and shamar the creation, which is Hebrew for to serve and protect, revealed to us in Genesis 2:15. In the face of so many troubles and so much destruction, what is our faith even for? Are we to stand aside and watch, expecting our souls to one day be free from this dread place? Or, does our faith empower a sense of solidarity with the creation around us and empower us to work towards establishing God’s Kingdom here and now?
To help answer these questions, Steve guided us through the Epistles and Revelation to analyze how our end-times theology influences our theology, influencing our faith, and in turn influencing how we live with each other and with creation in every moment. As we started to see these texts beyond our cultural lenses, a new vision of the New Jerusalem emerged. The end of the week then, concerned how we’re going to prepare for this kingdom, sparking faith into action in our homes and universities.
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