This post is about God's creation, specifically the land and the earth. The South Africa travel seminar has enabled me to see a whole different part of God's creation. I've found myself reflecting and making connections about God's creation.
"The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world and its inhabitants too."
Psalm 24:1 from the Common English Bible
In April 2024, St. Andrew Presbyterian Church hosted Dr. Nancy Stockdale, Associate Professor at the University of North Texas, for a lecture about Palestinian culture and identity. I was lucky enough to attend the lecture in-person and learned about the history of Palestinian people and about Palestinians in our modern world. One of my main takeaways from the lecture was the importance of land. As people who have been displaced for generations, Palestinians have a strong connection with creation. Olive trees and other plants are vital to families' histories and livelihoods. For the last 7 months, an ecocide (click here to learn more about ecocide) has been enacted on Palestinian land. Olive trees and indigenous plants that have been in families for hundreds of years are now destroyed. The Palestinian people have been on my heart and mind this week especially because of the many ways that Palestinians and South Africans relate to each other. Before this week, I had not though of South Africa's apartheid and the genocide in Palestine as being such strong points of solidarity for the Palestinian and South African peoples. So as I reflect on the lecture from Dr. Stockdale, my time learning in South Africa, and the importance of land to Palestinian peoples, I see the direct connection to Psalm 24:1.
"The earth is the Lord's and everything in it, the world and its inhabitants, too."
The connection to Psalm 24:1 resurfaced for me when our travel seminar group visited the District 6 Museum last week. In my previous blog post, I wrote a bit about District 6, but this is just a reminder that District 6 is one of the hundreds of neighborhoods in South Africa where people were forcibly removed from their homes during apartheid. At the District 6 Museum, we had a guided tour led by a woman named Faranaaz whose family was forcibly removed from their home when she was a teenager. Faranaaz began the tour by telling us the history of South Africa's Western Cape/Cape Point (which is the southwestern-most point of Africa). The Khoi people are the indigenous people to South Africa. They lived between the mountains and the ocean. The Khoi people used waterfalls/water passages in the mountains for drinking, cooking, etc. When the first colonizers stopped at Cape Point as their "pit stop" on a long journey, the Khoi people shared their drinking water with them. The Khoi people lived off the land and they passed this tradition to their descendants. The people who lived in District 6 had a connection to the land from their Khoi ancestors. So when the residents of District 6 were forcibly removed from their homes to places behind the mountains and away from the water, they lost this connection to their ancestors. Faranaaz said her family always felt connected to the mountains and the ocean and then suddenly, they lost that direct connection.
"The earth is the Lord's and everything in it, the world and its inhabitants, too."
Earlier this week we had the privilege to watch a 45min documentary about housing inequalities in South Africa. We learned about a resident of Langa, which is the Black township we visited last week, who has an organization in his neighborhood. The organization is mainly an art gallery but it also has a community garden and a tree-planting ministry. The founder of the organization emphasized the importance for all people to live in places with green spaces and trees. Green space, trees, and gardens improve the quality of life for people physically, mentally, and emotionally. The poorest areas of Cape Town do not have trees or green spaces; I think this is the same for urban areas in the USA, too. There is a noticeable difference between the number of trees in wealthier areas of cities than in poorer areas of cities and often this difference falls along the lines of race.
"The earth is the Lord's and everything in it, the world and its inhabitants, too."
We're taking a class this week with students at the University of Stellenbosch and it's about contemporary confessions. We are learning about the Barmen Declaration, The Belhar Confession, The Accra Confession, and the Kairos Document. The Accra Confession of 2004 is focused on the tension between economy and ecology. It's based on the theological conviction that economic and ecological injustices require the Reformed family to respond as a matter of faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Our professor, Dr. Mahokoto, emphasizes that climate change threatens the environment, disrupts communities, and destroys livelihoods. Thus, climate change impacts the economy and vice versa. Wendell Berry describes the connection between ecology and economy this way: "Whether we and our politicians know it or not, Nature is party to all our deals and decisions and she has more votes, a longer memory, and a sterner sense of justice than we do." As God's people who are part of God's creation, we are called and required to treat God's creation with justice and respect.
"The earth is the Lord's and everything in it, the world and its inhabitants, too."
The land of the Palestinian peoples is the Lord's. As Christians, we're called and required to treat the Palestinian people and their land justly and respectfully.
The land of the Khoi people and the land of the residents of District 6 is the Lord's. As Christians, we're called and required to treat the land of District 6, the land of the Khoi people, and the people of District 6 (and all areas of the world) justly and respectfully.
The land of Langa is the Lord's. As Christians, we're called and required to treat the land in Langa with justice and respect.
"The earth is the Lord's and everything in it, the world and its inhabitants, too."
Friends, I'm not exactly sure what my next steps are in relation to ecology, our earth, and our land. I don't have all the answers for what I can do next. But I plan to continue learning, praying, and finding ways to embody God's love and justice --- with people and with our whole earth. If there's one thing I've learned this week (beyond the original confession of the church, which is "Jesus is Lord"), it's that confessions serve not just as a a response to a particular crisis but as our beliefs that we are called and required to embody through our actions, not just our words.
With Love and Gratitude,
Caitlin
No comments:
Post a Comment