Wednesday, June 8, 2016

            On the weekend, 3-year old grandson William, his Dad and I went down to a park on Lake Ontario. The Jack Darling Park stretches along the shoreline and includes a conservation area known as the Rattray Marsh. It is a very family-friendly park. William enjoys the play-areas with slides, monkey bars and climbers.

            After a while,  William suggested that he wanted to go to another place where there was also a play-area. It was about a ten-minute walk, so off we went. This play-area was quite close to where the marsh began.

            When we got to the play-area, Nick noticed a large turtle smack-dab in the middle of the play-area. She had dug a hole in the playground mulch and was laying her eggs. She was just finishing up when we arrived and we watched her slowly cover the nest and then begin her way back to the marsh. She was stressed and exhausted. She would very slowly crawl a few feet and then rest.  Then repeat.

            A man, who it turned out to be a conservationist, was guarding the turtle.  The man was waiting for animal control. Apparently it is illegal to disturb such a nest. Nevertheless, this was far from the best, ideal location for mamma turtle to choose as a site for her babies to be born. It would be hard to cordon off the area for next 3 months.  It was a long way from the marsh, or the lake, at least by turtle speed. It would constantly be run over and trampled by children who would not know the eggs were there. It was easily accessible to racoons and coyotes who live in the area. There may not be many survivors from that nest. We left before any decisions were made.

            The apostle Paul wrote about the labour pains of Creation in his letter to the Romans, just hoping, anticipating, expecting that there will come a re-Genesis, or better yet, a new Genesis in which all of Life is restored to its original purpose and fulfilment.  “For Creation awaits waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God… that the Creation will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the glory of his children of God”, (Romans 8:19, 21).

            By instinct, any little turtle that breaks out of that play-area will head to the one place where it will be the safest (the marsh), but the journey will be perilous. So we too break out of sin and brokenness and the journey may be risky but we face the odds and strive to reach that place where we will be safest and secure. God’s perfect place for us may seem a long way off and an exhausting trip is ahead of us, but nonetheless, we are called to lead the way that anticipates a new creation.

            Moreover, God has placed Jesus’ people, the Church, right in the middle of the busy, dangerous, risky places of the world, to become stewards of this hope and promise.  We are born (again) into a busy, often predatory environment and yet we are called to become witnesses that speak and demonstrate God’s abounding Love which is awake and alive in that world.

            So friends, break out of your shell. You can’t hide in there forever.

 

Dale