Theology of the land in the missional approach of UK Forest Churches

1. Theology of the land in the missional approach of UK Forest Churches

5. It will no longer do to talk about Yahweh and his people but we must speak about Yahweh and his people and his land. Walter Brueggemann The Land: place as gift, promise and challenge in biblical faith (2nd edn) (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress 2002) p.3 First edition 1978

6. ‘eres: In its usage as "earth", the term clearly refers to the created earth with reference to the creator God who governs "heaven and earth." The same term, however, refers to land, most specifically Israel's "land of promise" that Israel hopes for and holds from Yahweh. Brueggemann

7. Yahweh the people the land

9. Five Forest Churches Five visits and five interviews, seeking insight into the ways they approach faith.

10. The natural instinct for outdoor spirituality "And I just got thinking, it that's where we feel closest to God, why do we keep building buildings?”

11. So I would say, for me, as a young child, my first experience of encountering God is outside. Before I could even voice that, or articulate it in any way. . . . .I suppose the obvious thing would be the sense of awe, moments of awe. But also, just a sense of when you are outside and playing, as a small child, playing outside on the grass or lawn or whatever, and just feeling that sense of presence of God, there. Which I didn't find in a church building necessarily.

12. If nature is where I find a deep connection with God, then I should nurture that connection, not just by going for a walk but actually by going for a walk and really stopping, and trying to notice my connection with God. Or by praying or doing a ritual or something, in this place that seems so . . . you know, even when I'm not intending to worship God, if I go out in the countryside I find myself worshipping God. So to actually plug into that, and do it intentionally seems to me quite powerful.

13. "Again and again one hears of frustrated spiritual awareness or longings, which may have arisen through some kind of nature mysticism and remained stuck there. There is no language for them in a secularized culture." John HabgoodThe Sacramentality of the Natural World in David Brown and Ann LoadesThe Sense of the Sacramental (London: SPCK 1995) p. 24.

14. Earthed and embodied "These were words I was borrowing from a realm I didn't enter in the rest of the week, whereas in Forest Church, we were using language which . . . was things I was seeing every day, to do with the cycle of the seasons, and where food comes from, and what things were made from, and what creatures are around, and what their names are.”

15. And I think there's something about the fact that it's local, and we do it all year, and that sometimes it's muddy, and it's cold, and it's not as scenic as the beautiful photos that people post on facebook. But there's well actually that' the reality. Nature isn't always perfectly composed photos, it's just, it's what it is, and there's something very earthed about that. And in church, a lot of my life has felt like, it's sort of, you know church is looking for this perfect ideal spirituality, and something about Forest Church is very earthed. It's like, let's get back to what's real.

16. Like, to me, good news is that we don't have to be going for this perfect spirituality, but that a very earthed, material spirituality is actually what Jesus came to show us. And we read the gospel and they are so down to earth, they're so tactile, and physical, and it's not a way up there somewhere, it's really real. And I think that thing of getting out and not looking for nature that looks perfect, but just getting out and seeing what's here, and now, and worshipping God in the mud, and in the views that are obscured by clouds. Watching the solstice sunset that doesn't happen. {laughs}

18. Nature speaks of God "Creation speaks of God's provision in many ways.”

19. Ok, maybe its figurative, but Jesus talks about stones crying out, and the Psalmist has rocks and mountains and trees praising God. If we take this more seriously, then actually perhaps there's something there.”

20. If all comes from the same Father and all are brothers and sisters of God, then other creatures also have God as Father and are our brothers and sisters, from the snail laboriously crossing the road, to the sun, the moon, the most distant stars; that is why there is an earthly and cosmic kinship. Human beings are not shut up in their tiny human world; they live with the great community of life and include in their love all beings of creation. Leonardo BoffChristianity in a nutshelltransl Phillip Berryman (Maryknoll NY: Orbis 2013) p. 40.

21. The divine feminine The divine feminine was a significant strand to the spirituality of the whole core group from one Forest Church: "a common strand for all five of us is the divine feminine."

22. Being involved in Forest Church was impetus for the exploration of the divine feminine: "it is only since becoming an active part of Forest Church, and looking at earth centred spiritual paths that I've really begun to look at that, and actually quite seriously now, and actually it is a big part of my spiritual life. . . .It wasn't something I'd ever thought about before.“

23. "A feminist approach puts emphasis on a more holistic attitude to existence. The spiritual and material are not separate, but bound up with each other. . . . It is of interest that Celtic culture was much more affirming towards women and also had a deep respect for nature." Celia Deane-Drummond A handbook in Theology and Ecology (London: SCM 1996) p. 66.

24. Hosea’s God then is one who stands on the side of the system of values associated with localized systems of agriculture, communal ties of solidarity and mutual obligation, and customary laws forbidding usury and dispossession. The anger of the prophet is provoked not by hungry peasants worshipping fertility deities, but by the powerful men of Israel who have, in Hosea’s opinion, reduced Yahweh to an idol who reflects and serves their interests.” Alice A. Keefe Hosea’s (In)Fertility God Horizons in Biblical Theology 30 (2008) p. 21.

25. Environmental ethics "I think, for me, one of the things that has pulled me is that being the awareness that young people and children are getting more and more detached from the outdoor environment. . . . . But then the other side of it is then they don't have that love of it, or a sense of responsibility.

26. I think we're on that transition now where we've suddenly thought, we need to be not just helping people with a personal spirituality but moving that now out more globally to be considering, not just how lovely this is all around us, but also, how are we using the earth's resources, not just Wychwood Forest, but how are we using the earth's resources.

27. All of these atheist and agnostic scientists, mostly, not all of them, talking about 'why do we do conservation?' and I find it fascinating to hear atheists and agnostics trying to work out why they believe so passionately in conservation, because they can't really explain it! And yet they feel it very strongly, and then they try to work out how to argue, you know, through economic arguments, or through biodiversity arguments, lots of different things, but its like, actually if you get to the rock bottom of it, you believe in conservation because you love it, and not for any scientific reason. And I think that has to be nurtured, and each fresh generation has to be inspired, again.

28. "One of the islands' priests, Fr Dara Molloy, pointed out to me how a deep respect for one another and an intense reverence for nature are woven into the very language of many of the people. Concepts like blessing and providence are innate. God is presumed to be immanent in the world where daily life goes on."

29. "The biblical principle of justice for the poor and marginalized is the basis for ecologically sound development. The Old Testament also links the idea of God's blessing of the people with the blessing of the land. If we treat the land with respect through practical steps such as careful management of woodland schemes, along with adequate crop rotation and awareness of the potential ecological risks in use of pesticides and fertilizers, we can expect a sense of God's blessing and approval. Celia Deane Drummond

30. re: the Jubilee principle: "Humans will drift into unjust relations between each other, and will overwork animals and exploit land. But this drift is not to be allowed to establish itself as a permanent "order." Rather, it is to be recognized as a disorder that must be corrected periodically, so that human society regains its right eco-social relationships and starts afresh Rosemary Radford Ruether

31. Yahweh Outdoor spirituality earthed and embodied Nature speaks of God the divine feminine Environmental ethics the people the land