Created to Cultivate
My dog's name is Coco; but we could easily re-name him
“Smiley”. Yes, Smiley. We could name him that because Coco “smiles” at us
every time we walk through the door of our home. Yes, he smiles; (white - err ecru) teeth and all. His smile, in fact, is something we, as a family, have
come to look forward to and greatly enjoy.
While we will not be
renaming him Smiley anytime soon (if you were to see him, you would
find that Coco is also an appropriate name), the mere thought of his
name reminds me that we humans name nearly everything. We do not name things
simply because we can; though some might, and, no doubt, do so. We name because
it is part and parcel of what it means to be human. In one sense, our capacity
to name is a reflection of the One whose image we bear.
One might be
tempted to wonder, “In what way is naming a reflection of God's image?” If one
understands “image” as essentially meaning that we are God's representative or
vice-regents in this world (as do I) then you begin to see how the enterprise of
naming reflects the divine image. Chrysostom (church father, 400 A.D.) referred
to this concept of image by noting that it is “humanity's divinely
ordained role to rule over the lower orders.” This
appointment of ruling is not only expressed in the privilege of naming but also
in the responsibility of care taking. It is the greatest of privileges enjoined
with the greatest of responsibilities. The privilege of naming comes
somewhat more easily than does the responsibility of care taking. In fact, while
we seem to have the privilege of naming (and renaming) down to an art-form, one
might look around and argue that we have long since lost our sense of care taking
responsibilities.
The Ancient Israelites took their care taking responsibility
seriously. They expressed their care taking responsibility by cultivating that which was around them
in a way that it might flourish. This was seen
as an act of worship in response to God’s gift of creation. The Psalmist exclaims, “The earth has been given to the children of
man.” Proverbs 12 declares that our righteousness is illustrated and
experienced in the way we care for or cultivate that which God has given (the land, beasts, environment, etc.).
Andy Crouch, in his excellent book,
Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling, reminds us that “one
who cultivates tries to create the most fertile conditions for good things to
survive and thrive.” He continues by
saying, “Cultivation also requires . . . sorting out what does and does not
belong, what will bear fruit and what will choke it out.” This is exactly what God’s people have done
as a way of life, or an act of worship, from the beginning of
time.
Together, as Pillar Community Church seeks to reflect the image of
God in our community, we will strive to cultivate our culture in a way that
creates an environment where flourishing is possible. We recognize this means we will also have to
identify that which chokes it out. Then,
as an act of worship before our God, we will seek ways to replace it with a
vision for a community that is properly cultivated. We have a name for this at Pillar … we call
it Avodah.
Avodah is a comprehensive view of
worship that takes seriously the biblical call for God’s people to cultivate our communities (marriages,
neighborhoods, business, education, politics, the arts, etc) to the glory of
God!
cultivating desire,
Biz
"Man created in the divine image is
expected to imitate God in his daily life: how far he conforms to this ideal is
the story not only of Genesis but of the rest of Scripture," G.J.
Weham.
