Castings: July 17, 2026

God and earth

There is an uncanny resemblance between our behavior toward each other and our behavior toward the earth.
– Wendell Berry, The Art of the Common Place

Jesus consistently uses agrarian images to help us see God’s kingdom: wheat and weeds, sheep and goats, seeds and rocks, soil and harvest. This tells us something about God and the earth. God didn’t create and abandon. Rather, God created something holy, to be used for our growth and good. The creation is a living thing, one that St. Paul tells us waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God. God creates a living place for us to be with God and to learn about each other. We are taught to pray that God’s kingdom will come to us now, on earth as it is in heaven. Earth and Heaven, Earth and God’s Kingdom, the two are intricately connected. Perhaps the invitation is less about seeking an afterlife floating on clouds, and more about finding God in the clay and mire of the earth in which we dwell, the love of neighbor, the figuring out what is wheat and what is weed. How we live with the earth and with each other points to how we want to live with God.