It has been a good year. It has been a challenging year.
I’ve not posted in awhile, because, in part, I’m working on a long and ambitious blog post. Rather than rush it, I’m working on it when I can and letting my mind and heart stew on it. Perhaps you are like me – I find that writing is a way to figure out what I think around knotty topics. And I guess I think slow!
It has occurred to me that it would be good to write some shorter, briefer posts from time to time between the longer pieces I like to sink my teeth into.
In this short post I want to share one experience I am hoping you find interesting and a quick thought about the presidential election.
First, the experience….
My family and I have just returned from a vacation in Japan. We traveled to Okinawa where my wife Mayumi was born. We also visited the family I lived with in Kasugai (a town on the edge of Nagoya) from 1986 to 1987. To top it all off, we also rented an RV and explored north central Japan, including the Japanese Alps. It was a delight be back in Japan! We even connected with a manager of mine from the days long ago when I worked for a Japanese company.
During our own explorations, we enjoyed a guided tour of a section of the Goshikigahara National Forest that is part of the Mt. Norikura mountain range in central Japan. Our guide was Mr. Matsuzaki (who you see in the above photo) who was remarkably knowledgeable about the geology, natural history, and human history of the diverse woods on this volcanic mountain.
Mr. Matsuzaki became interested in the living things around him when he was a serious bicyclist as a younger man. As part of his training, he would ride his bike up the very steep roads of the mountains of the area. They are so steep that his progress was almost at a walking pace. This gave him a chance to hear the songs of many birds and to notice the many diverse plants. All of this made him want to learn more about the life around him.
What a great reminder that if we slow down and pay attention, we can find beauty, insights, and new passions right around us. You can’t appreciate your neighbor or Creation if you are in a rush.
So how did he develop his deep knowledge? In addition to his own reading and research, he began joining the monthly hikes of a nature walking club that had many seasoned naturalists. And he has continued to participate ini those monthly hikes without fail for 30 years.
What a good reminder that consistent, dedicated focus on a topic can bring great knowledge on any topic.
I encourage you to devote some of your potential for deep learning to God and also to Creation. Immersing ourselves in Creation will lead us to share in the glad, wonder-filled emotion of the Psalmist that we read in Psalm 104:24 – “How many are your works, Lord! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.”
And now even at 74 (yes, 74), Mr. Matsuzaki leads day-long hikes like ours in rough terrain while never ceasing in his efforts to learn more about the natural and human history of the area he loves. He eats healthy foods, is very active, and has purpose beyond himself. No wonder he carries himself with the energy of someone in his fifties.
An inspiration.
And I need to share one more image from our hike. For much of the hike we heard the sound of running water. Here is the stream that sang so wonderfully.
Finally, I usually do not write about politics here (although there are some exceptions). But I cannot write about Creation and the Christian faith-life without making a comment about the U.S. Presidential election.
Christians voted in large numbers for Donald Trump. The faith of many of them has been shaped to believe that Creation is of no significance to God. Creation, they have been taught, is for our pleasure and power now. Our life after death, they are also taught, will be far removed from anything related to God’s earth.
What they have consistently heard is that only human life is of ultimate value to God. They have not questioned that assertion in their own minds nor searched the Bible carefully to see if that is true. So they have failed, for example, to see the deep, complex commonalities between how we treat the unborn and how we treat Creation. Followers of Jesus cannot be selectively pro-life.
However the Trump Administration spoils and mars the works of God’s hands will be, in part, the fruit of many churches teaching an incomplete faith. I dream of a day when the culture and theology of Jesus followers compels them to live out the fruit of the Spirit toward people and Creation in their daily lives, their landscaping, their diets, their economies, and, yes, in their politics. I dream of a whole faith Church.
In the meantime, it is vital that we each do what we can to be good, loving, and fierce shepherds of Creation around us.
As we approach Thanksgiving, I know you will be thankful for God’s love and for God’s Creation. As an expression of that thankfulness, please take a simple step – choose to use ingredients in your Thanksgiving meal that honor God and that support farmers doing right by our neighbors in Creation.
