Article written for the local Newspaper in Largs, 8th September 2021.
All four seasons of the year delight us with their beauty, order and rhythm. There is now also a fifth “season”, one which various Christian denominations observe annually from 1st September to 4thOctober. It is called the “Season of Creation.” It is a concerted effort to raise awareness among Christians to pray and act, alone and together, in thanking the Creator for his magnificent gift of creation as well as in acting to heal, protect and enhance it.
However random the material world may sometimes seem, especially in outer space, anyone who observes or studies the natural world marvels at its order. Everything is connected. Everything matters, from the smallest microbe to the greatest galaxy. The Creator has put the hallmark of his own inner order and beauty upon his creation – and above all on its masterpiece, our very selves.
It is well documented that, alas, the disordered behaviour of that self-same masterpiece is fast contributing to the breakdown of the delicate balance of the world’s eco-systems. Greed in particular is high up on the list of culprits for that. Not far behind come apathy and culpable negligence.
But rather than enter into the blame game, maybe the solution is a new type of ecology. For, if everything is connected and matters in the material world, it is even truer to say the same of the inner, spiritual and moral world of the human being.
We might think that telling a lie “does nobody any harm” or that whispering slander won’t hurt the other “who will never know, anyway.” But the plain truth is that these things harm and hurt the very one who does them. They upset their own personal, moral and spiritual ecology. And the more we do such things, the more we poison our hearts and let that poison seep into the community. It was to cleanse out that poison that Jesus Christ gave his life for us on the Cross.
So, let the season of creation focus not only outwards, but also inwards – and, indeed, upwards!