You may have noticed the blog’s been pretty quiet over these last few months! Summer can be a busy time, and it’s been difficult to keep putting thoughtful, original content out there. That’s why, as we gear up for another organizing year, we’re really happy to welcome Gord Coulson to the Earthkeepers team. Gord will be helping find, write, and publish content for our blog over the coming months. Thanks, Gord! But I’ll let him introduce himself…
-Jason Wood, EK Blog Team
Thanks Jason! I’ve lived in Vancouver most of my life, work as an IT professional, and recently completed an M.A. in Theological Studies at Regent College. I’ve been a Christian all my adult life and a member of Tenth Church Kits campus for the last five years. I’m married to Anne and have two children—Jessica and Jeff—both grown and doing well. Only recently have I discovered that as a Christian, I am responsible for the care of the earth—not in some distant, end-times new world, but now, here—in this world.
As a lifelong bible student, the news was disruptive. I knew about the Eden story and the command to look after the earth, but I never thought that meant actually confronting Power when it abused God’s creation. Wasn’t it going to be fixed when Jesus returns? In the meantime, wasn’t our duty in this world to give our life to the Lord, do good deeds, and wait for Him to bring us home? If so, then what’s the point of spending our time in earth care when we could be making disciples and saving souls? I could feel the sand shifting beneath my feet.
It started a year ago when I asked my pastor if there were any opportunities to help out. He referred me to Monica Tang, who was starting up a creation care group at Tenth and who was associated with Earthkeepers. I joined, and our group studied Living Ecological Justice: A Biblical Response to the Environmental Crisis (Edited by Rev. Dr. Mishka Lysack and Karri Munn-Venn). I learned that from Genesis to Revelation, the Bible teaches that God loves and cares for His good creation, that it is here to stay, and that we must also love and care for it. There was even a prophetic curse against those who would ruin the earth (Revelation 11:18). The biblical case was clear.
I began to pray and re-read the Bible from this perspective and started learning about the science of climate change. I was convinced, and made a decision to get more involved. I had walked with Earthkeepers in the last march against Kinder Morgan and was crushed when the pipeline was approved anyway, despite the mass of people who protested. I then realized that witnessing for the Kingdom of God and pushing this world to do better is a life-long pursuit. The Powers that would ruin God’s good earth for profit will continually oppose us and so must be (peacefully and respectfully) opposed and witnessed to. See you on the blog!
Gord Coulson, EK Blog Team
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