Ecological Lens Questions (weekly questions)

Each week we will review these questions as a way to help us focus on our relationships and interconnectedness.

Ecological Lens Questions

A. Where are we? 

• How does our location in time & space affect our hearing of the text? 
• What might the original writer have seen out the window and how does that differ from our view? 
• How might the text speak in light of current environmental issues?

B. Noticing non­-human elements: 

• Name the species or ecosystems mentioned or implied in the text. 
• Are we overemphasizing the importance of humans in this text at the expense of the rest of creation? 
• How can we hear the unique presence, value and spiritual significance of nonhuman entities in scripture?

C. Including creation in our community 

• What interconnections are evident between humans, land and other living things? 
• Can we articulate the interests of nonhuman beings in the text? 
• Can we empathize with a river or a bird? If they could speak, what might they say to us? 

D. How is God at work through creation? 

• How is creation involved in God’s redemptive work? 
• Can we see God at work in creation’s ability to generate life, provide for its inhabitants and heal itself? 
• Have we over‐emphasized God’s redemption in human history at the expense of recognizing God’s sustaining presence in nature? 

E. Connecting with Christ:

• How is Christ involved in creation? 
• In the restoration of creation? 

F. Human justice and ecological justice 

• Does this passage show a connection between injustice to humans and damage to the Earth? 
• Does it offer guidance in caring for the most vulnerable people? 

These questions are adapted from The Season of Creation: A Preaching Commentary, by Norman C. Habel, David Rhoads and H. Paul Santmire.