earth day

earth day
Originally uploaded by ericblauer.

Jesus-followers should renounce unbiblical distortions and see the created order as Scripture presents it. We must inhabit it as it truly is, viewed from the standpoint of God’s creation of, continuing involvement with, and ultimate plans for the universe. We will not romanticize nature, but recognize its beauty and its violence. We will not simply commodify the material world, exploiting it with disregard to God’s ownership and the common good. We will not worship nature, obscuring the line between Creator and creature. And we will not spiritualize the material world, forgetting that the earth in its materiality and physicality is good and integral to God’s whole plan of salvation—the healing of creation. -Howard Snyder

Today, is Earth Day! I love the earth but I am not a hippie. Do I have to be a tofu chomping, patchouli smelling, birks wearing, hemp weaving, neo-pagan, angry vegan in order to believe in creation care?

I attended Earth Day celebration downtown in Spokane yesterday and took my daughter and youngest son. It was painfully surreal and uncomfortable. I must confess, I found myself quite out of place. I really try to live life without much judgment on people outer appearance but when it comes to a cause...your message is affected by the messenger. Yesterday I had a real hard time hearing the message because the messengers were overpowering the message.

They are shutting the door to further conversation and it is unfortunate because there are many very critical environmental issues that need to be addressed by the majority but a select group of cultural oddities are imprisoning the issues in a minority of the populace. Earth day isn't about politics and it shouldn't be holy ground for the hippies alone.

Hear the word of the LORD, you Israelites, because the LORD has a charge to bring against you who live in the land: "There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land. There is only cursing, lying and murder, stealing and adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed Because of this the land mourns, and all who live in it waste away; the beasts of the field and the birds of the air and the fish of the sea are dying."
-Hosea 4:1‑3