Ecology’s Story

In many respects ecology is the new discovery of our time. It helps us understand how our world works. In my lifetime ecology has expanded and stretched the traditional view by linking the lives of snails and sparrows with human beings. This reinforces the belief that all life is important. But just how important is a previously unknown plant or insect discovered in the rain forests of Central America? We may think the plant or insect is unimportant but suppose that it produces a chemical that can cure a dreaded human disease. Suddenly something thought unimportant becomes valuable. Yet the truth is the whole earth has value—the insect and plants significance is not found in its relationship to humans. Value is presumed even when we have not found significance. It’s the connectedness that makes all life important—every part.

Yes the universe is profoundly ecological but that’s not the whole story. The smaller story of ecology is simply a strewn piece of a puzzle without the larger story of what God is doing in Jesus Christ. God’s creation is marked by interrelatedness: Man and woman in mutual relationship, love in relation to truth, the individual in relation to society, humanity in relation with the environment, the present in relation to the past and future.

Ecology can help the church perceive the breadth and interconnectedness of its mission and underscore the twin truths of unity and diversity.