Ranger Rick Goes to a Christian Camp

As a child, I loved visiting National Parks (I still do, but more on that another post).  And National Park Ranger naturalists were my heroes.  I read “Ranger Rick” Magazine and enthusiastically traveled with my family and I traveled through the great parks of the west. I marveled at Rangers: these fit, rugged and highly-educated and intelligent souls who knew about every tree, could hike for days and could so winsomely teach lessons for respecting and caring for nature. “Take nothing but pictures, leave nothing but footprints,” they would say.  Don’t litter, don’t graffiti, stay on the trail, and be willing to clean up and fix up where others may not have adhered to these simple “rules” of courtesy and conservation.  In short, the goal was simple: “Leave every place better than you found it.”

And I never once heard any of them so much as mention God or a Creator at all. They were likely all biologists that assumed a naturalistic view of the world.  I just thought they were cool. 

Later as a teenager who camped at the foot of many granite rock faces before a day of climbing, or who on some memorable occasions backpacked into the wilderness to spend the night under a starry sky, those few rules became a means for serving the God whom I had come to know “proclaims his handiwork” through the heavens (Psalm 19), “covers the heavens with clouds” (Psalm 146:9), and “names the stars.” 

As a young Christian I often went river trips and skiing excursions, rock-climbed, attended Christian camps in the mountains.  Many times I heard speakers use the starry skies or majestic mountains as reminders of God’s goodness and glory.  Many breathless mornings, thoughtful evenings, and prayerful nights were spent in the middle of the beauty God has made.

Looking back I realize that there was both a continuity and discontinuity between my childhood tutoring at the feet of the Rangers and my adolescent discipleship from Christian speakers in beautiful places.  In both cases, there was a love for nature and genuine awe for all around me, but while the “naturalist” Rangers (for whom faith was never part of the topic), were inspired by nature to teach conservation, the Christian teachers never mentioned it.  They pointed to the Creator well, but never taught what creation requires of us, the "glory" of God's creatures. It was all about worship, not stewardship, about debating evolution, not protecting the environment. 

And very often later as a young youth pastor, I noticed a troubling disconnect with the kids whom I took into beautiful places.  Very often, Christian kids who wanted to worship God on a mountain look out, would cut the switchbacks of the trail causing erosion.  Some years ago, our own church youth group had a most troubling reputation for leaving the beach awash with litter after a campfire and sing-along.

Christian camps taught me to look to the stars of the heaven and consider in awe and wonder how a great God even considers a small mortal like me (Psalm 8)  But it was very human (even humanistic?) mortals who taught me how to respond to the Creator in the most responsible, practical ways. 

As a pastor I have been thinking more and more about how to bring together worship and stewardship, how we learn demonstrate that we belong to our Creator by serving HIM in our care for creation.  How we witness to the glory and goodness of God, even amidst those who turn nature into idolatry or an expression of pagan beliefs.  It seems to me that whatever the outcome of the long debate over global warming, no matter whether those who share a love for the environment share our love for God, and whether or not everyone concerned shares the same worldview, we all share the same world.  And as Bible-believers, we have deep convictions about both the Creator and the creation our primary responsibility as human beings, and our ultimate purpose as God’s new humanity.

If nothing else, we could bring together “Ranger Rick” and Christian camp lessons with one simple idea:  “Leave this world better than we found it…in the name of Jesus, to the glory of God.” 

Comments

[Derek Simmons]

Tod:
Oh for the simple rules of all those naturalist Ranger Ricks:
“Leave every place better than you found it.” But how do those of us with a Christian Worldview extropolate those "simple rules" into precepts that are Biblical?

Are the places where these pictures were taken better than when they were in their "natural state"?

http://www.lichfield-cathedral.org/westfr.jpg

http://www.graftonvermontproperties.com/images/white_church.jpg

http://wwwlb.aub.edu.lb/~jk09/images/Paris/eiffel%20tower%20lucy%20and%20jeremy.jpg

Is the bloodsoaked battlefield of Gettysburg better off than when the "victors" found it? If the Union is better off, how does that figure in to the "simple rules"?
Are the wild California rivers better off than when they were dammed for hydro electric power and other human uses? What about California and all users of the Western power grid?
Is Trestles better off with or without a toll road? What about Orange County? Is the ranchland now known as Camp Pendleton better off because of tanks and artillery? What about the USMC and the country for which they fight?

What are the simple rules to answer these and other not-so-very-simple questions-- questions that involve what many would characterize as an rightful exercise of God's grant of dominion but others see as "missing the mark" of His command concerning "tending and keeping"?
Simple? No, it's anything but!

Your Brother in Christ,
Derek Simmons

[Roy]

Tod:
I don't believe there is anyway of leaving the things of this earth better than we found them, I just look back on the places and things of my youth and it's not going to happen. I believe the Lord just wants us to live the best we can and drag as many out of the fire as possible!
Roy

[Tod]

"Simple? No, it's anything but"

Ah blessed be! Another place where Derek and I agree. The fact that a "rule" or "lesson" is "simple" doesn't mean that the application of it isn't "difficult". It takes wisdom, discernment, humility and courage. As I hope to make clear in future posts, I am not arguing willy-nilly for any particular point in the myriads of environmental debates, but instead for Christians to enter the discussions as Christians and even more so, to act and become known as those who are truly most committed to the "Cultivating and keeping" God's good earth.

While the idea of "Leaving the world a better place than when we found it, in the name of Jesus to the glory of God" is relatively simple, doing so practically will be no less complicated to discern then any of JEsus' infinitely more authoritative maxims of "turning the other cheek," "giving to all those who ask of you", "forgiving others" and so on. A simple, i.e. uncomplicated, idea often takes great wisdom to act out.

Roy, I hope to continue to demonstrate that "dragging as many out of the fire" as you put it, is really only the merest beginning of being Christ's body on earth.

Thank you both for writing.

[DLE]

Tod,

We have the same story. I had a Ranger Rick subscription and my family loved to go to parks. I was heavily involved with the Cincinnati Zoo as a teen, and eventually taught there as a volunteer. I worked in Christian Camping for many years and also taught outdoor education in that setting.

I also find most Christians blanch when I start talking about godly stewardship of Creation.

Oh well. Don't stop being the oddball. Maybe we oddballs will get through to the rest of the flock some day.

[Ranger Gord]

If god didn't want people to litter, then he wouldn't have created park rangers.