Being that it is Christmas break, I have finally found time to read a book that is not related to classes, which is Kingfisher’s Fire by Peter Harris. And, thanks to Christmas break once more, I finally get to write a blog post!
I have been wanting to read this book ever since I got it during the Renewal Conference in October (a gathering of students from around North America involved in creation care). I recieved it for free because it is written by the founder of A Rocha, which is the organization that I am helping to lead on Westmont’s campus. For those of you that don’t know, which is probably 99% of you, A Rocha means ‘the rock’ in Portuguese and is an International Christian Conservation Organization. Which is quite the mouthful whenever you want to explain it… So, being that I had about as much knowledge of A Rocha as any random person, I figured that it was about time that I read this book which chronicles the development of A Rocha.
This book is very simple in structure, but very potent in message. The shape of it is basically a chronological description of the growth of A Rocha from one field center in Portugal to 17 national organizations. This in itself was quite extraordinary to read because of this happening in only about 25 years. I really enjoyed this story of how A Rocha has progressed over the years. At first, A Rocha was a field study center in Portugal ran by Peter Harris, his family, and others that were gathered with the same creation care passions. They worked to conserve and restore local habitat by involving the local community in innovative methods. Most remarkably, all of these efforts were done out of their love of Christ and his work, which is why this organization has turned out to be so unique. (This is quite extraordinary in that there doesn’t seem to be any other organization like it. A distinctly Christian conservation organization is still a new concept today.) So, as the work in Portugal began to stabilize, A Rocha began to spread around the world as Peter Harris helped to start up other centers, and other interested Christians began to implement the practices of the original center. A Rocha Lebanon helped to save a critical wetland in a war torn country, and A Rocha Kenya initiated an ecotourist venture to save a forest which in turn would provide funds for children to attend secondary school. It was so interesting to read about how A Rocha could take on different roles in each situation and how the Bible could be uniquely adapted to each situation while still retaining the message of the Gospel.
I really enjoyed the way that this book had me look at my own goals as a Christian in conservation. It was incredibly gratifying to read their theology, which is very holistic in its look at the world, and non-escapist. They don’t just care about creation in that they sacrifice human relationships in favor of saving species, and they don’t see creation as simply a means of satisfying human needs, and thus as dispensable in favor of human advancement. They desire to give creation the same value as God gives it. God desires that all species ‘be fruitful and multiply’, and He desires that we ’serve and keep’ creation. He doesn’t desire that we trample creation in order to provide ever more wealth for ourselves, and he doesn’t desire that we worship creation and thus lose site of the creator. A Rocha’s mission is to worship our creator God who desires that we give the same value to his creatures as he does, which means habitat destruction and environmental degradation in the name of human advancement and leisure is not the right relationship. That kind of view does not have God at the center. Yes, Jesus came to save, but He came to save all of creation, and creation is about relationships. And that is why I respect this story of A Rocha so much. It is less a story about saving one wetland, or one species than it is a story about Christians desiring to serve out their vocation as stewards of God’s creation. The most encouraging part of it was the community aspect of A Rocha. Environmental callings can so easily become hostile to humans that humans become this part of the environment that should never interact with the rest of the creation. This sentiment is easy to fall into, as I myself have pondered, therefore it is great to read about the harmony with all of creation that A Rocha expounds. Such a vocational slant towards conservation has the propensity to bring criticism from some Christians. Some may say that this ignores the Christian call to convert, but I think that it genuinely fulfills the Christian call in that it desires to form right relationships with all of creation, not just humans. I think that it is detrimental to human relationships when we try to remove them from the rest of creation. When we hurt our relationship with creation, we are inevitably hurting our relationship with God. This doesn’t mean that everyone needs to become a conservationist, but I do think that Christians need to adopt a more biblical view of creation in that we must be aware of how our actions in everyday life can neglect our responsibilities that God has given us towards all of creation.
I was very taken in by this book, in that it was theologically refreshing, and substantially satisfying in its description of the work of A Rocha. I definitely recommend it because of its relevance to many issues of today, its examples of suffering and joy in Christian communities around the world, and its ability to put the Western mentality in a different light being that A Rocha is international. Peter Harris does end up name dropping a bit, but it appears that he has formed so many relationships that he feels indebted to all of the wonderful people that helped to make A Rocha a reality. But, most of all, read this book because it doesn’t just show the work of humans, but the work of God through us, which can be seen in so many beautiful ways.
