Whitney Williams - Let the rocks cry out

PAUL BUTLER, HOST: Today is Tuesday, August 3rd. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Paul Butler.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. Commentator Whitney Williams on nature and Providence.

SOUND: WALKING, CICADAS

WHITNEY WILLIAMS, COMMENTATOR: If God calls to us from the mountains, shall we go only Monday through Saturday?

If the sunrise over the lake stirs us to praise and the beauty of God’s creation generates wonder … if the peacefulness of a hike in the woods allows for undistracted prayer and solitude before the Lord … if the seemingly unending vastness of the ocean puts us in our rightful place, if the heavens declare the glory of God, if the skies proclaim the work of His hands, shall we pack up our tents, button up our button-downs, and rush back to our church building by 9 a.m. for worship?

The whole COVID shut down prompted many families to adopt a new outdoorsy-ness. They no longer had somewhere to be on Sunday mornings, after all. But that makes me wonder as things begin to normalize: Shall we once again shackle ourselves to a building each week for “church” or do we need to rethink this thing?

What happened to the hillside, seaside, lakeside, fireside, and outside gatherings that served as a backdrop for Jesus’ teaching? It seems that nowadays INside is our only option—with photos of mountain streams projected on the screens behind our worship lyrics.

It reminds me of the movie “Wall-E”: Humans, who took advantage of and trashed their earth, flee to space and sit in recliners with screens in front of their faces all day. They watch life instead of experiencing it themselves. Eventually, they come out of their fog. Did we miss an opportunity for God to lift us out of ours amid all the shut downs?

After all, the Bible says God’s invisible attributes, His eternal power, and His divine nature are clearly seen and understood through what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

“Ask the animals, and they will teach you,” Job says of the Lord’s sovereignty and might; “or the birds in the sky, and they will tell you … Let the fish in the sea inform you.

I know what you may be thinking: “The only thing I’m being informed of in this mosquito-ridden, 110 degree heat is hell, Whitney.” And I hear you. I’m in Texas, after all. I’m just saying … wait, let me scratch my chigger bite … I’m just saying, when the weather cools off, maybe we should get a little more creative with our worship services. And I realize that some of us will have to get more creative than others based on our location, but the Spirit IS inside us, isn’t He?

Maybe once a month or even once a quarter, church leaders could say: “Hey church, instead of worshiping at the building this Sunday, we want you to go explore God’s creation with your family. The heavens are busy declaring, after all. Write down what you hear and we’ll reflect together next Sunday in the AC. But send in some photos. We need new ones for the screens.”

I’m Whitney Williams.

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