Rescuing God's Creation Roundup

In D.C., making student voices stronger for the caribou

by Brandon Rhodes

Fifteen college students, Peter Illyn, and myself arrived in Washington D.C. last week for Restoring Eden's Rescuing God's Creation workshop, a time of learning and lobbying Congress to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from industrial oil drilling.

It began with a light reception with the Alaska Coalition at the Wilderness Society's building.  Our novelty garnered us plenty of attention that night, being the token Christian environmentalists.  It is very refreshing and humbling to be so positively greeted by non-Christians just for the sake of us being Christians!  And refreshing to them was our assurances that we are but the tiniest sliver of a worldwide awakening of Christians actively endeavoring to love, serve, and protect God's creation.

After that delightful night, we had an intense day of learning more about the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and getting to hear from Gwich'in folks who are native to that beautiful land.  Hearing first-hand from those Gwich'in who have lived among the caribou all their life about their relationship to the land was astounding.  There wasn't a dry eye in the room as Lorraine Peter shared a pivotal experience she had at the age of 13. Laying on her stomach one afternoon, she peered out her tent to see many caribou walking through her camp.  Gratitude, reverence, humility, and awe swept through her that day.  She began to understand her cultural identity and the artistry of God in that caribou.

After the next morning's workshop on effective, sincere lobbying, our time had finally come.

We got all snazzed up (yes, Peter wore his finest eye patch, just as we promised!), strolled over to the US Capitol, found the offices of our Senators & Representatives, and sat down with their staff to "speak out for those who cannot speak for themselves."  Move over Jack Abramoff -- the new face of lobbying is here!

Some members of Congress had tried to avoid meeting with us, knowing that they had a poor voting record on protecting the Arctic Refuge.  So, some students visited their offices unannounced and kindly asked to be heard.  By the grace of God and the decency of their staff, they were.  These Congresspersons now know it: God's people are taking a stand for the "least of these" in His creation!

As a potpourri of students from Christian and public colleges, we had loads of fun getting to know fellow brothers and sisters in Christ who were also passionate about protecting God's good earth.  The electricity in many of our conversations was tangible -- how affirming it is to know that so many other Christians deeply love creation!  Friendships were made, laughter was abundant, truth was spoken, and God was honored through it all.

We can't wait for next year!