Hi folks, I hope you are doing ok, this week we will be meeting at Pauline garden at 7.30. If you want to be included then please do let David know, so he can monitor numbers and let you know the address and if you need any further help to get there.
This week I want to build on a little from last week’s conversation about nature, and the fragility that is human kind. I was pondering on trees again… yeah I know! But I was thinking that trees reach and grow upwards to the vastness of the sky and beyond.
So much of nature reaches towards the sun. We have some plants on our windowsill that have shifted to face the sun, most plants do. In fact our whole species relies on the sun and our place in the universe, it’s so mesmerising even to think about.
In the year that I was born 1969 humans first went to the moon, it was baffling then, never mind now, and yet only a few years previous, in 1961 Yuri Gagarin entered space for the first time, imagine seeing the vastness for the first time, and imagine trying to explain it to people!
We humans as Genesis describes have ‘dominion’ (I use that word on purpose) over the earth, and we rule it, we have battled for it, destroyed and rebuilt it. Humans have I suspect been all over the entirety of our planet save a few bits of land here and there and of course the depths of the ocean which are still as big a mystery as the universe! And so as we entered space in those heady days of the 60’s and 70’s I suspect many thought we would be going far further into space than we actually have, because let’s face it, that’s what we wanted to have dominion and subdue next.
Maybe as we look at where we are in the world with all the advancements we have made in so many areas of life, that there is this gnawing within each of us in or darkest days that humanity has maimed life on earth, it is not difficult for us to want to screammmmmmmm at just how horrible we are as homo-sapiens! There is a deep sense that we are flawed, even the best of us. You may want to use other words to describe this sense of being flawed. Each of us faces that sense of being flawed every time we wake up! How can I screw up today!
So where am I going with this, well of course we could talk about faith, and how that fixes it… but well, it clearly is far too simple and nuanced to say that, and so yet again I wonder what nature can teach us. So I’m back to plants and trees again I’m afraid! I want to ponder on why nature is pulled toward the sun… I want to wonder at the vastness of the universe, I want to consider if what The Divine created (however you understand that) was good, maybe it was good for a reason? I want to ponder on symbiosis and how humanity can live together alongside the created order.
Some questions
What natural phenomena makes you go wow?
What human achievement blows your mind?
Where do you sit on the idea of dominion? Does it mean “care and look after” or is it more like “plunder and make use of”?
What is wrong with humankind? Is it too simple to call it sin?
If creation was good, was it good for a reason?
How can we be better human beings and live symbiotically with nature?
Rob Wylie is the founder of BeachcomberFX and guides its leadership team. He has worked in the North East for over 20 years and has vast experience from various roles he has held. He has a passion for Fresh Expressions of Church and Pioneer Ministry as well as beer, beaches and Miniature Schnauzers.