Verbum Humanum

My family and I spent the past weekend in upstate New York with some of our closest friends, courtesy of my pastor's parents.  Their house sits on the side of a large, steep hill overlooking forests, farms, and one of the Finger Lakes.  To say the scenery is spectacular would be an understatement.  There was something very incongruous about playing soccer in the backyard and looking over your shoulder to see this vast expanse of nature, not a tall building in sight.  Being so high up, you were really able to take in the "big sky".  I remarked to my friend Steve that this was "God's country".

Having grown up on Long Island and having spent many years working in Manhattan, trips like this are very refreshing.  One interesting thought I had (among many) was the contrast between the city and the country: in the city, we behold skyscrapers and other equally impressive buildings, the work of man's hands, and we marvel that man could create such wonder.  In the country, we behold the work of God's hands, and marvel that God could create such wonder, ex nihilo.  The city is built to serve man's wants, desires, lusts, to display his mastery over the elements, over technology.  In the country, man works the land with has hands, coming into direct contact with creation, and cultivating it.

I am not editorializing about the merits or shortcomings of either the city or the country.  There can be much wickedness on a farm in the middle of nowhere, just as righteousness can flourish in a city.  Man carries his wicked heart with him wherever he goes.  Calvin's idea that the heart is an idol factory is one to keep in mind.  I also acknowledge that in beholding the wonder of man's creation in buildings and architecture, I am implicitly beholding the glory of God, in whose image man is made.  That said, I still think the contrast is interesting.