Let an Unpolluted Heav’n and Nature Sing

Multiple times in the week, I am asked what I enjoy about the area in which we now live. I have many answers, from the taste of delicious South Asian dishes, the bustling bazars with their dozens of varieties of fish, fruit and veg, and the friendliness of locals, to the golden rice fields, the bursts of colour across the sky in the form of various birds, or the dozens of boats criss-crossing the many rivers of this land. All in all, I enjoy living here.

But there is one thing that annoys me, and that is the litter. Granted, as South Asia goes, our particular area is not the worst, but last week I was in another area that reminded me just how bad it can get. And even within our city it is a frequent occurrence to see people just chucking rubbish out the window of a bus, or tossing an empty bottle off to the side of the street.

As I walked along behind a man casually tossing a used wrapper on the roadside, I was struck again by just how much our worldview shapes the way we engage with every single aspect of life.

South Asia is mostly a mixture of Hinduism and Islam, in various ratios across different countries, or even different states within a country. Both are religions with no view of restoration of the physical world.

In Hinduism, there are four yugas, or ages, of millions of years, each one steadily declining and disturbing the cosmic balance of things. At the moment we are supposedly in the final, and therefore worst one. Denigration of the world’s political situation, moral uprightness, and natural systems etc., is to be expected. Eventually it will all be destroyed in a cataclysmic event… and then reborn into the cycle again. If that’s the case, who cares if the holy river is a cocktail of rubbish, human waste, and carcasses? Why would it matter if there are rubbish dumps the size of many-storied buildings? At the very least, it’s very not important if I chuck my rubbish on the side of the road.

In Islam, after the Day of Judgement, all true believers will enter paradise, which certainly has plenty of physical aspects to it; perfect peace, and unending supply of every physical desire of one’s heart, in one of the various garden-like levels therein. But as for the earth itself – it shall be burned up in judgement. That being the case, why should governments really care about how much farmland or natural beauty is being encroached upon by concrete monstrosities? What concern is it that the air quality in the cities is equivalent to smoking multiple cigarettes a day? One day, this world will be destroyed and won’t be our problem anymore. So why invest time and energy in it now?

Now, to be sure, I don’t think that having these world views is the sole factor in determining how polluted one’s country will be. Socioeconomics play a part in access to things like good recycling facilities. Corruption exists in governments that means money is diverted from seemingly unimportant issues, such as pollution, until they reach a point of no return. Education on many of the effects of these things is non-existent. But nonetheless, it is worldviews that shape those in power too, even if only in what takes priority, or what vision leaders cast for their country.

This led me to thinking about what kind of hope that Christmas holds out for even things like massively polluted cities. And on its own, it doesn’t. Christmas, for Christmas’ sake, doesn’t add much value to what has already gone on.

What shall we tell the world? “God entered our world 2000 years ago!” Wonderful. Wasn’t that nice that those folks all the way back then could know him. On its own, it might speak volumes to the humility of the transcendent God who drew near to his Creation. But it doesn’t give any hope to anyone today, any more than Lord Ram being born in India according to their epics.

Even stripping away all the Western materialism, having a focus on Christ’s birth, does not by itself hold out any hope that would incline a heart or hand to actually change their habits. To affect the here and now. After all, even the millions upon millions of Hindus in South Asia will look at the incarnation, shrug their shoulders, and say, “Very interesting. We also have our gods becoming men on this earth.” In fact, in terms of focus on incarnation of deity, their religion is, in a sense, far more built on the concept then even Christianity.

I know how my own heart has, more than once, been stirred by Christmassy sentiments to focus on a singular event, to the exclusion of the importance of the rest of the story. But praise God, that the whole counsel of Scripture points to an even better hope. A constant pursuing of mankind, to the end that they may enjoy God’s presence forever. From the wasteland east of Eden, to Moses refusing to go to the Promised Land without God’s presence, to the call of Leviticus to come nearer and nearer still, into his intimate dwelling. From the Temple of Solomon where fire fell, to the presence following his people into exile. To a wait of a few hundred years. And then he came. He tabernacled with us, he ate with us, got tired with us, wept with us.

But it was not just for the people back then. The whole trajectory is to bring heaven to earth. One day it will be made new, and we shall have his presence there forever. Christmas is a time for Matthew and Luke and a few of the prophets. But it is also a time for Revelation 21 and 22. To have Immanuel, God with us, forever! The incarnation only matters if it’s a possible reality for all of mankind to be able to enjoy God’s presence, not just some folks in Bethlehem a long time ago.

Now, what has this to do with pollution?

One day we will be there. Yes, there is judgement to befall this earth. But the heavenly gardener will make all things new. We will be in that land where the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flows from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the New Jerusalem. And on either side will be the tree of life, with its twelve kinds of fruit. The leaves of the tree will be for the healing of the nations. Blessing will flow from an incorruptible King, to every corner of the earth.

This earth is not to be destroyed. Its ultimate telos is to be a place for the dwelling of our God with his people, for eternity, as heaven comes to earth. Christmas, the presence of God with man, is realised in its fullest, and ultimate sense. Christ’s perfect work has seen to that. So, we have hope for how this world will turn out. God’s dwelling with man, made possible through the incarnation. The Christmas story is not a mere dot on a timeline, a disconnected story of a god who once upon a time set foot on earth. Rather it is the fulcrum that turns the entire trajectory of the cosmos, to bring the realisation of a better reality than even Eden had ever been.

Those who have this hope live differently. Our eyes are focussed on the renewal of the world. Not just a vain hope that somehow, we can turn the tides of time, to preserve the earth for another generation or two. This is the Christianity influenced western materialist view, which at least is a bit more active than the Hindu or Muslim patterns. The heart that yearns for the fulfilment of the Christmas story, is seized with the hope of what this world will one day be. Of what people will one day be*. And it acts, to see that hope break through the clouds of despair, nihilism, and apathy towards God’s creation. Both world and people. The burning of that hope drives us to action, as we await that eternal day, when we sit on the shores of fruitful rivers, clear as can be.

God, dwelling with man, in a new creation. What a day that will be. This Christmas, we, along with creation groan as we wait in anticipation for the revealing its glorious future.

Joy to the world; the Lord is come;
Let Earth receive her King;
Let ev’ry heart prepare him room,
And heav’n and nature sing.

Joy to the Earth, the Savior reigns;
Our mortal songs employ,
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains,
Repeat the sounding joy.

*Here, pause and read The Weight of Glory essay/sermon by C.S. Lewis