Participatory Harmony

Recently I purchased Brian McLaren's new book "We Make the Road By Walking."  In this latest effort, McLaren endeavors to take us through a journey both through the church year and the Bible in 52+ chapters that act as pieces for devotional reading and contemplation.  At the end of each chapter, he poses several questions for the reader to use to engage the material.  I've got a fresh new notebook that I'm using to write about my responses, but I figured I would share a few here on the blog for everyone to read and comment on.

The book is actually set up to begin in late August-early September, for what in the church year is known as "Ordinary Time."  This is the season that eventually leads into Advent and Christmas.  Many evangelical Christians might not be all that familiar with the church year outside of Advent, Christmas, Lent, and Easter.  However, with the Catholic Church in my background, I'm very attuned to the liturgical calendar, and I really enjoy what it can add to any church.  So this book is right up my alley.

The first chapter in the book is called "Awe and Wonder" and is primarily based on the creation story in Genesis 1 as a reading.  The first question asks what one thought in the chapter intrigued, provoked, disturbed, challenged, encouraged, warmed, warned, helped or surprised the reader.  This was easy for me.  One thought stood above the rest, the thought of participatory harmony in creation.

So we get going with the very first word in the very first verse of the Bible.  The Hebrew creation story beautifully unfolds through the opening chapter.  However, too often these days these words are seen as a source for controversy and division as opposed to a celebration of the beauty of the universe around us.  That's right, it's the whole religion vs science debate, a debate where many Christians totally disregard empirical evidence and observation because it seemingly controverts the opening scenes in the Bible.  In the interest of full disclosure, I am not one of those people.  Extensive training in hard sciences gives me the evidence I need to believe in things like evolution and modern astrophysics.  Too often however, this divide becomes so sharp that people on both ends of the spectrum forget to take a step back and marvel at the world around them.

Moving past that debate though, I see one area where modern Christians have really dropped the ball, and that has to do with the care of the world around us.  For me, this stems from one belief that often seems inherent in Christian theology: the idea that God created humans and set them apart from and above the rest of creation and the world around them.  Science challenges this assertion as well.  If humans evolved in the same way other animals, plants, and birds did, well then we don't seem quite so special.  But in my mind, this assertion isn't just an affront to science, it changes the way many of us view the world.

Instead of viewing the ourselves as part of or a caretaker of the world around us, we see ourselves as above it all.  That in turn, gives us leave to abuse it and consume it in an irresponsible fashion.  After all, God put it all here for us to use, right?  We have definitely used it, and used it up.  Global temps are rising, and air quality is an issue in most American cities of any size.  Rivers, streams, lakes, and even our oceans have been turned into dumps, which continues to have toxic effects in many parts of the world.  Forests. jungles, and pristine natural environments are bulldozed to claim their finite resources and to make room for our species to expand even more.  Where is the Christian church in all of this?  Most often the church is either totally silent or tossed in with the "consume at all costs crowd."  People who speak against this are often labeled as tree hugging liberals and either dismissed or shouted down.

This is a pity, because the beauty of this passage is that the creation story calls us to behave in a different manner.  McLaren writes:

"The best thing in Genesis is not simply human beings, but the whole creation considered together as a beautiful, integrated whole, and us a part."

Christians believe that people are made in the very image of the god who created the world, the artist that painted the masterpiece.  Imagine standing next to the Mona Lisa and being able to discuss it with Da Vinci himelf!  Imagine how angry he might become if you destroyed it.  Now, take that a step further.  Imagine that you're not separate and apart from the masterwork, but that you're a part of it!  Imagine that everything you do plays a part in the finished product!  You, and I, have a great opportunity to be a player, to be a character in the greatest masterpiece: the Earth and Universe around us!  We have a part to play in the harmony of creation, and that part is essential.  We are a force, and we can use it for renewal and beauty or consumption and destruction.

However it's when we actually participate in the role that the creator has laid out for us, when we seek to be agents of renewal and preservation of the world around us that we can truly see the beauty, poetry, and music in all of it.  My choir teacher in high school used to talk about how when all 4 parts of a harmony are sung correctly, you can actually hear a fifth part in the music as well.  When we play our part in the harmony, that overarching beauty comes through.  How can anyone stand on the shore of an ocean and not feel like they're a part of something large, unique, and beautiful?

When we actively participate in harmony with creation, then the Creator, the One who is the beginning and ending of all things can, like a master artist, step back, smile upon his creation and say once again that "It is good."