During this past week we have seen horrific pictures of the flooding caused by unbelievable amount of rainfall in the Fraser Valley in BC. The entire town of Merrit (population 7000) has been evacuated. I can picture in my mind of the next few days when these people will return to their homes and their farms to survey the damage. I feel for the people who will have to go down into their basements and start carrying out all the soaked and ruined things they had in their basement.
In the midst of all this disaster and suffering countless people have stepped up with generosity, opening their homes to these displaced people, preparing meals for these people and help rescue farm animals. This flooding has brought out some of the best in the people of BC.
But this year of climate disasters challenges us to ask some very hard questions about our cultural values. What contribution has human behaviour contributed to these huge forest fires, the heat the heat dome and this unprecedented rainfall that became such damaging flooding?
Thoughtful people come the conclusion that these disasters have been enhanced by human behavior. We have heated up the atmosphere with carbon dioxide, clear cut the forests and not respected the natural flow of the waters. No one should be surprised that the rich agricultural areas around the town of Abbotsford was a large lake one hundred years ago. What once was a lake became rich farm land. We have built barriers to protect the new land from flooding but it still is a lake! These torrential rains last Sunday and Monday did what was natural: the lake reformed!
How much damage has our practice of clear-cut logging done to our forests? After the forest fires raged this past summer, we must ask how the soil had lost its ability to absorb and retain water?
There are many other heavy-duty questions that must be asked and reflected upon but this short column also wants us to get in touch with what our Christian faith brings to this reflection.
First, all of creation is an extension of the great love that God has for us. There is nothing that exists that is not a sharing of the great love and compassion that exists within the very life of the Trinity. I am not sure where mosquitos fit into this scheme of things but I know they are some reflection of the goodness which is God.
If creation is good and humanity is part of the web of creation, our responsibility is not to use anything in creation selfishly (use and then throw away) but to live and work with all parts of creation in harmony. For the past two centuries Western human beings have used creation as their personal possession; not showing any accountability to the rest of creation for any damage done to the atmosphere, the soils and the waterways. We have lived disconnected and irresponsible toward creation.
Now, what are the flood waters in BC telling us about our interconnectedness with all parts of creation?
Our Christian faith calls us to care for our common home. Our prayer can bring us into the very heart of God and God’s great love for all creation. This can give us courage to ask the hard questions and then to take appropriate actions to live more simply and not do any damage to creation.
Our faith can give us the energy and power to work towards sustainability. First, we must begin by loving all parts of creation as God loves all parts of creation.
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