Discover why having a sense of place matters for your faith, wellbeing and calling to care for creation, and how to build one

We Are Persons-in-Place

God is present and active in every aspect of our lives, wherever we find ourselves (Psalm 139:7-10; Acts 17:28; I Corinthians 8:6). God’s grace is related concretely to us as we are intimately bound up with our location in space and time, geography and history, ecology and society. We are not only embodied, we are embedded. We are not just persons, free-floating beings communing with other selves in some kind of void; we are persons-in-place.

Our lives are not lived in isolation or in a vacuum, or in a realm of interpersonal relationships/spiritual realities alone; our lives are lives-in-place. To live in a place is to live in relation to others who are embodied and embedded – humans and non-humans, animate or inanimate. These are our “neighbours” in the broadest possible sense of the term. Thus, a place may be defined not only by a boundary, but by a web of interactions among beings that share a common space.

Space vs. Place

Space is something we move through as quickly as possible, a transition zone between places. Places are spaces that have personal meaning for people, spaces charged with significance, good or bad. Space by itself is empty, abstract, general and neutral – in contrast to the concrete, particular, filled, emotionally-charged place. The meaning of our lives can’t be unrelated to the meaning of our places, and the meaning of all those with which we share that place.

What Gives a Place Meaning

Places can have meaning as “home” on a range of scales from apartment to planet. Closely related are feelings of identification with, attachment to, and rootedness in that place.

At a very pragmatic level, places may have significance for us because we are dependent upon them or find them useful for meeting our needs.
Some are special to us because we enjoy them – their beauty and majesty, unique natural or human past, distinctive culture, particular ecology or landscape.
A place may be meaningful because we feel some responsibility for it, wishing to preserve it for ourselves and others.
Finally, certain places may have particular spiritual significance for us, such as sacred sites.

Why a Sense of Place Matters

Part of the danger in neglecting a sense of place – and the local knowledge that comes with it – is that it becomes easier to take nature’s value for granted or deny it altogether. However, in neglecting a sense of place, there’s much more at stake than a dearth of local knowledge.

Identifying a sense of place is part of identifying a calling, and discerning the connection God asks us to have to the localities in which we dwell. Having a sense of place is crucial to understanding our own purposes as human beings. Our restoration in Christ includes restoration to our original vocation to be servers and keepers of creation (Genesis 2:15).

If you don’t think you belong where you are, how do you sense that you still matter? And how you live out your vocation as a steward where you are placed?

Learning from Wendell Berry

Wendell Berry is an agrarian champion and Christian thinker who focuses on establishing a sense of place where you live, putting down roots, and being part of the community. In his 2015 book Our Only World, he says that a deep knowledge of a particular place is crucial to understanding how to steward it well. One must know our immediate environment to care for it well.

He uses the forest industry as an example of what it means to belong to a place. After years spent in a particular forest, a forester comes to know the land so intimately that he can practice his trade without damaging the larger stock of trees.

“It is the knowledge that tells one, in a given situation, where to look or what to expect or how much is enough. … This education is ‘observational,’ and it takes many years” (p.38).

Eventually, this familiarity should lead to gratitude.

Berry’s example points to the fact that acquiring a sense of place requires time and attention. A hurried, unsettled pace of life is a trade-mark of the 21st century. One way to describe postmodernity is to say that we’re only rushing through places and not ever settling into any place. As a result, many of us aren’t even familiar with the everyday features outside our front doors. Many people don’t really know much about their local area, even if they’ve grown up there. It takes intentional effort to connect with our local human and ecological community.

Getting to Know Your Own Backyard

Perhaps the time in which we live underlines the need to slow down and take in our natural surroundings as never before, to get to know your own backyards. Though not everyone has a yard to call their own, even highly developed areas often offer parks or nature reserves to explore. City-dwellers, in particular, should build a sense of connection with creation in any way they can. It’s difficult when you’re in a city but you can do this even if you’re just growing a tomato plant in a window box.

Connecting to nature doesn’t require field trips to exotic locales. To help build a better sense of place, simply go to investigate natural areas in your surrounding neighbourhood – from tallying plant species keeping an eye on local wildlife. Even collecting natural objects is a chance to wonder at the complexity of creation. This helps us to realise there are living things out there even when you don’t see them.

Helpful Resources

For those seeking resources to explore creation, the identification apps Flora Finder, Bird Nerd NZ, Merlin, Aotearoa Species Classifier and iNaturalist are very helpful. Those unable to leave their homes at all can still deepen their sense of place through websites like Waterbear.com or podcasts like But Why?, aimed at helping children explore the natural world.

Involving Children

I encourage all parents to kindle their children’s natural curiosity when taking walks. I think a lot of it is just encouraging their natural instinct to explore and be willing to look at the little things. When they’re little, they focus on tiny pebbles and things like that. Embrace that. Teaching our children to wonder at creation can be a chance to teach them more about God, too. Adults and children alike can be reminded through creation that God calls us to care for each other and share our resources, not to hoard them.

Taking Up the Call

All of this time outdoors presents unique opportunities for Christians to take up the call to care for creation:

engaging in citizen science
picking up litter on the trail
investing in a pair of binoculars and taking up birding as a hobby

All of these things can deepen our sense of belonging to a place and impress upon us the responsibility we all carry for stewarding God’s earth.

I have noticed that assisting people to pay attention to details in nature in the context that they live in has deepened their own interest and curiosity and even inspired them to become involved in local conservation efforts.

At the 1968 general assembly of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, Senegalese environmentalist Baba Dioum’s commented:

“We won’t save a place we don’t love; we won’t love a place we don’t know; and we can’t know a place we haven’t learned.”

Creation as a Gift

The bonus is that as we spend time in creation, we recognize that creation is one of the ways God cares for us. The deep connection between spending time outdoors and having a sense of well-being is now well-established. Now, more than ever, we need sources of beauty and hope, and creation can provide just that – if we pay attention. The thing to do is to sit down and actually take a look at where you are. What places are still producing beauty and engendering serenity of soul?

Jacob once declared:

“Surely the LORD is in this place and I wasn’t even aware of it” (Genesis 28:16 NLT).

It’s key to remember that the ultimate aim of connecting with creation is connecting with the Creator; becoming more aware of our local natural surroundings can speak uniquely to us of God’s love. Everything that exists, every creature, every place, is God’s love variously made visible, fragrant, tactile, auditory, and delicious. Being disconnected from creation, then, is not only unfortunate, but spiritually dangerous. We miss out on the larger meaning of this world in which we live.

For me, communing with creation is a way to draw closer to God, no matter what else is going on. The more I appreciate creation, the more I give glory to God as the Creator.

Our Place, Our Responsibility

In short, our interactions in and with any place are opportunities to respond to what God is doing there, and to what God intends for the people and things that are part of that place. Our place represents particular given responsibilities for serving God by communicating the grace of God in word and deed, by caring for God’s creation, human and non-human. But it isn’t just a matter of responsible action; our places are also opportunities for holy enjoyment of the ordinary or mysterious, for appreciating the wonder of the everyday, and for encountering the manifold blessings that God has bestowed upon this earth.

What can you do this week to enhance your appreciation of the place in which you live and move and have your being? (Acts 17:26 NRSV)? Growing appreciation of it will foster a growing passion to protect and preserve it, and that is surely needful for such a time as this.

Questions for Reflection and Discussion

What factors in your life – particularly your faith – help or hinder your having a strong sense of place?
Think of a place that has been particularly important in your own life. How would you describe it in physical terms – how it registers on your five senses? What feelings do you associate with being there? What do you know about its history, ecology or culture? How has the place changed in the time you have known it? Is it currently threatened with degradation or destruction in any way? How would your life have been different without that place?
List elements that make up the place you most associate with “home.” Include the built environment, culture, bodies of water, flora, or fauna. How do you fit into this home-place, and how does it influence your spirituality?
As you think about the place where you live now, what do you especially value about it? What aspects upset you? Is it in need of any help?

A Sense of Place Part 1: Why Where We Are Shapes Who We Are