Finding God at the altars of nature

BYANTHONY GATHAMBIRI IMC

Nature is God’s icon. It could be a holy door to meet God. Holy men and women seemed to understand this fact better than most. I am enthralled at how these great people discovered their mission in those natural places. They did so not in the busy streets of Johannesburg or Nairobi or London, but in the still environments.

Elijah experienced God in the cave at the mountain. At Jordan River, Jesus was baptised and then spent 40 days in the desert. St Anthony the Abbot left for the desert to find God and became the founder of monastic life.

Scientists of this age spend days and nights in front of screens in well-furnished laboratories. They are glued to their computers. They work within the framework of those sages who accepted the environment to talk to them. Yet, Sir Isaac Newton sat under an apple tree when he discovered the gravity theory.

Today, the gulf between the human person and their environment is huge. Isn’t it absurd to restrict our worship to structures when we have untainted altars of nature?

Does ordinary contact with nature touch us? When we eat fresh food, do we feel the taste? When we pass beautiful trees, do we notice them? When we pass through flower gardens, do we smell the sweet different fragrances? How alienated are we from our environment?

It feels good to get away from the daily noise of the engines, loudspeakers and traffic for some time; away from the smelly haze, exhaust fumes and chemicals.

Last year I climbed Mount Kenya, the dwelling place of Ngai, the god of the Agikuyu people. Every shape of the tree canopies was a fingerprint of God to me. It felt like a spiritual journey.

Nature can uplift our souls if allowed to. Many retreat centres have natural settings, large rural areas and gardens in urban centres, where people have an opportunity to hear God speak.

Man sees trees, animals, land, grass and even other human beings with a trader’s eye. He asks: “How much could this land sell for? How much could this indigenous tree cost? And how much could this rhino horn sell for.”

We fail our ancestries in faith and science when we disrespect nature. When we destroy our environment through our untamed habits, we deface the holy icon of God. We should repent of the sin of biocide—the crime of killing living things.

A moral conversion is necessary if we want to hear God in the birds, in the flowing river and in the swaying trees.