Certainly, this would have been your reaction had you passed the butchered little garden in front of the Gospel Chapel in Cessnock the other day, that God hates Nature. But God doesn't hate Nature. Some might even say that Nature is God, or that Nature is the art of God, but whatever the case Nature is God's creation and as such it is true and good and beautiful. So, what on earth is happening here, when trees are butchered and plants bludgeoned? It certainly isn't happening in the name of God. Which is why I wrote a little letter to these butchers giving them a piece of my mind. And I know these plants weren't diseased in case that's their reply. How do I know that? Because just the previous week, call it a coincidence, I wrote a piece on my hood entitled Ecology of a Neighbourhood and had a good look at said plants and tree which may have been a tad overgrown but nothing that would justify such heavy-handedness. God had a gentle touch last time I looked. It is the devil who bludgeons and butchers and destroys.
BEFORE
AFTER
LETTER LEFT IN LETTERBOX AND ANOTHER NAILED TO THE DOOR
What you did to those plants and tree in your chapel grounds (and in your care) amounts to nothing short of butchery. It saddens me to see such heavy-handed ignorance especially coming from those who profess faith in the Almighty. Nature is God's creation. It is an absolute disgrace that you should call yourselves believers when you behave like this.
May God forgive you.
Post Script:
Three days after posting above missive I saw the butcher-priest painting his windows. I asked him what happened to the plants and the tree. He said that the tree was leaning to one side (no it wasn't, and even if it was...) which is why he had it chopped down. I told him in no uncertain terms that if he did that to a child (in my eyes there is little difference beteen a tree and a child) he would be put in prison for the rest of his sorry life. I left him speechless with a paint brush in his hand.
