I was in the diocese of the Yukon in June for the consecration of Bishop Vincent Fenga and discussions with clergy and lay ministers. The visit was nostalgic as my family had once lived in that diocese, surrounded by boreal forest near the confluence of the Muskwa, Prophet and Fort Nelson rivers.
We did not have to go far from our home in Fort Nelson to be in the bush—just across the street and over the firebreak lay the vast expanse of the forest and its inhabitants. Early one morning my brother went out on his bike and encountered a mature lynx padding along the gravel road. Hunters in the community simply walked out their back doors to pursue game in season. Big birds like the great horned owl, bald eagle and golden eagle graced the skies, and the rivers and creeks had plenty of fish. Black bears were commonplace.
My earliest memories formed in that rich environment. To this day, certain scents in a forest, the lay of the land or the way light falls on leaves or snow will bring me back. It was there I learned to head into nature when my soul needs restoring.
As good as it is to be in wild places, nature breaks through everywhere. When we look at the sky from any location, gaze at a river, feel the wind or notice creatures in the trees on a city street, we see signs of nature.
Jesus encouraged his followers to consider nature—the birds of the air and the flowers of the field—to understand that, just as God is at work in the intricacies and interdependencies of creation, sustaining species of plants and animals, God is also at work in human lives. Jesus asks us, “Why would you think that you, alone, control your destinies? That you must look to yourselves alone to find hope and security?” Like the flow of nature, the flow of God’s creative love continues around us, even when we are anxious and preoccupied with other things.
As the liturgical Season of Creation unfolds during September, I pray that nature will restore each of you with rich signs of God’s abundant love, Christ’s irrepressible grace and the steady fellowship of the Holy Spirit.
