Letting the creatures sing their songs too

Tonight our congregation sang the song "Indescribable" made quasi-famous in evangelical Christian music circles by Chris Tomlin. Like a surprising number of contemporary songs, it speaks quite correctly of God's revelation through His creation. It also notes the biblically correct concept that the totality of creation has a role in praising the Almighty.

One line came back to me a few hours later when I saw a news report about the killing of orangutans.

Every creature unique in the song that it sings. All exclaiming
Indescribable, uncontainable, You placed the stars in the sky and You know
them by name.
You are amazing God

Our fellow primates are on the verge of extinction because we (indirectly and unknowingly) really, really like palm oil. Oh, sure most of us don't go buy a big jug labeled "Palm Oil" but it is in much of the processed food that we eat. That oil doesn't come from naturally occurring trees in the jungle. It comes from massive plantations in places like Indonesia, which is where the orangutans used to live. Learn more here.

Most of us in the church, though, have divorced ourselves from the impact we have on the world that our Father has created and entrusted to our stewardship. This weekend I shared some basic consumption statistics with an acquaintance of mine (U.S. has 5% of the Earth's human population but uses 30% of the energy; it would take about 5 Earth's worth of resources if everyone on the planet consumed at the rate we Americans do). He's a thoughtful, well-informed guy, but he exclaimed, "I had no idea." Well, join the club---it's a large one, but hopefully it's getting smaller as the ranks of Christians who take seriously their stewardship responsibilities grows. (The smaller green club already has some cool members like John Stott.)

Oh, and by the way, I once shared a room with Chris Tomlin. We weren't "roommates" in the traditional sense, but I occupied his old room in an apartment at Texas A&M just after he moved out and we met a couple of times. Perhaps I should look my old roomie up. He's singing some good stuff and hopefully the message will soon be going from the lips of the Church to the hands that we give to the Body of Christ.