My wife used to say of me that I would be happy with astro turf on the front lawn and big plastic flowers. I was not very aware or even interested in environmental issues and the concerns facing our planet. I was trained in the resource industries of logging and mining. I believed that we had dominion over nature and we had to exploit it to the best use we needed. I even remember a number of years ago trying to preach on environmental issues and feeling lost in the middle of the sermon realizing there was something important missing for me.
Over the last 7 years I have been re-examining my own personal theology. Obviously I began with my own personal life journey as I went deeper into Celtic Christianity. Any journey into Celtic Christianity or even Celtic Spirituality has some warning signs that must go up. Over the last 20 or so years Celtic Spirituality has become popular or even a fad. One must carefully examine any resources one is drawing upon.
It was on this personal pilgrimage that I discovered a number of folk who gave me a new world view, paradigm shift, conversation experience - use your own language to describe how my eyes were opened. Some of these folk spoke from ancient history -Eriugena and Pelagius. Others, not Celtic at all, spoke with a contemporary voice - Thomas Berry and Wade Davis. It was through my readings that I began to see things differently. I began to see the interconnectedness of all life. I began to understand the relationship of indigenous peoples with the land and the water, and most importantly with our place within the universe.
From my readings in the Celtic Traditions I learned that the goodness that God celebrates in the beginning of creation is still present of around our planet today. The light of life first visible in all living creatures can be seen in the eyes of all living beings today, in the eyes of our pets The light of life spoken about at our genesis is seen in the eyes of all humanity. As Thomas Berry says, we are part of the earth process and we must examine how we are enabling and being a positive part of that process, or how we are hindering or enabling that action.
As people who have lived through the end of the industrial revolution into the beginning of the technological revolution as seen through the eyes of Microsoft, Intel and Apple, we need to take our learning and apply it carefully to the understanding of and care for our planet.
Even with our vast knowledge of this planet through science, we are still ignorant of the full effects that we are having on the planet through our exploration and violent exploitation in mining, logging and the oil industry. We do little or nothing to understand what we are causing through the destruction of forests, rivers and the oceans.
As we try to understand the planet we are living on and this planet’s place in the larger solar system and universe, a new relationship for us needs to be discovered. Can old dogs learn new tricks? I believe so!
As Dean of Columbia and rector of Christ Church Cathedral, Logan McMenamie fulfils roles in both the parish (the congregation) and the diocese (the wider Anglican community spanning Vancouver Island).
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