• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Shop
  • A Rocha Intl

A Rocha USA

A Rocha USA

  • About Us
    • What We Do
    • Who We Are
    • Contact Us
  • Get Involved
    • Events Calendar
    • Join the A Rocha Community
    • Tackle Plastic Pollution
    • Take Climate Action
    • Wild Wonder Curriculum
  • Donate

For Once, Some Environmental Good News?

A Rocha USA / July 17, 2012

By Peter Harris, Founder of A Rocha

The modern environmental movement in western countries is a bit like a performance I saw as a child of Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony, but in reverse. The environmental stage began empty with romantic ideas of wilderness and unspoiled nature. Then, a first movement of alarm started with haunting and impressive solos–depending on who you ask these days, they were maybe played by Gerard Manley Hopkins, Theodore Roosevelt or Rachel Carson. Everyone has their favourite virtuoso. As the 1960’s wore on, other instruments joined–percussively political or blaringly save-the-world simple, string-like and even nerdish as the science became clearer. Most of it played on higher ground by prophetic enthusiasts to a small group, many soon became quite depressed.

Meanwhile, most of the audience took little notice and talked about sport and celebrities, money, sex and power. The church people in the audience took even less notice than everyone else. For complex reasons, but mostly because the melody didn’t sound much like any hymn they knew. Or, maybe they were waiting to leave for another concert hall.

Slowly and surely the musicians started to sound more like an orchestra. Even the missing bass from business was heard more frequently, and choirs of concern in local neighbourhoods and medical centrs, schools, even groups of simple nature-lovers sang a story of a disappearing world and a grieving earth. Meanwhile, the distracted church folks found it harder not to hear. Stung by shouts from the orchestra that their faith was undermining the music, they looked at the score in their hand and discovered that there was plenty there to sing about.

All metaphors get tired after a while, and you can see where I am going. So here is the point–after a longer delay than we should be proud of, there is now a considerable global movement to make the Christian faith mean something for the wider creation that we all share. Of course there are arguments (we are talking about the church after all), but locally and globally, numbers of Christians now realise that the gospel doesn’t stop with us or even our neighbors, but it inevitably has to do with my neighbourhood and what happens to the wider world because of the way I live.

We either live like Christians or we continue to take part in the quasi-religion of consumerism and individualism that is most of all to blame for the various current environmental crises with which we and most of all the poor of the earth are struggling to come to terms. So, this is good news as all leading environmentalists agree that our global problems are rooted in our human values and beliefs, and not in a lack of legislation or data.

At the risk of defaulting to the familiar, gloomy environmentalism, there is just one drawback. It isn’t going to help a lot if Christians simply take on a negative environmental narrative of pessimism, fear, and judgement. As The Economist pointed out when it saw how close environmentalism comes to religious preaching, that is only half the story. Rather, the environmental good news we might look for is that Christian hope, both for local transformation and the final redemption of “all things” as the Apostle Paul promises us, can breath new life and energy and creativity into a vitally important human endeavour. That is nothing less than finding ways to sustain life in a Kingdom that is intended to be, as Jesus prayed, lived on earth as it is in heaven. It is in that hope that A Rocha has now grown to a family of projects in twenty countries – hands-on, locally driven efforts ranging from scientific research to conservation work to creation care kids’ camps. None of them are going to change the world perhaps, but all are signs of the Kingdom and signs of hope. And we hear the rest of the orchestra is delighted that some of the missing instrumentalists are finally showing up and making music.

  1. Why do you think that Christians have historically hesitated to be part of environmental movements?
  2. How can your family participate in local creation care activities?

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: A Rocha, A Rocha USA, environment, hope, Peter Harris

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Categories

  • A Rocha
  • A Rocha Arts
  • A Rocha Canada
  • A Rocha Ghana
  • A Rocha International
  • A Rocha Kenya
  • A Rocha Portugal
  • A Rocha USA
  • Advent
  • At Home
  • Au Sable
  • Autumn Ayers
  • Ben Lowe
  • Birds
  • Brittany Michalski
  • Bugs
  • Campus Chapters
  • Central Oregon
  • Central Texas
  • Church
  • Citizen Science
  • Climate Change
  • Climate Stewards USA
  • Climate Stewards USA
  • Community
  • Conservation
  • Core Commitments
  • Creation Care
  • Creation Care Camp
  • Dave Timmer
  • David Taylor
  • Dirt
  • Dr. Howard Snyder
  • Dr. Robert Sluka
  • Easter
  • Ecology
  • Economics
  • Ecosystems
  • Education
  • EEN
  • Election
  • Environment
  • Environmental Education
  • Extinction
  • Farm
  • Flo Oakes
  • Florida
  • Food
  • Forest
  • Global Partners
  • Gospel
  • Grant Shellhouse
  • John Elwood
  • John Stott
  • Kilns College
  • Leah Kostamo
  • Lent
  • Liuan Huska
  • Living Planet Report
  • Love Your Place
  • Marine
  • Mark McReynolds
  • Nashville
  • NW Washington
  • Partners
  • People
  • Peter Harris
  • Planet
  • Planetwise Blog
  • Plastic Pollution
  • Pollinators
  • Programs and Projects
  • Race
  • Recycling
  • Redemption
  • Resources
  • Restoration
  • Robert Campbell
  • Sabbath
  • Sandra McCracken
  • SoCal
  • Species
  • Theology
  • To Repair the World
  • Uncategorized
  • Washington DC
  • Wheaton
  • Wild Wonder
  • Worship
  • YECA

Archives

  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • August 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • August 2021
  • June 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • September 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • May 2019
  • December 2018
  • October 2018
  • August 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012

Tags

All Things Reconciled arocha A Rocha A Rocha Marine A Rocha USA arochausa biodiversity birds Christmas citizen science Climate Change Climate Stewards community conservation creation Creation Care Creation Care Camp Dave Bookless dirt environment explore place arocha arochausa saltandsteel trees nature gospel Gratitude hope internship Kellie Haddock Love Your Place loveyourplace making all things new Marine Miranda Harris New Year nwwashingtonarocha Peter Harris prayer Redemption Restoring people and places Richard Louv Sandra McCracken Seasons songwriting sustainable Together in the Harvest Tom Rowley Wild Wonder

Footer

A Rocha USA
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • ABOUT US
  • What We Do
  • Meet the Team
  • Careers and Internships
  • Contact
  • RESOURCES
  • Blog
  • Join Love Your Place
  • Multimedia
  • GET INVOLVED
  • Donate
  • Events
  • Join Our Community
  • Take Climate Action
  • Marine Conservation
  • Camp Curriculum
  • Projects

© 2016 A Rocha USA Environmental Stewardship

A Rocha USA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, EIN 31-1751509
  • ECFA |
  • GuideStar |
  • Privacy Policy |
  • Faith Statement