One of my fondest childhood memories is hiking with my dad and his Boy Scout troop with my older brother into Havasupai. I was seven years old. My father carried my sleeping bag and everything else I needed. I carried but one thing: a half-gallon tin can looped with a rope handle. Maybe a few smooth, river-polished stones or a disgruntled toad – my dad’s nickname for me as a boy was “Newt,” probably for that very propensity – I don’t remember what I collected and carried in the can, but that childhood memory has come to symbolize for me an unquenchable curiosity, a desire to know all about the wonders around me.
Rachel Carson captures the awe we all felt as children when she writes:
A child’s world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement. It is our misfortune that for most of us that . . . vision . . . is dimmed and even lost before we reach adulthood. If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life, as an unfailing antidote against the boredom and disenchantments of later years, the sterile preoccupation with things that are artificial, the alienation from the sources of our strength.
The United Methodist Church has invited each local congregation to celebrate God’s Creation on April 22, in keeping with Earth Day. While we are called to live each day in harmony, as part of God’s interconnected creation, the UMC dedicates one Sunday every year as the “Festival of God’s Creation.” The Rev. Michael Dowd will be with us this year, preaching in the morning and offering an afternoon lecture (learn more). Let’s join together to celebrate the wondrous gifts of the creative Spirit and reflect anew on our vital responsibilities as faithful stewards!