Month: February 2018

Home.

That word will conjure up different things for each of us. Smells, memories, feelings, longings.

We want our children to see our home as their home. And as life goes on, we hope that they will still look forward to spending time with us, and that there’ll be a place in their heart for our home.

But the question we want to consider today is this: Can we do anything to help our children love home? And more importantly – should we? The answer, by the way is yes. But perhaps not in the way you might expect.

What Is Home?

As an adult reading this, where do you consider ‘home’ to be?

Some of us find that question easier to answer than others.

Some have moved around a lot in life, living in different parts of the UK or the world. For some, it’s hard to pin down that one place that you can truly call home.

But even if you’ve always lived here in the place you live now, you might still find it hard to say what is home.

Is it your parents home? The place where you spent your childhood and maybe have many happy memories.

Is it the place where you live now, your house that you’ve put time and effort in to making your own.

Behind all of this is a deeper question.

What is home?

What makes something feel like home? What makes one place rather than another significant to us?

I’d suspect there are lots of ways you could answer that.

It’s the place where we feel safe.

It’s the place where the things that surround us bring joy and remind us of something that matters to us.

It’s the place where we feel we can be ourselves, and feel like we belong.

Home is where we’re loved.

Home is a hugely significant theme in the Bible, even if doesn’t necessarily always use that word.

We think that most people reading this post desire after that sense of home. It’s a human desire. We want that sense of safety and warmth and belonging.

The Bible’s explanation for why we want is because humanity was created that way.

The Bible’s Story Of Home

At the beginning of the Bible, God makes a perfect world, and he puts people into it. He creates a home for them which he calls Eden, and it’s a home that fulfils all of those desires we have for home.

It’s safe.

It’s a place where the original people, Adam and Eve, belong. And they know they belong there, because they live there with God who walks and talks with them and makes it very clear to them that they are loved and that they matter to him.

It’s a physical world, and the stuff around them brings joy – over and over again God declares the stuff good. He creates plants and declares them good. Animals – good. Sun, moon and stars – good. And the Bible makes it clear that the stuff is there to be enjoyed, and to remind them of something that matters to them, just like the stuff in our home does.

The stuff of the physical world speaks to them about the God who made them – everything around them act as signposts to the glory of God, as Psalm 19 says:

“The heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the works of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech”.

Eden is home. And humanity was created to live in the security, belonging and joy of that physical world that could be called home in it’s truest sense.

And the goal of God’s creation, the thing that humanity is called to do in creation, is rest with God. God makes a world in which we can rest, secure and loved, with him. That’s what we’re made for. Home.

And because of that, that’s why home is something that matters to us. That’s why we all have this innate sense of home and why we long for it.

And of course, for many of us longing is exactly the right word to use when it comes to thinking about home. Home is more of a sense of something we don’t have than we do. We get glimpses of experiencing home, but often it seems just out of our grasp, or seems to be something from a distant memory rather than a present reality.

And even for those of us who do enjoy a sense of home… we still feel frustrations and a desire for something more.

When Home Went Wrong

The reason that the Bible gives for that frustration is the fall.

The Bible describes humanity as turning it’s back on God, and God’s response to that was to make Adam and Eve leave Eden.

Eden could no longer be home.

But that’s not the end of the story. God doesn’t leave humanity without hope. Through Abraham and the patriarchs God makes promises. A significant thread to those promises is a promise of home.

God promises Abraham that his descendents will enjoy a land that he will them, in which they will be blessed and find rest. He promises home.

But as history unfolds, it becomes increasingly clear that Canaan, the land God showed to Abraham, was never going to be the Eden-like home that we all want.

Eventually Jesus comes onto the scene. He, and the other New Testament writers, don’t abandon this search for home. In fact, they show that what was promised to Abraham was always meant to be greater than Canaan (Rom 4:13).

To truly restore home, what is needed is a new creation. A new heavens and a new earth where all of the brokenness of the world will be undone.

In his resurrected body, Jesus begins that new creation.

And as Jesus begins to rescue a people for himself, he starts to build his new creation further (2 Cor 5:17).

The new creation is here in you today if you are a Christian. Home is here, in the now.

But only in part. We live in the now but not yet. As we’ve seen, the new creation (home) is in one sense here now. But it’s also not yet here.

We live in the not yet of home too.

It’s not fully here yet in that our physical bodies are still marred by the effects of living in a broken world – the beginning of 2 Corinthians 5 makes that clear.

But it’s not just our bodies that feel the effect of sin.

The whole world groans under the effect of sin too. It is still broken, and it is still not the place where God walks among his people.

This world, as it is, isn’t home. Not if you’re a Christian. We are in part a new creation now. But we are not yet home.

We live in the now but not yet.

The Bible describes us as exiles. We’re living in a foreign land, away from home.

Hebrews 13:14 says it like this:

“For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come”.

And so in one sense, we’re just like Abraham and the people of Israel. We rest on the promises of God for a land to come, just like they did. But we have even greater confidence that God will fulfil that promise, because he’s already done all that’s needed to secure it for us.

Now back to the topic at hand.

Should We Help Our Children To Love Home?

Well of course a good parent will try to create a safe, comfortable space for their child(ren) – we want to do that.

But we want to suggest to you that there’s another home to get your children to love. And that home isn’t here.

To love our children well, we want them to recognise that this world can never be all they want it to be. Not least because they do not see the Lord face to face, but for all sorts of other reasons too. We want our children to have an appropriate sense of grief at the brokenness of this temporal home, and we want them to have a deep ache for their home to come. We want them to know that they live in the now but not yet.

So we want to learn to speak of it often, with joy. As they come against brokenness in their own lives or in the world around them, we want to remind them of why things are as they are, and point them to the time when the brokenness will be fixed.

We want to invite you to do the same, with your children.

 

“Having children is the most destructive thing you can do to the planet.”

“Want to fight climate change? Have fewer children.”

“The biggest threat to earth? We have too many kids.”

This was our findings from a simple google search about the impact of children on the environment. This sort of sentiment is widespread in the media, and there are good reasons for it. Read on in these articles and you’ll discover that in the UK alone, 8 million disposable nappies are thrown out each year. Apparently a family having one less child could reduce their  CO2-emissions by 58.6 tonnes per year! It sounds convincing doesn’t it?

But it doesn’t necessarily sound like a biblical view of humanity.

Genesis 1:26-28

When God created the world, humanity was supposed to care for and cultivate the planet. As the population grew, the environment and the animal kingdom was to flourish, not the opposite. In God’s creation mandate to humanity it was their job to procreate and, in so doing, to look after the environment. Population growth and the welfare of the environment were to go hand-in-hand.

But sadly, because of the Fall, the world is not like that.

Did you watch the recent BBC documentary series Blue Planet 2? The footage of the vast array of marine life that God has made was awe-inspiring.

Perhaps you also remember the shots of the walruses slipping off sheets of melting ice, or the baby whale dying because it’s mother’s milk was poisoned by pollution, or the sperm whale nearly choking on plastic. It was tragic. Tragic to see the effect that sinful humanity can have on the environment and on the animal kingdom.

But the answer isn’t to just stop having children.

Sometimes people suggest that if humanity was just to become extinct then the planet would flourish. But really what kind of solution is that? It’s a ludicrous suggestion which is of no practical benefit.

No, rather than empty and negative statements like that, what we need, is to be parent’s who seek to care for and cultivate our planet. And in turn to have children who will care for and cultivate our planet. Russell Moore sums it up brilliantly in his article “Should we stop having children to save the Earth?”

The rearing of children is, at the most primal level, the same impulse that should drive humanity to check a reckless, selfish form of “dominion.” Our connection to future generations, cultivated in a love for children, is one that is to spark an other-directed, future-directed domino, one that preserves and protects eco-systems for generations to come. Procreation is pro-creation.”

So are parents environmental villains? Well, the short answer is not necessarily.

There are things that we can do to care for the environment and to teach our children to do likewise.

So let’s get practical.

[[But before we do, we want to just emphasise that nothing in the following list can make us more or less loved, accepted and righteous in God’s sight. The wonderful truth of the gospel is that none of our eco-friendly efforts in life (or lack thereof) justifies us before God, or makes us more pleasing to him. Only Jesus can do that!]]

As we see God’s priority for our planet, and think about his plan to recreate a perfect new heaven and earth at the end of time, we will be committed to loving and stewarding the world that God has given us. If the planet is important to God, it should be important for us. So here are a few practical ideas…

Get an RSPB membership 

Why don’t you become a member of RSPB (or another organisation if you don’t live in the UK) to help protect nature reserves for future generations? Taking your children to see wildlife flourish in it’s natural habitat will give them a love and appreciation for God’s creation, and will help them see that their choices (both positive and negative) have an impact. If you do this and ever come to visit their amazing reserve at Saltholme… drop us a line and we may well be able to see you there!

Use cloth nappies and/or wipes

Consider switching to cloth nappies and/or wipes. While the initial outlay is expensive, they can save you £££s and more importantly reduce waste. It may not be realistic to go the whole hog – it’s better to do something in a manageable and sustainable way.

We attempted using cloth nappies with our eldest when we were brand new parents, with a temperamental washing machine and no tumble dryer! It set us up for disaster and disappointment. Now we’ve just got back into the swing of them again (with baby number two) but we use disposables at night, on holiday and for trips to grandparents. Still, even if we’re only reducing our waste by half, that’s still half.

If you’re new to reusables, then we would recommend Wonderoos for nappies and Cheeky Wipes* for wet wipes.

Organise a stuff swap

How much stuff do you have lying around your house that you don’t need or use anymore? Clothes that haven’t been worn for years, boxes of things hidden in cupboards just in case, books that look pretty but won’t be re-read? Well why don’t you have a de-clutter and invite a load of friends around for some nibbles and an opportunity to swap till you drop?! We did one recently (why don’t you use it as an outreach event too?) and were thrilled at the opportunity to get rid of our junk and pick up some great new things (mainly clothes, books and jigsaw puzzles for our boys). It’s eco-friendly, money-saving and charity-helping. We bagged up all our un-swapped goods at the end of the night and donated them to charity shops. Everybody wins!

Switch to eco-friendly household detergents

We’ve recently stopped using laundry powder and we’ve switched to soap nuts*. They are really very cheap in comparison, they cause no water pollution and are chemical free which is great for babies and adults alike. They aren’t scented so we sometimes put a few drops of essential oils in the drum, to give them a smell. We’ve also switched anti-bacterial spray and stain remover to white vinegar*. This stuff is amazing! It gets stains and smells out of clothes as well as softens them (pour some into the conditioner drawer) and well as working as an alternate for antibacterial spray and limescale remover. We’re sure it does even more, but we haven’t googled it yet! We buy it in bulk* saving money and reducing plastic.

Buy free-range meat

Vegetarianism and Veganism are really taking off at the moment. The United Nations are urging people to adopt a meat-free and dairy-free diet for environmental reasons. If you have a conviction that a vegetarian or vegan diet is right for you and your family for environmental or animal rights reasons then that’s great! We see in Scripture that there is freedom for Christian’s to abstain or eat meat according to their conscience. In our family we love meat and see it as a good gift from God, to be enjoyed with thanksgiving. However we’ve made a switch to free-range meat where possible and try to get two or even three meals out of our whole chicken (inevitably this will become impossible when the boys get bigger, as they’re only three and one years old right now.)

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Well that’s all folks. We’d love to hear your thoughts on how you seek to steward the planet that God has given us. We’d love some more ideas of things we can incorporate into our lives. Do leave a comment on Facebook or here on the blog if you’re going to try any of this, or if you’ve got any suggestions of what we could try.