Making “Creation Care Connections”

It is a beautiful thing to observe relationships functioning in harmony as God our Creator desires.  We feel joy and satisfaction when we experience or observe the mutual enjoyment of a married couple in love; or the performance of a sports team functioning like a well oiled machine in an exciting contest.  Some of us find a similar satisfying beauty when we experience the interactions of creatures in a forest community or in a prairie landscape or in a colorful, undersea, coral community.

In this article, I will share a few inspiring examples of how a simple willingness to become involved in expressing the love of our Creator to our "human neighbors" and to our "creation neighbors" can help us to form “creation care connections”—i.e. connections that bring our Creator, His creation, and our neighbor together--"for good."

As humans, we experience joy and satisfaction from harmonious relationships because God is relational (i.e. perfect harmony among Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) and He created and equipped us to love Him and to love our neighbor (Mark 12: 30-31) and to love and care for His creation (Genesis 1: 27-28; 2: 15).  Readers who have put their faith in God’s love gift of His Son as a sacrifice for our sins will understand the Apostle Paul’s words, Above all, be loving. This ties everything together perfectly (Colossians 3:14).  Pure faith in a perfect God provides the oil for well functioning relationships.

New kiosk constructed by Gospel Road 2018 and FMCPT

Now, allow me to share a few inspiring examples of how the exercise of “creation care” can allow us to form “creation care connections”—i.e. connections among our Creator, His creation, and our neighbor. My first example involves our wonderful national and state parks, preserves, and trails.  For many people, especially the majority who live in urban communities, these places may offer the only exposure to the soul-satisfying beauty of the creation.  But parks and trails require continual administration and maintenance in order to provide safe and accommodating services to hikers, equestrians, boaters, and cyclists.  As individuals and families, when we visit parks and natural areas, we can form a “creation care connection” by simply following park rules or by stopping to pick up litter.

Just this past week, approximately 150 high school students, grades 9-12, from all over central Ohio participated in a five-day, mission-focused, work camp called the Gospel Road 2018.  The students along with their adult chaperones and volunteers represent Catholic churches and schools throughout the Diocese of Columbus.   According to Wayne Roberts, Executive Director of the Friends of Madison Co. Parks and Trails (FMCPT), the workers devoted their time and energy to approximately 46 projects.

Gospel Road 2018 workers at refurbished kiosk (London, OH)

Of particular interest to me are two of the projects completed by the Gospel Road 2018 teens involving the FMCPT.  First, they constructed a kiosk for the Little Darby State Scenic River Preserve north of London, OH, in Monroe Twp. of Madison Co.  The teens also contributed their “elbow grease” and skills to sanding and staining the kiosks near and around the Prairie Grass Trailhead at London, Ohio. 

According to Roberts, “both the student volunteers and the instructors-adult leaders were generous, good-hearted people.”  Needless to say, these teens and their leaders formed a “creation care connection” with their neighbors from the FMCPT, with bicyclists and other users of Madison Co. parks, and with the living creatures that reside in the parks and trials and give them structure and beauty.  Through their hard work, the Gospel Road 2018 group left an aroma of the “good news” for the benefit of both God’s creation and future park visitors through the caring connections they formed.

My second example to illustrate the formation of a “creation care connection” has a more expansive scale; one that spans two continents.  Beginning June 20, a small team used their skill of stand up paddle boarding (SUP-ing) to travel from Cooperstown, NY on a 444-mile trip down the Susquehanna River.  The paddle boarders were led by Peter Savard, assistant professor of nursing at Cedarville University.  The team included Savard’s daughter, Ainsley, a high school student; Jared Mitchell, a 3-D modeling and design teacher at Troy Christian School, and students from Cedarville and Wright State Universities. 

#SUP4WATER paddlers and portable clean water equipment

Prof. Savard is founder and chairman of Global Water Consortium which supports sustainable clean water projects in remote areas of the world.  As quoted in the Wyoming Co. Press Examiner in Tunkhannock, PA., Savard stated, “Throughout the trip, we will carry the same water equipment used to establish clean water projects in developing countries to showcase its mobility in remote locations.” 

The #SUP4WATER paddle board trip was completed last week.  During the time devoted to this 30-day trip, Water Consortium statistics estimate that 126,540 children in Kenya and India will die due to unsafe water.  According to Savard, “The goal is to raise $1 for each of these children and to bring increased awareness for sustainable water projects around the world.  Those who wish to donate to #SUP4WATER may do so at the Global Water Consortium website.  Additional details of the Susquehanna trip are provided through social media:  Facebook.com/GlobalWaterConsortium, Instagram.com/global_water_consortium, and Twitter.com/@peteGWC Global Water Consortium.

#SUP4WATER member, former student, and friend, Jared Mitchell

Both of my examples of “creation care connections” have featured a common invitation rooted in the biblical commands to be stewards of the Earth.  Stewardship of the creation is the fundamental context within which we express through our actions a supreme love for our Creator and love for our neighbor.  While we find satisfaction and “re-creation” in beautiful parks and along scenic trails, we should also look for ways that we can contribute to the stewardship of these places. 

Local park districts and allied citizen’s groups often invite volunteers to join in work day efforts while many states have the Adopt-a-Highway program.  As in the case of stand up paddle boarding to improve water quality in needy areas of the world, the steward first sees the need; then, is convinced of the importance of that need; and finally, becomes involved in making a “creation care connection.” Here, the connection was prompted by love for our “human neighbors” on another continent and the expression of that love through caring for the “creation neighbor,” in this case, the water quality upon which our human neighbor depends for life.  When environmental stewardship done for the glory of God, the connection is complete because God, humanity, and creation are all served—a beautiful and satisfying result.

Co-Leaders of the Prairie Grass Trail Ride at a remnant prairie

Immediate Application:
If you live in Eastern U.S.,  I would welcome you to make your own “creation care connection” by joining us on Saturday, July 28 at the trailhead of the Prairie Grass Trail in London, OH at 8:00 am for a leisurely bike ride through some scenic remnants of the original prairie in SW Ohio, preserved along a former railroad right-of-way.  Here, you can connect with members of the Friends of Madison County Parks and Trails, and representatives of other local public and private organizations who are interested in management of these prairie wildflower and grass communities.  Of special emphasis this year will be how to connect with creation by learning to collect seed and grow native wildflowers and grasses in your garden or on other land over which you exercise stewardship.  See Prairie Grass Trail Ride online poster and I hope to see you there.

But Isn't Loving My "Creation Neighbor" a Distraction?
I'm glad you may be asking this question.  I have written more on this topic in a previous Oikonomia under the title, Fundamentals of Conservation, Part 3 "Serving with Our Neighbor"  That article includes reference to my friend Lynn Holtzman's master's thesis entitled “Nature as Neighbor: Aldo Leopold’s Extension of Ethics to the Land.”  I would urge you read more on this important subject, beginning with my previous article.  For now, allow me to summarize my point about our responsibility to both "creation neighbor" and "human neighbor."

God revealed His design for relationships in the Genesis 1 account of the origin of creation where we read of His mandate to Adam and his offspring to exercise dominion over creation (Genesis 1: 27-28).  Genesis 2 elaborates on the nature of the Dominion Mandate.  We are to live as “servant rulers,” or stewards, of creation (Genesis 2: 15).  Indeed, servanthood was to be the primary occupation through which humans would demonstrate their obedience to 2 other fundamental commands –to love the Lord God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength; and to love our neighbor as ourselves (Mark 12: 30-31).  These three commands form a tri-unity because God asks us to (1) choose carefully our activities as stewards of His material creation in light of whether or not they (2) express our love to Him and (3) love to our neighbor.  Conversely, we demonstrate our love for God and for our neighbor by the way in which we exercise “creation care” through proper handling of the material gifts God has entrusted to us to manage and use for the greatest good.  Indeed, we cannot love “our human neighbors” without proper love and respect for “our creation neighbors,” the soil, water, air and creatures, upon which “our human neighbor” depends for life.  Hopefully, the two examples cited in the main article above illustrate how volunteering our time, energy, and resources can express our love to God through acts that help both our neighbor and the creation context upon which his life depends.

Bike Trail to a National Treasure

This room is real, Ben. And that means the treasure is real. We're in the company of some of the most brilliant minds in history because you found what they left behind for us to find, and understood the meaning of it. You did it, Ben, for all of us - your grandfather, and all of us. And I've never been so happy to be proven wrong.  -- Patrick Henry Gates, in National Treasure

Scene from the movie, National Treasure (2004)

Patrick Henry Gates, fictitious treasure-hunter, played by Jon Voight, congratulates his son, Benjamin Franklin Gates (Nicolas Cage), in a climactic scene of the 2004 movie, National Treasure.  The pursuit of the “national treasure” requires decoding of a series of clues, including one written on the back of the Declaration of Independence.  Maybe you saw this movie and remember the scene.

Patrick Gates’ exclamation to Ben was an invitation to movie viewers to imagine their excitement upon finding such a treasure.  But, notice that the excitement was not focused entirely on the monetary value of the treasure.  Instead, Patrick wants Ben (and the viewers) to “treasure” the experience of being there…in the company of some of the most brilliant minds in history because you found what they left behind for us to find, and understood the meaning of it.  The exciting moment, framed by Patrick’s passionate words captures for me the excitement and interest you and l ought to have when we visit a historic place, or handle an artifact and try to understand the meaning of it.

In this blog article, my aim is to interest you in joining three co-leaders and me on another kind of “national treasure” hunt.  If you decide to join us, bring your bicycle and plan to meet at the Prairie Grass Trailhead, 280 W. High St., London, Ohio, at 8:00 am, Saturday, July 29, 2017.  This annual Prairie Appreciation Bike Ride is sponsored by the Friends of Madison Co. Parks and Trails, and the Madison Soil and Water Conservation District.  You can ride at your preferred pace and distance, and we will stop along the way to observe what I will call “national botanical treasures”—prairie wildflowers and grasses that are descendants of historic plant populations that once covered large tracts of SW Ohio, the Midwest, and Great Plains.

Prairie Coneflower in a SW Ohio prairie remnant.

Bring your imaginations and be ready to ride back into history.  Get ready to imagine while you stand along the Prairie Grass Trail Bikeway in the quiet freshness of a summer morning that this was once part of an expansive Tallgrass Prairie.  Then, after the railroad tracks were laid two centuries ago, this remaining, narrow stretch of rails, ties, slag, and prairie became a protected haven from the plow, agricultural weeds, and pesticides.  But, they were not protected from regular fires ignited by either lightning or sparks from the trains that whistled by.  Fires were just what the prairie plants needed since they were well adapted to survive fire, unlike many of the woody shrubs and trees that have now invaded these “remnant prairies” now that the railroad is gone.

Royal Catchfly, a rare prairie wildflower is restricted to only
a few locations along the narrow Prairie Grass Trail

So, bring your observation skills, your imagination, and your questions. Invite friends and neighbors, and bring your children—junior age and older often ask the best questions. You will observe some of our attempts to manage these “national treasures” like Royal Catchfly and Prairie Coneflower.  Learn how you can grow and incorporate these or other nectar-rich plants like the Milkweeds into your own flower gardens.  And, learn how local organizations and industry partners are expanding their commitment to land stewardship around our country.

Hope to see you next Saturday, July 29.  If you live too far from SW Ohio to attend, you may want to “visit” several of the websites below.  Or better yet, maybe you can locate and join a conservation or land stewardship group in your area.  Chances are you will find new friends who have become interested in “national botanical treasures” located in “natural areas” as refuges for native plant and animal species.

Wayne Roberts, Exec Dir., FMCPT with co-leaders
Julie Cumming, Matt Silveira, and Karen Stombaugh

And, for all of us, may our interest in the historical and biological heritage of our neighborhoods and of our nation increase.  May we and our children be able to say, we have found what they left behind for us to find, and [we are willing to learn] the meaning of it--and to value it enough to be good stewards or “keepers” of it as we are commanded to do in the Dominion-Stewardship Mandate in the Book of Genesis:

Then the LORD God took the man
and put him into the garden of Eden
to cultivate (serve) it and keep (preserve) it.
                                              – Genesis 2: 15

RELATED SOURCES:
Botany Along the Prairie Grass Trail
Fundamentals of Conservation, Part 2 "Serving with" Creation
Fundamentals of Conservation, Part 3 "Serving with Our Neighbor"