And God Saw That It Was Good

And God Saw That It Was Good: A Spirituality Course Accompanying Ken Burns’s film, The National Parks: America’s Best Idea.

Overview

This summer, explore the spiritual significance of our national parks and the deep connections we feel with them. Whether you are visiting the parks in person, or are loving them from afar, this four-session summer film series will explore how the national parks can teach us about our relationship with both Divine Mystery and Earth. Each session is supported by a stunning video clip of the national parks from Ken Burns’s popular film.

Join us on the 4th Thursday of May, June, July, and August:

• Session 1 will introduce the series with a discussion of how and why the national parks were created and how time in the parks can bring us back to our own rootedness in the natural world.
• Session 2 discusses how the Divine Mystery seems so present to us in the national parks, and in nature more generally.
• Session 3 reflects on the human impact – positively and negatively – on the national parks and on Earth.  
• Session 4 traces how the National Park System moved beyond being solely a recreation ground for humans to a broader mission of preserving natural systems. It explores how we might expand our vision of the Divine presence to include the non-human along with the human.

Each session will be at least one hour but may at times go longer, depending on how long we linger around the “campfire” in the sacred space that is created when we are together.

BACKGROUND

This program was originally prepared by Beth Norcross, with help from Earth Ministry. Beth is educated in forestry, eco-theology and spirituality and is the founder and Executive Director of The Center for Spirituality in Nature. She designed this course after a chance meeting with Ken Burns during a screening of The National Parks.

The four-part series is facilitated for Spirit in the Desert by Sheri Brown.