Caption This Photo, and Then Do Something About It
The heavens are the Lord’s heavens, but the earth [God] has given to human beings. – Psalm 115:16 (NRSV)
John McConnell was born near the beginning of the 20th century, the son of a Pentecostal preacher. He carried the faith he learned at his father’s knee as he made his way through the various advances and horrors of the 20th century. When he saw “Earthrise,” the first picture of the earth taken from space, in 1968, he was powerfully moved. He thought of humanity hurtling through space alone on that blue marble, and the thought of the verse above as a sort of caption for it.
The earth had been given to human beings by God, he believed, and we were screwing it up. Everything from nuclear war to plastics were ruining what God had given us. And though he did believe in a God that is active in human lives, that picture of our lonely planet convinced him that if anyone was going to help it fix its problems, it was going to have to be us. Nobody was going to show up and do it for us.
So, after a long career as a peace activist and educator, he turned to his next and greatest project: a day set aside to draw attention to the ecological balances we were throwing out of whack, and to recommit to peaceful coexistence. The first Earth Day was celebrated in 1970, and has been every year since, all because the son of a preacher man took both ancient faith and new discoveries seriously.
Some read Psalm 115:16 and say, “It’s ours; we can do what we want.” Some see the photo and say, “There is no God; we can do what we want.” McConnell, on the other hand, looked and read and said, “Good gifts are meant to be cherished.”
Prayer
Make me a John McConnell. Amen.
About the AuthorQuinn G. Caldwell is Chaplain of the Protestant Cooperative Ministry at Cornell University. His most recent book is a series of daily reflections for Advent and Christmas called All I Really Want: Readings for a Modern Christmas. Learn more about it and find him on Facebook at Quinn G. Caldwell.