March 21, 2009

The earth is the Lord’s, and all it contains, the world, and those who dwell in it. Psalm 24:1

Filmmaker Ken Burns plans to air his newest documentary series on PBS this fall. That’s good news to me, because I’ve enjoyed his previous works, especially on baseball, jazz, boxer Jack Johnson, the Civil War and World War II. What I’m most excited about is the subject of his latest venture—the national parks.

“The National Parks: America’s Best Idea” will be a 12-hour, six-part extravaganza not only showcasing many of the parks, but telling the stories of the people behind them. Here’s a quote from Mr. Burns from the press release announcing the series:

Just as many of the lands that make up today’s national parks
were the spiritual homes for the indigenous tribes who lived
there, they had a profound and often spiritual impact on the
settlers who first saw them and on the visionaries who fought
tirelessly to preserve them as the common property of the
American people…They saw in them a visual, tangible
representation of God’s majesty.

How right that the filmmaker “ascribe[s] to the Lord the glory due his name” (Psalm 29:2)! John Muir, considered by many to be the father of the national park system (who no doubt will be featured prominently in the series), certainly agrees:

I am setting here in a little shanty made of sugar pine shingles
this Sabbath evening. I have not been at church a single time
since leaving home. Yet this glorious valley [Yosemite] might well
be called a church, for every lover of the great Creator who comes
within the broad overwhelming influences of the place fails not to
worship as he never did before. The glory of the Lord is upon all
his works; it is written plainly upon all the fields of every clime, and
upon every sky, but here in this place of surpassing glory the Lord
has written in capitals.

(from The Life and Letters of John Muir by William Frederic Badè)

Every day, the Lord carves His name in huge letters all over His creation—people included. Yes, nature can be dangerous, people are sometimes annoying, and we have managed to find a million ways to desecrate what God has made. If only we’d open our eyes to the daily wonder that surrounds us!

It’s spring now. The series doesn’t start for several months. I look forward to seeing it, but in the meantime, I plan to enjoy the view right where I am.