In Loving Memory of Dennis Dow, Oct.22/52 - Oct.28/13
The traditional burial service contains words such as these: “Unto Almighty God we commend the soul of our brother departed, and we commit his body to the ground; earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust; in sure and certain hope of the Resurrection unto eternal life, through our Lord Jesus Christ, at whose coming in glorious majesty to judge the world, the earth and the sea shall give up their dead...” (1928 Book of Common Prayer) Our bodies are irrevocably connected to this “stuff” we call earth, ground, dust. But do we ever stop to consider whether what we’re standing on is more than just inanimate material?My brother Dennis, whose remains we are ‘planting’ in the earth following his lengthy struggle with leukemia, was a true advocate of the soil. A quiet evangelist for the earth – not the planet Earth per se, but the thin and delicate skin that covers a tiny fraction of its surface and sustains plant life that humans depend on for existence. An ‘evangelist’ in that as I look back he has essentially ‘converted’ me, at least in how I view soil.
I say “soil” and “earth”, not “dirt”: there’s a subtle distinction in the labels we apply. “Dirt” sounds like something lifeless, devoid of value, to be trodden upon. But Dennis viewed that precious top 6 or 8 inches of farmland as something much different – a fragile, responsive, vulnerable living ecosystem to be protected, nurtured, and valued. “Soil” is not to be “treated like dirt”!
Yes, I too went to “soil science” classes at University of Guelph and learned the various mineral elements that went into making up the land farmers cultivate – combinations of sand, silt, and clay formed over centuries from underlying bedrock. But it was Dennis that helped me appreciate most the quasi-living quality of soil. He almost cringed to think of how heavy equipment (taken for granted in conventional ever-larger factory-farm methods) would press massively upon and compact the soil, squeezing the tilth out of it, battering it into passive submission. Over three decades he patiently managed his farms so the organic matter would be built up incrementally year after year until the fields became almost sponge-like, capable of soaking up even heavy rains that would cause other fields to flood and run off in torrents, eroding precious layers of soil. It irked him to think how traditional tillage methods relentlessly ripped up, dissected, and exposed the subterranean microcosm so organic matter was needlessly burnt off. It grieved him to see other farmers’ cropping practices “mine” the soil in such a way that, after many decades, it had lost much of its original growing potential, relying upon massive injections of commercial inputs each spring like some junkie dependent upon their next ‘fix’ merely to keep on going.
As his own death drew near, one of things that grieved Dennis most (besides leaving his dear family, of course) was that the soil he had toiled carefully to steward for over 35 years, building it up to maximum health, might be left to be ravaged by those ignorant of the benefits of minimum-tillage ethos, under whose carelessness the fields would quickly be undermined.
Dennis’ passion as a soil advocate ‘converted’ me to the point that, when I read the Bible now, I start to see how this might be how God views the land – not as something inert or lifeless, but precious, to be protected and nurtured, a quasi-living symbiosis not to be taken for granted. Maybe God wants us to share His view of it? Something we abuse at our peril. When it suffers, we suffer.
Our origins and fate are inextricably linked to it. Genesis 2(7,15): “And the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life...The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” (Not ‘exploit’ it or ‘mine’ it: ‘take care of’ implies careful attention to and supportive investment.) Ecclesiastes 3(19f): “Man’s fate is like that of the animals...All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return.” The Apostle Paul talks about burial as a type of “sowing”: “When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed...So will it be with the resurrection of the dead.The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable...” (1Corinthians 15:37,42) The Biblical view is that the earth will one day “give up the dead” in it (Revelation 20:13).
As you read through the Bible, God does seem to come across as an advocate for the soil. The Israelites are cautioned before they enter the Promised Land that if they mistreat it and exploit it, depriving it of its Sabbaths and Jubilee years, God Himself will remove them and deport them until the land once again enjoys the relief it needs. Leviticus 25(4), “But in the seventh year the land is to have a sabbath of rest, a sabbath to the LORD.” After the fall of Jerusalem and exile to Babylon, the Chronicler points to this as a key factor in the reason the nation was punished: “The land enjoyed its sabbath rests; all the time of its desolation it rested, until the seventy years were completed in fulfillment of the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah.” (2Chronicles 36:21)
But it’s the prophet Hosea who suggests most blatantly this almost-living quality of earth, a “responsiveness” that sets it apart from inanimate objects. A rock does not respond, it’s largely unaffected if you toss it here or douse it there. But soil is responsive: it suffers if you abuse it; it flourishes if you take good care of it and treat it well, with respect and consideration. In Hosea 2 God describes how, on account of the nation’s ‘adultery’ in worshipping idols, He will “make [Israel] like a desert, turn her into a parched land...I will take away my grain when it ripens...I will take back my wool and my linen...”(Hosea 2:3,9). But later in the chapter He promises to eventually restore Israel – listen to the “responsiveness” of the soil here: “‘In that day I will respond,’ declares the LORD— ‘I will respond to the skies, and they will respond to the earth; and the earth will respond to the grain, the new wine and oil, and they will respond to Jezreel [“God plants”].’” (Hosea 2:21-22)
Coming to the New Testament – was Jesus an advocate of the soil? When Christ looked down, did He see more than just lifeless inanimate clods? He headlined the soil in at least a couple of His classic parables. In Mark 4 we find what’s typically called “The Parable of the Sower”, but when you look closely, it should really be called “The Parable of the Soils”. What’s the decisive factor, the “variable” to put it in experimental terms? Not the sower or the seed being distributed: those are constant in each scenario. It’s the amount and quality of soil that’s crucial. Along the path, the seed didn’t even hit the soil but was snatched up by birds. In rocky places “the soil was shallow”. The next patch described is soil lousy with weeds. But the last batch, which produced a good crop, “fell on GOOD soil.” (Mark 4:3-8)
Another parable Jesus gave, less well known, describes a farmer scattering seed, sleeping and getting up, yet the crop goes right on growing quite independently of him. What’s the active ingredient? Mark 4:28, “All by itself the soil produces grain...” The soil is the ‘star of the show’ in Christ’s little word-picture of the Kingdom of God.
So, as we “sow” the body in the ground, and say the traditional words “earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust,” Dennis’ heritage invites us to carry on his advocacy: to view the soil as far more than ‘just dirt’, something to be manipulated or exploited without regard. Scripture too suggests soil (or lower-case ‘earth’) is precious to God, to be nurtured, protected, appreciated and respected. Until the Day of resurrection when it responds to the Master’s call by giving up those buried therein, we’re entrusted to be caring stewards – that those who come after us may also be sustained.
