climate change – Salvaged Faith

This is Love: For Future Generations

Posted on May 5, 2019Leave a comment

Text: Leviticus 26 and Matthew 6: 25-33

It isn’t often that we turn to the book of Leviticus for the primary reading for our reflection. And even more rare that we would turn to such a difficult passage.
This section of Leviticus is known as the Blessings and Curses of the Covenant.
In the verses that precede, it reminds us of what that covenant entails: not making idols, worshiping God alone, keeping the sabbath, and respecting God’s sanctuary.
It lays out what will come to those who faithfully live by God’s decrees and keep the commandments: seasonal rain, abundant harvests, peace in the land, taming of the dangerous beasts and enemies turned away.
And that promise from the beginning of creation… that promise from the first chapter of John’s gospel… that promise from the end of it all in the book of Revelation…
If we are faithful and worship God alone…
If we are faithful and keep the sabbath…
If we are faithful and respect God’s sanctuary…
God will set up residence among us. God will dwell with us.

But.
If we refuse to obey.
If we turn our back on God’s commands.
If we stop paying attention to the way God wants us to live, then it clearly lays out what will happen: disease, crop failures, enemies will pour in, the wild animals will attack, the cities will be destroyed… and it gets worse… but I conveniently skipped those parts because they really aren’t child appropriate.
When the final destruction is brought to the land as a consequence of this sin and disobedience, here is what I find really intriguing…
“With you gone and dispersed in the countries of your enemies, the land, empty of you, will finally get a break and enjoy its Sabbath years. All the time it’s left there empty, the land will get rest, the Sabbaths it never got when you lived there.” (Leviticus 26: 34-35 MSG).

Today, on this Native American Ministries Sunday we are also taking the opportunity to celebrate creation.

This Sunday is an important mission opportunity because of the reality that as United Methodists, our heritage has been one of destruction and removal for these our siblings. In our efforts to spread the good news and expand capitalism and win the west, we forcibly removed Native Americans from the land. This effort is merely one step in acts of repentance and in working to restore and rebuild community where we have destroyed it.

While our modern Western worldview often separates us from the rest of creation, imagining that we are over and above the rest of created beings, Indigenous Peoples of the world, as Randy Woodley puts it:

“understand their relationship with creation as paramount to the abundant life God intends for all humanity. In other words, to be human is to care for creation. If we want to live our lives together in abundance and harmony, and if we want future generations to live their lives together in this way, we must realize we are all on a journey together with Christ to heal our world.” (Woodley, Randy. “The Fullness Thereof” Sojourners. May 2019.)

The pre-modern Israelites were also intimately connected with the land upon which they lived. Following God’s commands included keeping the Sabbath, giving rest to not only one another, but the animals and the earth, too. What other Sanctuary is there to respect for these wandering Israelites than creation itself? To be human, to be made in God’s image, was to steward the planet in God’s name (Genesis 1:28).
When we are faithful and care for one another and the land and worship God by caring for this earth, it is not only we who benefit… but so too the generations to come.
But this chapter in Leviticus also reminds us that when we fail to obey and when we use and abuse one another and the land itself… then the land will spit us out. We are sowing seeds of destruction not only for ourselves, but for generations to come.

On the one hand, we often reject the idea that a disease or disaster that falls upon a child is a direct result of the sins of their parents.
When a blind man was brought before Jesus, he was asked who sinned, the man or his parents, and Jesus turned the question inside out and said that the man was blind in order to show God’s glory (John 9).
But the reality is, there are long term consequences of our decisions in the world today. And as we have treated this earth as a resource to plunder or a convenience for our own sake, rather than a gift to steward, we are witnessing the impact of failing to obey.
I read a study this week that showed a link between an increase in asthma and our tendency to produce male shrubs and trees.
We prefer male plants because they don’t produce fruit and so are often far easier to clean-up in urban areas. But what we did not consider is that male plants produce far more pollen. The flowers on female plants catch and trap that pollen to fertilize the fruits they bear, removing it from the air.
But by intentionally and systematically reducing the number of female trees in our urban areas, we have unintentionally exacerbated a health problem.

All around us, our decisions are having an impact upon our planet.
Glaciers are melting.
Species are becoming more vulnerable and disappearing.
Topsoil is disappearing.
Severe weather is becoming more frequent and disastrous.
As Woodley writes, “Earth is out of balance, and as a result all God’s creation is in peril.”

Where might we turn?
How might we learn once again what it means to be in relationship with the earth?
As we hear Job speak to his friends in our call to worship, we can listen to the earth and the creatures around us.
As Jesus reminds, we should consider the lilies and the birds of the air and how God cares for them.
And we can turn to the wisdom and understanding of people like our Native American siblings who have remained connected to the land and have not forgotten what it means to respect God’s sanctuary.

In fact, as we consider this passage from Leviticus, I am reminded of the Great Law of the Iroquois Confederacy, the founding document of the oldest democracy on Earth. They included a principle that perhaps would be helpful for us today.
“In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations.”

Think again of those words from Leviticus about the impact of our faithfulness to God: abundance, peace, life for ourselves and future generations…
And hear these words from The Great Binding Law of the Iroquois where they explain this “seventh generation” principle:

The thickness of your skin shall be seven spans — which is to say that you shall be proof against anger, offensive actions and criticism. Your heart shall be filled with peace and good will and your mind filled with a yearning for the welfare of the people of the Confederacy. With endless patience you shall carry out your duty and your firmness shall be tempered with tenderness for your people. Neither anger nor fury shall find lodgement in your mind and all your words and actions shall be marked with calm deliberation. In all of your deliberations in the Confederate Council, in your efforts at law making, in all your official acts, self interest shall be cast into oblivion.

Let me just pause right there… let self interest be cast into oblivion. Doesn’t that sound like Jesus reminding us not to worry about what we will eat or what we will wear? If we think about the future generations and the world around us, our needs will be taken care of, too.

Cast not over your shoulder behind you the warnings of the nephews and nieces should they chide you for any error or wrong you may do, but return to the way of the Great Law which is just and right. Look and listen for the welfare of the whole people and have always in view not only the present but also the coming generations, even those whose faces are yet beneath the surface of the ground — the unborn of the future Nation. (http://7genfoundation.org/7th-generation/)

The love of God has been poured out in the gift of creation.
And it is a gift we are meant to pass down from one generation to the next.
Today, we choose whether we will be faithful to God’s commands and create peace and abundance and life for those who will come after us.
So in every decision you make today and tomorrow and for all your days, keep that question in the back of your mind:
How will this impact my children?
How will this impact my grandchildren?
How will this impact the world seven generations to come?

May we be faithful and love and respect God’s sanctuary – not just for ourselves, but for the generations that follow.

The Wealth in our Wallets instead of the Well-being of the World

Posted on June 1, 2017Leave a comment

This afternoon I watched the United States join two nations… Syria and Nicaragua… in being the only three nations in the entire world that are no longer signers of the Paris Climate Accord.

As I listened to the justifications, what I heard over and over again was the mention of a few economic sectors that will be impacted negatively and are disadvantaged because we are choosing to prioritize a different future for the world. Our President spoke about a drastic and unfair “redistribution of wealth” through the International Green Fund and how instead we need to put America First. His focus is solely on the wealth and wallets of the few, instead of the well-being of the many.

Well, if we are really going to put Americans first, perhaps we should think about all of these ways that Americans will be impacted if we do not make drastic changes to halt climate change. The link is the official report of the National Climate Assessment and includes data from thirteen different U.S. government agencies. The impacts include health, agriculture, energy, coastal migration, extreme weather, and are broken down by sector, region, and show the risks if we do nothing.

One of the most disheartening aspects of the argument to withdraw is that we need to stop worrying about other people and focus only on ourselves and what is best for ourselves. And yet, as I understand the Christian faith and my calling to live our the love of Jesus Christ in the world, my duty is to love my neighbor and to set free the oppressed and to care more for the well-being of others than I do myself. Even if we stick with the idea that we, as Americans, are leaders in protecting the environment, the thought that we can just take care of ourselves without helping to bring others along doesn’t even find a home in scripture. For as Jesus teaches the disciples in the gospel of Luke, we have been given this world as a gift and we are called to be its stewards. “Much will be demanded from everyone who has been given much, and from the one who has been entrusted with much, even more will be asked.” (Luke 12:48)

In this chapter filled with parables, we are called to remember the worth of even the sparrows, to guard ourselves against all greed, to sell our possessions and give to those in need, and to make wallets that won’t wear out. And then, ironically, Jesus lifts up the fact that the crowds “know how to interpret conditions on earth and in the sky” (12:56). We know when its going to rain or when a heat wave is coming. Except, it appears that our government can’t see the conditions on the earth and in the sky. We refuse to acknowledge our impact on the world around us. We are willing to put our own personal gain above the well-being of the world.

“Where your treasure is, there your heart will be too.” – Luke 12:34

Lord, have mercy on us.

The Hope of the World is Us

Posted on May 31, 2017Leave a comment

The President of the United States is currently weighing whether or not to withdraw our nation from the Paris climate accord. Political leaders within our country are skeptical about the science behind climate change and its causes. One congressman said this past week: “As a Christian, I believe that there is a creator in God who is much bigger than us. And I’m confident that, if there’s a real problem, he can take care of it.”

I’m a Christian, too. And I think God has placed this problem squarely in our laps.

For the last five or six months I have been blogging fairly infrequently, because I’ve been working hard to put into words why it is important for people of faith to care about what is happening to our planet. My new book, All Earth Is Waiting, will come out this fall along with a daily devotional for the season of Advent. I’ve spent countless hours pouring over the scriptures and asking how we are called to live as disciples of Jesus Christ in the world today.

One of the primary scriptures for the book is from Paul’s letter to the Romans. In chapter 8, we find these words:

The whole creation waits breathless with anticipation for the revelation of God’s sons and daughters. Creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice – it was the choice of the one who subjected it – but in the hope that the creation itself will be set free from slavery to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of God’s children.

The earth is waiting for us to let go of our selfish ways and begin acting like the children of God. It is waiting for us to hold in our hearts a vision of an interconnected world and to remember that every part of this planet tells of God’s goodness. It is waiting for us to see the sacred worth of the elements, the flora, and the fauna; to live gently as stewards and protectors. The life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is the source of our hope and it has and will transform our lives. But once it does, we are supposed to truly live as God’s children. Paul reminds us in this passage the world is waiting for us. Only then will creation be set free.

Two Texts: Pope Francis, the Environment, and Relationships

Posted on August 23, 2015Leave a comment

This summer, Pope Francis issued a letter to the world, “Laudato Si’” or Praise be to You which calls upon all people to care for our common home, our sister, Mother Earth.

And while it made the news this summer, one of the first thoughts I had was that, as United Methodists, we had a letter of our own like this about six years ago. In 2009, a pastoral letter was issued from the United Methodist Council of Bishops called: God’s Renewed Creation: Call to Hope and Action. (http://s3.amazonaws.com/Website_Properties/council-of-bishops/documents/grc_letter_english_1010.pdf)

If you would like to see or have a copy of our letter, you can pick one up at the table in the back as you leave today.

In both, we are reminded of the relationship between living organisms and their environment… that we need to understand our ecology: the interconnected system of water, air, soil, plants, animals, and ourselves.

From the fight over water rights in California, to our own conflict here in Iowa over nitrate levels, this summer has been full of stories about how the environmental choices we make in one location impact the whole of creation in another. And I’m not just talking about the decisions of a farmer. Each of them is simply responding to the demands of the market, which is impacted by our choices as consumers. We do not always appreciate how precarious the balance of our ecologies can be, until the weather and climate change.

As our Bishop’s letter states, “we no longer see a list of isolated problems affecting disconnected people, plants and animals… the threats to peace, people, and planet earth are related to one another.”

Or as Pope Francis writes: “the human environment and the natural environment deteriorate together; we cannot adequately combat environmental degradation unless we attend to causes related to human and social degradation…”

Everything… from the availability of quality water, to the loss of biodiversity, to the inequitable distribution and consumption of energy, violence, warfare… is interrelated.

And rather than debating the merits of specific proposals or policies, Pope Francis points us towards the foundation for a different way of being.

It all boils down to three relationships

Our relationship with God
Our relationships with our neighbors
And our relationship with creation itself.

So today, aware of the multitude of articles and stories this summer on climate change, water, drought, and the environment, let us explore the text in our scriptures that lays the groundwork for our ecology… Genesis One.

We learn in this story of a creative and life-giving God. Everything has a purpose. Everything is connected to another. The sun, moon, and starts give light and determine the seasons. The plants provide food for the animals, who provide sustenance for humanity.

Everything is a gift and nothing was made by our own hands.

Therefore, the foundation of our relationship with God should be one of gratitude.

Gratitude for every breath we take, every drop of water we drink, every creature in the multitude of this diverse, beautiful planet.

Our relationship with our creator is also fundamentally related to our relationship with the creation, because we are called to take care of this earth. Historically, we have heard verse 28 as the call to “be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, over every living thing that moves on the earth.” We look at this image of the creation and our central image in it and believe the world revolves around us.

The language of dominion and subduing has led us to believe we are called to control and use and have power over the world. It is ours to do with it whatever our hearts desire.

But when we really look at these verses in context, I think we have been sorely mistaken.

The Hebrew word in this place is not so much the idea of dominion or rule, but rather that of holding sway over… influencing… guiding. Pope Francis holds both the Genesis 1 and 2 accounts together, reminding us our call is to “till and keep” the garden of the world…. We are to cultivate and work this creation… while at the same time caring for it, overseeing it, protecting it.

In my organic ministry class this summer, I have been reminded over and over again that any good farmer cares for the soil as much as they do what is planted in it. One must protect the earth in order to work it. And one must listen and pay attention to what the environment demands and respond accordingly if you ever want to influence what might grow there.

That is far different than a more domineering perspective…. a stubborn resolve to use the earth and grow whatever your heart desires whenever you want to.

I learned about this in my own garden this summer…. (talk about tomatoes)

Even if we stick with the language of dominion, the root of dominion is in the Lordship of God. We are to be lords as God is Lord over creation… in love, in creation, in fostering diversity, in nurturing life.

This earth does not belong to us. It is a gift. As we remembered two weeks ago when we recalled the Jubilee in ancient Israel, God tells us that the land is not ours… it is God’s and we are merely strangers and sojourners upon it.

Yet in God’s gracious and loving spirit, we are allowed to take and use what we need for sustenance. We are allowed to care for this earth, and pass its gifts down generation upon generation.

Because this planet belongs to not only Adam and Eve, but all descendants, all humanity, then our relationships with one another are intertwined with the gift of creation.

Just as every plant and animal, microbe and molecule is a gift… so too is every person on this planet. The very idea of Sabbath calls us to let the earth and its workers rest, so that all be renewed. And the promise is that even if we rest and cease working, there will be abundance and plenty. God will take care of us.

The gifts of this planet are to be shared. Not only with people of today, but future generations as well.

So that all might find joy. So all might be at peace.

Pope Francis begins his letter with a description of the type of lifestyle that people of faith should aspire to… a tribute to his own namesake, Saint Francis. “He is the patron saint of all who study and work in the area of ecology… he was particularly concerned for God’s creation and for the poor and outcast. He loved, and was deeply loved for his joy, his generous self-giving, his openheartedness. He was a mystic and a pilgrim who lived in simplicity and in wonderful harmony with God, with others, with nature, and with himself. He shows us just how inseparable the bond is between concern for nature, justice for the poor, commitment to society, and interior peace… Francis helps us to see that an integral ecology calls for openness to categories which transcend the language of mathematics and biology, and take us to the heart of what it means to be human.”

May we be people who are concerned for nature.

May we be people who always seek justice for the poor.

May we be people who are committed to society and work towards its common good.

And may we be people who find inner peace as we do so.

Amen.