Explore Resources

Get Started: The Four Weeks of Season of Creation

September 18, 2011 is Wilderness Sunday

Focus scripture
Romans 8:18–27

Additional scriptures
Joel 1:8–10, 17–20
Psalm 18:6–19
Matthew 3:13—4:2 or Mark 1:9–13

September 25 is Rivers Sunday

Go Back

 

 

Download this article.

Definition

The wilderness is the domain of the wild. The outback is the world beyond fences and ploughed fields. The wilderness may be wild, but it is never alien or aban­doned. The outback may be a desert, but it is never deserted or desolate. The wilderness is alive with many forms of wild unspoiled nature. The outback is where the soul of Earth is untamed by human boundaries.

Some would argue that sometimes wilderness (midbar in Hebrew and eremos in Greek) in the Bible denotes desolate and abandoned places. True, such places are sometimes dangerous for humans accustomed to settled life. But such domains are in themselves wild worlds where unique experiences of nature are possible. In legal terms a wilderness is place where wild species are protected. A definition from the IUCN General Assembly in Buenos Aires in 1994 is: A large area of unmodified or modified land/sea, retaining its natural character and influence, with­out permanent (human) habitation, which is pro­tected and managed so as to preserve its natural condition. In its true traditional sense, however, wilderness is the wild beyond human management and the outback is a dis­tant domain without fences of human control.

Experience

On Wilderness/Outback Sunday we enter that world. We become one with the wild. We transform our place of wor­ship into the outback or the wilderness. We worship with the wild camel and the long tree lizard of the red desert. We listen to cries of celebration deep in an old growth forest far from the city noise. We identify with the wildness of the wild rather than separate ourselves as distant and different.

Our challenge, of course, is to celebrate this wildness rather than exploit these territories as domains where unwarranted mining, deforestation, and wealthy tourist venues are promoted. Where do you see the negative impact of humans on the wilderness/outback in your context?

When I sit at dawn beside the milky glacial lakes high in the wilderness of Washington State, I hear the white water whisper its prayer, the fir trees singing in praise, and trout dancing in the deep. I am worshipping with the wild.

When I watch the sun set on Uluru, the sacred rock in the red centre of the Australian outback, it progressively changes its colour as it worships – from grey to yellow, to bright orange, to red, to deep purple. I am privileged to be in tune with its silent song.

Reflections

As we read the texts assigned for this Sunday, we identify with the places and creatures of the wild and seek to hear their voices. The gospel account (Matthew 3:13—4:2 or Mark 1:9–13) for this Sunday is especially relevant. When we read as one with the wilderness we realize the wilderness is not the abode of Satan, but the special place of the Spirit who led Jesus into the wild. Satan tried to take advantage of Jesus’ location, but failed. There the Spirit sustains Jesus, spiritual forces minister to him, and wild animals are his compan­ions. In the wilderness creatures of the wild minister to Jesus and to us – including humans.

In my home congregation in Australia, an artist created a background painting of the outback that stretched all around the seating of the church. We sat and worshipped amid images of red sand, saltbush, and isolated ghost gum trees. We joined the wild in worship. We are all invited to do the same on Wilderness/Outback Sunday.

Norman Habel is Professorial Fellow at Flinders University, actively involved in social justice and ecojustice issues, initiator of The Earth Bible Series and The Season of Creation, editor of Exploring Ecological Hermeneutics and author of An Inconvenient Text.

LINKS TO EXPAND YOUR RESOURCES FOR SEPTEMBER 18

Seasons HelpLine
1.866.505.7687
(8am - 4pm PT Monday to Friday)

Send a question or note
info@seasonsonline.ca

Contact the Publisher
1.800.663.2775

Questions?