A Pastor’s Thoughts: Learning from Nature

One of the joys that many of us remember from childhood is being outside in nature; riding a bike down the street, running home quickly in the rain, going hiking in a state park, playing by a creek, or simply playing outside with friends until it was dark. As adults, many of us still enjoy the beauty of creation; we listen for the birdsongs, we feel the cool of a summer breeze, we notice nature in our backyards. 

This coming Sunday, July 16, many churches will share a common lectionary reading from Matthew 16, Jesus’ parable of the Sower. Here Jesus uses common insights about how seeds grow or not and relates them to the Christian life. 

Nature: Our First Way of Knowing God is a new study resource  developed by Wesley Seminary: “Long before there were synagogues, churches or even the Bible, God made God’s self known through the creation. The Scriptures are packed full of examples of people coming to understand God through the fig tree, the sparrow, violent storms, and of course Living Waters.”  

Today, many of us have “moved inside” and spend far less time in nature. Yet, deep within us, we still have an understanding that we depend on God’s gift of creation to help us live and thrive. We also have a deep uneasiness that we are hurting this planet we call home.

This seven-week study is an opportunity to reconnect with nature and with our Creator, and to reflect on how we can better live in harmony with the God’s earth. A small group will be starting the week of July 16; look for details at www.owegofpuc.org.

I saw a recent cartoon with a child holding a seashell with the parent saying, “If you hold it to your ear, you can hear the earth crying out for mercy.” 

Sadly the news reminds us that creation is truly in trouble. On June 7, the Owego Air Quality Index was reported by federal and state agencies “AirNow” website / app to be 444 (201-300 is rated “Very Unhealthy” and 301-500 is “Hazardous”) from the Canadian wildfires. We are not alone.  

“The world is hotter than it’s been in thousands of years, and it’s as if all the alarm bells on Earth were ringing.” (Washington Post, July 12.)  

Just listen to the news or listen to relatives who live in other places; pay attention to the warning signs in the severe flooding in Vermont, the scorching heat in the South, in the rising ocean temperatures that are killing sea life, and throughout our world.

Nature is trying to teach us; we all need to learn more quickly and act quickly to counter climate change as individuals, churches, communities, a state, the nation and the world so coming generations can enjoy God’s wonderful world.

Bruce Gillette is the Parish Associate Pastor (new title) at the First Presbyterian Union Church in Owego, and Moderator of the Presbyterians for Earth Care https://presbyearthcare.org.