Creation, Food & Kingdom Come

This is the second post on the subject of Creation Care, one of the five spheres of a Christian ethic of eating.

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”
Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food.” And it was so. (Genesis 1:29-30)

One of the sticking points for Christians on both sides of the creation care issue is the definition of subdue. Subdue can either mean

train, domesticate, neuter, control, extract value

or

love, care for, nurture, protect, watch over

How you view creation is rooted in what your view of God is. Is God a controlling god, one who subdues you by lassoing you like a wild horse and taming you until you submit to his every command? Or, is God a nurturing god, one who subdues you by loving, caring, watching over and protecting?

The whole tone of Genesis 1 is of a nurturing God. As covered in the previous post, God’s nature is one of a gardener. In Genesis 1 in particular, God is a loving protector. The Spirit subdues the earth by hovering over it like a mother bird cares for her young. God gives the earth to humankind and says subdue it, but we cannot interpret “subdue” the way humankind has distorted it—reigning in, harnessing, and breaking until something is under control. We are called to be like God, and God subdues things through love, nurture and overcoming.

So what does this have to do with food? If we care for creation, we must care about food. Creation is primarily a large garden, available to us for our food, as the passage above elaborates. This is not the way the world operates though.

The world, but particularly in America, subdues creation in a negative way—to break it down and tame it so that every bit of value can be extracted from it. Take this attitude to its logical conclusion, and you end up with large scale material waste, deadly pollution, mountaintop removal mining, concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) and chemically eviscerated soil and waterways.

There is hope though. Through Christ’s kingdom, we are called to no longer conform to the patterns of this world but be transformed. Part of this transformation must be to commit to treat the earth the way God did at creation and continues to do so even now: with love and nurture, until the time comes when there is a new heavens and new earth.

We don’t know when that time will be, but we have time right now. Let’s use it to continue God’s loving protection and care for all creation.

Discussion Questions:

How do you view the call to subdue?

Think about how your daily actions affect creation. Are you contributing to harming the earth or protecting it? Or both?

What are some changes you can make to your daily routine to help nurture and take care of the earth?

The Theology of Gardening

This is the first post on the subject of Creation Care, one of the five spheres of a Christian ethic of eating.

Let’s start at the beginning, or in the beginning, if you prefer.

So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:27)

The LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. (Genesis 2:8-9)

God made us in his image and planted a garden. These two events are not independent of one another. If we are made in the image of God, we are by nature gardeners.

And if we are by nature gardeners, then how we treat the earth is a really big deal.

Gardeners do not pollute the soil, because gardeners do not want polluted food.

Gardeners care for the soil, because gardeners want nutritious food.

Gardeners care about the streams, rivers, rain and waters around them, because gardeners need to cultivate their gardens with care.

Gardeners care about the surrounding land and ecosystem, because gardeners understand that what happens nearby can affect them.

Gardeners care about food, because gardeners invest a lot of time, effort, and worry into their gardens.

So how does this translate into a theology of gardening? It means that we are all called to have a gardener’s perspective on creation. How you treat creation is just as big of responsibility as it is the gardeners or farmers because we all share the same image, the same call. And it should come as no surprise that the way we treat the earth is just as tarnished as his image is in our lives.

Moving further, into a deeper theology of gardening, if we tarnish the earth because of our tarnished images, part of our sanctification is that we learn to take better care of the earth as our image is restored.

Whoever you are, whatever you do: you are called to be like God the gardener. You are called to take better care of the earth.

Discussion Questions:

Have you ever considered that caring for creation is part of God’s nature?

Do you think caring for the earth is a sign of growing in faith (sanctification)?

How can you have a gardener’s perspective in your food buying habits? In your recycling or waste habits?

Talking to Plants

Something a bit different has been happening this year, in our fourth year of gardening.

I’ve started saying good morning to the tomato plants in the morning as I walk to my car, like they’re a pet. Maybe because I am the sole caretaker of the plants now that my wife is running around after our child, but I’ve taken a larger stake in the well being of our garden. So I say hi to the tomato plants.

They are doing quite well actually, I’m proud to say. The first one should be red enough to pick when I get home today.

Relishing the Toil

Is there no greater paradox in our modern American society than the fact that so many can take for granted the abundance of food?

Cursed is the ground because of you;
through painful toil you will eat food from it
all the days of your life.

Yet every day I leave my job, drive home, play around with the family, eat dinner and then go lovingly and excited to water the garden? Where is the curse in that?

It will produce thorns and thistles for you,
and you will eat the plants of the field.

When I garden and bleed or have ankles so riddled with mosquito bites that it looks like a weak case of chicken pox, I welcome it, because I feel so connected with what we often say metaphorically: putting food on the table.

By the sweat of your brow
you will eat your food

Something to get me outside, sweating and dirt under my finger nails and in my shoes? I relish the toil!

until you return to the ground,
since from it you were taken;
for dust you are
and to dust you will return.

What a sobering end, to garden in twilight. My watering of plants is my benediction. I look at the plants, how they grow so slowly, but so quickly (9o days to harvest!), and know that as I welcome the wonderful light of the dawn the ground waits to be cultivated, and I rise relishing the toil.

Staring At Seeds

I planted some basil, cilantro and chrysanthemum on my desk at work. Sitting under the neon lights, I have been watering them each day. Last Friday the basil and cilantro sprouted. I just stared at them, waiting for them to open up and get bigger.

Each day they are a little bigger, I think anyways. It’s hard to tell day by day. I know a few weeks from now I’ll walk in and see a full plant and wonder when did this happen?

I think our spiritual life is like that, for better or worse. Sometimes I wake up and wonder when was the last time I prayed? Other times, I relish the brilliance of my collective spiritual life, how everything is connected and deep.

Seeds are planted in our lives. We must take care of them. The trick of it is that there is no easy five step plan. Ten minute quiet times and random spontaneous prayers don’t get you to that when did this happen moment. Gardening, tilling, and cultivating our spiritual lives—that is what gets us to those deep, connected moments of spiritual growth.

The Mad Farmer: Wendell Berry’s Agrarian Poetic (Part 4)

Part four of my series on Wendell Berry’s Mad Farmer character is now up on Sustainable Traditions. Here’s a good summary of what it’s about from editor Jason Fowler’s intro to the piece:

In this post we are reminded that we are to cultivate an agricultural and communal vision that marries the wisdom from the past with a view towards the distant future. If the result is unorthodox and against the popular opinion of the day- than so be it- we are contrarian as a means to enact a restoration of what has been broken.

If that sounds interesting, head on over and read the article. Also, please keep Jason’s family in prayer over the next few days. Something pretty significant is happening in their family’s life.