Welcome to Our Father’s World!
In a world that is already crowded with opinions, I’m starting this space with limited objectives. I don’t think we’ll save the world from this corner of cyberspace – but maybe I can offer an occasional perspective on a topic that concerns me greatly. I know the process of sharing on these pages will help me sharpen my own thinking. And perhaps some of you will find the results helpful. And if you do, maybe you’ll occasionally take the time to let me know – or just add your own voice and perspective to what I hope will be a genuine conversation.
About me…
Bits and pieces of my story will come out as we develop this conversation. I’m a former pastor and present director of Care of Creation Inc. I do a fair amount of speaking around the country on the general topic of creation care and the role of the church in responding to the environmental crisis. Check out my seminar for churches – we might be able to bring it to your town!
If you don’t aim at anything…
There’s an old saying, ‘if you don’t aim at something, you’re sure to hit it.’ A blog can go almost anywhere and say just about anything – but in doing so can be less useful than it otherwise might be. So let’s begin by setting up some parameters for our discussions:
- When we talk about God we’ll be considering different things that God has said (ie. in the Bible) that have relevance to the general conversation we’re having. There’s a lot more in the Bible than most of us have realized about God’s reasons for creating the world, his purposes in governing the world, and his future plans for it.
- When we talk about God’s world we’ll be thinking in two directions. On the one hand, all of us need to be reminded of the amazingly wonderful and beautiful world God gave us. On the other hand, we’re making an awful mess of this world right now, in ways that most of us don’t even realize. [Check out this recent note on the fate of the Aral Sea.]
- When we discuss our role we’ll be considering what God expects of us and what we can and should be doing in response to the assault taking place against God’s creation right now. This part of the discussion may involve an occasional reference to current books on the topic, conversations with people involved in creation care, and visits to places and people who are making a difference in the world. Because I really believe in my organization’s tag line, ‘mobilizing the church toward a God-centered response to the environmental crisis’, you can expect to find the church popping up frequently.
Some housekeeping details…
- Frequency: I will aim for a new post once or twice a week. I have a lot of other things happening in my life, and so do you. If you crave entries that update every couple of hours, you’ll need to look somewhere else. Subscribe to Our Father’s World below and it will be easy to stay in touch.
- Keeping the conversation on topic: You don’t have to read blogs long to realize that comments can quickly deteriorate and wander from the main topic. I hope you’ll comment – but also that your comments (toward me or others) will be civil and, um, on-topic. If you just need to vent, do it with your roommate! Thanks for understanding – let’s have a good conversation!
That’s about it – so let’s start talking…
