A Walk in the Park

Today is the third day of our Creation Care Camp for children. On Monday, we learned about air and insects. On Tuesday, we learned about water. Located on the edge of the Salish Sea, in the drainage area of the mountain that receives the most snowfall of any peak in the world, the interplay of water is a critical part of the place where our church is located. Today, we will be learning about trees and parks and engaging in a hands on park stewardship project. Just a short walk from our church is Broadway Park, an elongated piece property divided into two parts by Cornwall Street - the street where the church is located. Broadway Park has been a part of Bellingham since 1906 when Bellingham Bay Improvement Company, donated the land to the city as they were developing residential properties around it. The park was a wetland with a pond. In the early days of the park the pond was used for swimming, fishing, and ice skating. In the 1940s the pond was drained and filled.

We will be helping to remove some invasive weeds, and spread bark as part of ongoing park stewardship. We will also be learning about the many trees that are a part of this park. Broadway Park has 47 different varieties of trees, both conifers and deciduous trees. There are trees that are native to this region and trees that have been imported from other places.

Traditionally, the language of botany is the same language that was used for theology for centuries - Latin. The Western Red Cedar tree’s scientific name is Thuja plicate. Douglas Fir is Pseudotsuga menziesii. The Paper Birch for which our town of Birch Bay was named is Betula papyrifera. The children who are participating in our congregation’s program won’t remember the Latin names for very many of the trees, but they might remember the simple lesson that there was a time when the language of science and the language of religion were the same. It is not uncommon for people today to speak of a conflict between religion and science as if they were two very different enterprises. For most of history, however, they were seen as compatible. In fact many of the scientists who participated in identifying and naming botanical varieties were clergy persons.

Our congregation is exploring what it means for us to become a climate care congregation. We have multiple groups in the church that are trying to discern how our life together can be responsible in terms of our consumption of energy and care of the limited resources of the earth. We see care for creation as a Biblical mandate and a deep commitment of people of faith. Teaching our children the stories of our people while helping them learn about care of the earth is not just the theme of one summer’s learning for children. It is part of a larger process of teaching about our world and our place in the world.

Part of what we in the church have to learn and teach is that we also have a history of consumption and misuse of creation. We have seen the world as something that can be owned and divided up instead of something that belongs to God and is all interconnected. There is a long legacy in our church of participating in seizing land that was occupied by others. As we seek reconciliation with indigenous people, we have had to confess that there were historic doctrines and teachings of the church that contributed to the exploitation of people and the land.

Teaching about Creation Care is a challenging and complex undertaking for the church. This four day camp for children is just part of the process. In the fall, we will undertake additional explorations and teachings as we explore the relationship between gratitude and stewardship.

Today we will explore the park with the children. We’ll make some art out of objects we find in the park. We’ll play some games in the open spaces of the park. We’ll help pull a few weeds and spread some bark around the bases of the trees and shrubs. We’ll learn about the mission of the Bellingham Parks Department and our city’s plan for caring for its trees and planting more trees.

We will also listen to one of the great psalms of entrance from our Bible. There was a time when part of the process of going up to the temple was praying, “The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it, for he has founded it on the seas and established it on the rivers.” Acknowledging that the world is not a possession for us to consume and exploit, but rather a blessing that we are called to tend and share has been part of faithful worship for millennia. Often, however, we need to be reminded of our own history and heritage. Sometime we forget that we belong to a long line of people that began before our birth and that will continue long after our time on this earth has come to its conclusion.

In that life journey, one of our religious responsibilities is making the connections between our grandparents and our grandchildren. Like each generation that has come before us, we are stewards of the stories and traditions of our people. We add our own stories to the larger story and we add our own prayers to the liturgy. But we also receive stories from previous generations and teach them to future generations.

Sometimes the best way to teach about the church is to leave the building and look at it from a fresh perspective. Taking a walk with our children to a nearby park is a step in the right direction for us this year. We pray that they might feel the wonder and glory of creation and sense God’s spirit in the wind blowing through the trees. May they hear and remember the words of our ancestors as we explore the world we will leave to those who follow us.

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