Fertility

Walker-Jones talks a lot about fertility in his book.  Its a curious proof of our anthropocetrism that our society focuses on increasing fertility of humans (at least those with means) while it destroys the fertility of the planet.  The disturbing result is the ever increasing human population coinciding with the ever diminishing acreage of arable land.  We are quickly moving toward a planet where there is not enough land to feed the population.  How can we be so short sighted?  This radical disconnection from our life-source is a sin beyond comprehension.  Even in - perhaps especially in - circles of faith, who purport to believe in God as creator, redeemer, and source of all that is.  You would think the connection between God as provider and land as the channel for that provision would not be so hard to make.  And yet, we idolize the work of our own hands as being able to improve on the work of God's hands.

Much of me wants to argue with the idea that Earth is a 'work' of God's hands rather than being an indivisible part of God.  Not as something to worship, but to honor, to see as intrinsic to our own being - as part of all that is holy.  Separating the Earth as a 'work' misses something.  Certainly, we are also a 'work' of God's.  Creature rather than Creator.  But we also are reminded that God lives in us.  That we are the Body of Christ.  We participate in God, are part of God.  I think we need to see Earth as part of that interconnected relationship.  I spoke earlier about the idea of the Cosmos (including space, Earth, Humanity, All Living Things) as the Body of God, all part of God's action and ongoing Creativity.  God is still separate - bigger, intentional, over arching and all inclusive - but also infused into everything.  God breathes in us, in animals, in plants, in the very dirt we walk on.

It seems that separating us from God, God from Earth, us from everything but our own tiny cosmos of one, has gotten us into this mess.  We desperately need to find another way - the path of Wisdom that Psalm 1 promotes.