I began a study group this week -two actually -- on the subject of care for creation. We looked at the biblical background of the goodness of all that God has made. I also read from a wise novel, Jayber Crow, by farmer, poet, essayist, novelist, professor, Christian Wendell Berry.
The title character, Jayber, lives in another era and balances roles as the town barber, grave-digger and church caretaker. As the custodian he hears a lot of sermons whether he wants to or not. They are delivered by clergy-in-training because his village can't afford a full-time pastor. These young ministers too often wear the mantle of power rather than the mantle of knowledge, as he puts it. They spend a lot of time warning of the sins of this world and the reward of heaven. In Jayber's words, "they learned to have a very high opinion of God and a very low opinion of His works --although they could tell you that this world had been made by God..."
Jayber doubts that anyone believes these messages scorning the beauty and goodness of this world, including the preachers who deliver them:
The people who heard these sermons loved good crops, good gardens, good livestock and work animals and dogs; they loved flowers and the shade of trees, and laughter and music; some of them could make you a fair speech on the pleasures of a good drink of water or a patch of raspberries.
Jayber also observes that after church the preacher and his family would gladly respond to the invitation to have a meal with a family and eat with "unconsecrated relish."
The entire novel is a gentle invitation to appreciate the abundance of this life, here and now, not just as a future promise. Whatever the prospect of Christ's eternal life, it would be a shame to miss the gift of this moment.
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