Scriptures affirm: It's a great, green world

It is barely the beginning of summer and already the world is in bloom.

The recent rains have left the lawn lush and green, and in our little garden, the lettuce and rhubarb have already run their course as the green beans spring up and the tomatoes appear green on the vine. It seems that everywhere one casts a glance we are witness to and participants in the miracle of life God has sown into the very fabric of existence.

I suspect that human beings took up agriculture as one of our earliest endeavors because it represents an encounter with the sacred, an engagement with the divine presence. The scriptures affirm the goodness of earth as a gift from above: “The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it.” (Psalm 24:1).

We live in a time characterized by a “green revolution.” Colleges, companies and organizations of all kinds are “going green.” Styrofoam coffee cups are being replaced with paper cups which are more easily recycled. Recycling bins have become a common feature in most public spaces where they offer to receive our aluminum soda cans and our empty water bottles. Not long ago institutional memos were all sent on paper copy, but now we have grown accustomed to watching our e-mail for important announcements.

Lately, it seems we are more acutely aware of trees and watersheds, vehicle emissions and the distance we drive to work, space junk and the number of years it takes for plastic to breakdown in a landfill. The oil leak in the Gulf proves an ever-present anxiety. I submit that such environmental awareness is more than just a fad and its roots within us run deep. I would bet that regardless of how we would describe ourselves religiously, we all share in this sense that we are recipients and stewards of a sacred gift and trust in creation. The almost universal priority for going green has a theological component.

I often think fondly of the years I spent in parish ministry visiting with parishioners who loved to muse about agricultural life in days gone by. They would often speak of how when butchering hogs every effort was made to make use of every part and to leave nothing to waste. Used paper products became starter for the stove. Tin cans became containers for organizing nuts and bolts in the garage. Tea bags were used twice, and table scraps became garden compost.

I recently had an elderly friend tell me that “we were green before green was cool.” It’s easy to see how in many ways the green revolution is simply a new appreciation of older values. In fact, I submit that these values have existed from the foundation of the world. The creation story in Genesis tells that when God had completed the work of creation, and when human beings were newly formed, God placed them in a garden to till, maintain and care for it (Gen. 2:15-17). That was a green revolution.

White is chaplain for Sweet Briar College.