The whole wide world, that is how I learned it as a child. When you wanted to describe something as really good, you said: “it is the best in the whole wide world”. Now that is a really big place and when you are a child, this phrase really captures the world as seen through the eyes of the child.
As a grown-up, I have watched the world grow smaller and smaller due to instantaneous communications and electronic information. And with this change, I think we have lost the magic of having a “whole wide world”. That makes me very sad, to ever lose the magic and mystery of anything, but most especially of God’s creation.
You see, that is what we have done. We no longer have any mystery to see, we have nothing to wonder about with regard to our world. People have taken their responsibility for this world too lightly. We have taken from it but rarely given back. We have abused Mother Earth without apology. We act as if we have someplace else to go. And I have just named the real issue.
Christian folk, good Christian folk, often see this world as a transient place that they pass through to get to Heaven. Dr. Stan Hauerwas helped author a book called, “Resident Aliens”. Don’t get me wrong, it is a good book with a good point, but it is wrong. We are not aliens to this world, we are part of it. We are part of God’s glorious creation. Too often, the Church has taught that we are just visiting here, on our way to heaven and that quickly leads to our destruction of this world.
I think Franciscan theology is a “more excellent” way. It places us squarely in creation. Not as lords and masters, but as fellow creations. We are called by God to be good stewards of all of creation. We are called to see God in every part of this creation. We are not just passing through, we are the crown jewel of creation, humans are the only ones with free will and that makes us responsible for all of the rest of creation that does not get to choose.
Think of this………what greater thanks can we, as creations, give than to accept our roles as shepherds and stewards of all of creation. Are we not called to care for the “least of God’s children”? Are we not to be the voice for all who have no voice? That is the Christ we follow, we speak for all of creation. In this way, the mystery and joy of the whole wide world will return.
TMM