By Dr. Michael A. Bengwayan
There is an area where Christian spirituality and contemporary ecology can overlap to give assurance that we sustain planet Earth. This is the area of eco-spirituality.
This
seeks and finds God not only in loving service of the neighbor but also
in creation by reverencing life in all its diversity and all non-living
things in all their nobility as humans' reflections to an all wise and
loving Creator.
We do this through prayers, sacred scriptures and sacraments and by being responsible trustees and caretakers of Earth. We do this as believing Christians leading spiritual lives to reach union with God by being concerned with all his creation.
In my 30 years of experience of earth-caring, a good ecologist is only worth his salt by believing the material cosmos, the world where humanity dwells together with all plants and animals, is a reality. The living human spirit is always enfleshed in a material body, always a being in the world with other beings, all interacting, all interdependent. No one escapes the fact of being situated in this world physically and spiritually.
People living spiritually breathe the same air, drink the same water and walk on the same earth as those who practice ecology. Beyond the shared obvious commonality, they share many values such as reverence for the living and non-living and appreciation for beauty.
I approach eco-spirituality in the context and from the side of traditional Christian values expanding self-awareness reaching out to expressions by actions that reflect spiritual validation—planting and caring for trees and plants, preventing destruction of landscapes, forests, soil, air, waters, pollinators, and; fighting for these by writing, talking in fora and by organizing street protests to educate.
As Christians, we expect a “new heaven and earth” (Rev 21:1), we believe in the value of the Creator's creation, we also believe in an eco-spiritual syle of living that collaborates in the divine plan to bring about the new creation for the praise of God's glory.
We do this through prayers, sacred scriptures and sacraments and by being responsible trustees and caretakers of Earth. We do this as believing Christians leading spiritual lives to reach union with God by being concerned with all his creation.
In my 30 years of experience of earth-caring, a good ecologist is only worth his salt by believing the material cosmos, the world where humanity dwells together with all plants and animals, is a reality. The living human spirit is always enfleshed in a material body, always a being in the world with other beings, all interacting, all interdependent. No one escapes the fact of being situated in this world physically and spiritually.
People living spiritually breathe the same air, drink the same water and walk on the same earth as those who practice ecology. Beyond the shared obvious commonality, they share many values such as reverence for the living and non-living and appreciation for beauty.
I approach eco-spirituality in the context and from the side of traditional Christian values expanding self-awareness reaching out to expressions by actions that reflect spiritual validation—planting and caring for trees and plants, preventing destruction of landscapes, forests, soil, air, waters, pollinators, and; fighting for these by writing, talking in fora and by organizing street protests to educate.
As Christians, we expect a “new heaven and earth” (Rev 21:1), we believe in the value of the Creator's creation, we also believe in an eco-spiritual syle of living that collaborates in the divine plan to bring about the new creation for the praise of God's glory.
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