Servant’s Heart — From the Desk of a Deacon
As late summer turns to early fall, the Season of Creation is a reminder that we are called not simply to be good stewards with all our relations across Mother Earth, but also to be in a deep and loving relationship with all of the created world: creatures of all shapes and sizes, the land, the water, the sky, plants and other living things.
The great covenant that God created with Noah is more than just a pact between humans and the divine. Genesis 9:17 speaks of a covenant between God and all life on earth.
Extreme weather events triggered by human-induced climate change (including heat waves, fires, floods, and landslides in our part of British Columbia) are a sign that humans are betraying our end of the covenant.
The Season of Creation is a reminder that despoiling and degrading our world is a violation of a holy pact. Not only is it bad for our physical bodies, but it also leads to spiritual degradation.
So, what does it mean to fall back in love with Mother Nature – to embrace our role in a loving and covenantal relationship with all of creation? At the Sorrento Centre, we create the opportunities for people to move from environmental negligence (or worse) to a deep and abiding relationship with Mother Nature.
At our natural farm, just down the highway from the main campus, the rich harvest of produce continues to nourish our guests, as well as our neighbours. This year, in addition to our own fields, we launched a community garden so that our neighbours can grow their own food.
On our main campus, our chapel sits among the trees – with a beautiful vista of the Shuswap and the hills and mountains to the north. When we gather to worship, we are reminded of our feathered and furry-tailed siblings (birds and squirrels) as well as the plants and trees. Mushrooms springing out of the floor of the forest remind us of the abundance of God’s creation.
Our waterfront, a place of joy and frolicking year-round, is also a place of discovery as children from the nearby elementary school pause to peer deeply into water-life and plant-life.
Our formal gardens include rose bushes and other beauties, a visible reminder of the words of the mystic Julian of Norwich, who calls us to be holy gardeners, nourishing the soil and the plants and offering their beauty and abundance to God as our true worship.
Falling back in love with Mother Nature goes beyond our individual calling to dig our hands deep into the soil. We are called to be advocates for environmental justice – in religious terms, to raise our voices to seek justice for those (including our siblings throughout the natural world) who are victims of human-induced climate change.
At the Sorrento Centre, where we seek to give expression to the ministry of the deacon, we encourage our guests, neighbours and staff to seek reconciliation for humans who have become alienated from the world around us. This journey of reconciliation requires action as well as intention.
