A Salutation for Creation

Thomas Traherne begins with astonishment:

From Dust I rise,
And out of Nothing now awake,
These brighter Regions which salute mine Eys,
A Gift from GOD I take,
The Earth, the Seas, the Light, the Day,
The Skies,
The Sun and Stars are mine; if those I prize…

A Stranger here
Strange Things doth meet, Strange Glories
See;
Strange Treasures lodg’d in this fair World appear,
Strange all, and new to me.
But that they mine should be, who nothing was,
That Strangest is of all, yet brought to pass.

Traherne’s old spelling slows us down. It makes the words feel less familiar, which may be part of their gift. We cannot skim them quite as easily. We have to receive them.

Dust. Nothing. Awake. Gift. Earth. Seas. Light. Day. Skies. Sun. Stars.

And then that wonderful phrase:

A Stranger here.

There is a kind of holiness in becoming a stranger again.

Not alienated. Not lost. Not cut off from home. But newly awakened, as though the world has not become ordinary through use, hurry, cynicism, or distraction.

To be a stranger in this sense is to meet creation again as gift.

The World Salutes Us

Traherne writes as though creation greets him.

The world is not dead scenery. It is not mere background. It is not a warehouse of resources waiting for human use. It is a bright region, a strange glory, a treasure-filled world.

It salutes him.

That is not quite how many of us move through a day.

We wake to alarms. We check messages. We move through weather as inconvenience, food as fuel, streets as routes, trees as background, water as plumbing, and light as something noticed only when it fails.

The world may be greeting us all day, and we may not be greeting it back.

Green Ministry begins, in part, by learning to answer.

Good morning, light that God made.

Thank you, water that God provides.

Bless you, soil that God awakens.

Lord, help me receive what I did not make.

Gift Before Possession

Traherne does not begin with ownership. He begins with gift.

“A Gift from GOD I take.”

That line matters for creation stewardship.

If creation is first a possession, then the main question becomes: What can I do with it?

If creation is first a resource, the question becomes: What can I extract from it?

If creation is first scenery, the question becomes: What can I ignore?

But if creation is first a gift, the questions change.

Who gave this?

How should I receive it?

What kind of gratitude is fitting?

How should I care for what I have been given?

Who else is this gift meant to bless?

Gift does not erase responsibility. Gift creates responsibility. The more deeply we receive creation as gift, the less casually we can exploit it.

Strange Treasures

Traherne calls the world strange, not because it is ugly or threatening, but because it is wondrous.

“Strange Treasures lodg’d in this fair World appear.”

The strangeness is part of the praise.

This matters because familiarity can make us spiritually sleepy. We stop seeing what we think we already know. Soil becomes dirt. Rain becomes weather. Food becomes grocery inventory. Trees become landscaping. Bodies become machines. Creation becomes normal in the thinnest possible sense.

But Christian worship trains us to see differently.

The ordinary world is not spiritually empty. It is full of gifts we did not earn and cannot fully explain.

Seeds know how to become plants.

Bread begins in soil.

Rain falls without our permission.

Light arrives before we deserve it.

Our breath is given back to us again and again.

Even the simplest meal is crowded with grace: land, water, seed, sun, pollinators, microbes, farmers, truck drivers, cooks, hands, hunger, gratitude, and God.

The world is strange because gift is strange.

That any of this should be ours, who were nothing, is strangest of all.

Wonder Is Not Escape

Wonder is sometimes mistaken for naivety.

As though noticing beauty means ignoring suffering.

As though gratitude means pretending the world is not wounded.

But Christian wonder is not escape. It is a way of seeing truthfully enough to love.

The world is good, and the world is groaning.

Creation is gift, and creation is harmed.

The earth salutes us, and the earth also cries out under human greed, waste, violence, and indifference.

Wonder does not make us passive. It makes us responsible. It draws us into reverence, and reverence teaches restraint. Reverence teaches gratitude. Reverence teaches repentance. Reverence teaches care.

If I receive the world as gift, I cannot treat it as garbage.

If I receive my neighbour as holy, I cannot ignore hunger.

If I receive soil as part of God’s good creation, I cannot despise the work of tending it.

Wonder is not the opposite of action.

Wonder is one of the roots of faithful action.

Becoming New to the World

There is a small practice hidden in Traherne’s poem.

Try becoming a stranger here.

Not forever. Just for ten minutes.

Go outside, or sit near a window, or hold a cup of water, a leaf, a seed, a piece of fruit, or a flower.

Look at it as though you have not already reduced it to a category.

Do not begin by asking what it is useful for.

Do not rush to turn it into an idea.

Let it salute you.

Then say:

This is gift.

This is strange.

This is from God.

Thank You.

That may be enough for one day.

A Green Ministry Way of Seeing

Green Ministry needs practical work: gardens, checklists, partnerships, compost, food sharing, children’s education, prayer cards, worship practices, and wise planning.

But underneath all of that, it also needs a converted imagination.

We need to see the world less as something to use and more as something to receive.

We need to see neighbours less as interruptions and more as holy presences.

We need to see soil less as background and more as a place where God gives life.

We need to see small acts less as insignificant and more as seeds.

We need to see the earth, the seas, the light, the day, the skies, the sun, and stars as gifts from God.

Not because we are sentimental.

Because we are Christian.

Because creation belongs to God.

Because creation is good.

Because Christ is making all things new.

Because the world keeps saluting us.

And by grace, we may learn to answer.

For Reflection

What created thing have you stopped noticing because it feels too familiar?

Where might God be inviting you to receive the world as gift again?

How could wonder lead you toward one act of care?

A Prayer

Creator God,

make us strangers here in the best and holiest sense.

Wake us again to the gift of earth, seas, light, day, skies, sun, stars, soil, water, food, breath, and neighbours.

Forgive us for receiving Your gifts without wonder.

Teach us to answer creation’s greeting with gratitude, reverence, restraint, and love.

Let wonder become care.

Let gratitude become service.

Let the strange treasures of this fair world lead us back to You.

Amen.

Source note: Thomas Traherne, “The Salutation,” verses 5 and 7, as quoted in The Story of Christian Spirituality: Two Thousand Years, from East to West, general editor Gordon Mursell, Fortress Press, 2001.