What On Earth
Psalm 24
Two years ago Dr. Francis Collins, head of the Human Genome Project, and one of the world’s leading scientists stunned the world when he wrote a book explaining how science has convinced him that God exists. Collins had heard every argument against faith and for science and he can refute them all. In his book The Language of God, Dr. Collins takes readers on a tour of modern science showing that physics, chemistry, and biology can all fit together with belief in God and the Bible. He explains in elegant detail that were it not for God’s perfect design, the universe should have collapsed onto itself by now.
Sometimes we forget it was not a design team of scientists and engineers who put together the solar system. Sometimes we forget that physicists did not design the orbits of the planets. Sometimes we forget that biologists did not shape the earth with a diversity of plants and animals and microorganisms, all of which live in dynamic AND now threatened interdependence. As scientists AND people of faith uncover how it all works together, the more we can appreciate the magnificence of God’s design! "The earth is the Lord's, and all that is in it.”
But what on Earth do we do now? It’s hard to hear the song of the Psalmist in 2009 and not think about the fact that our planet is in crisis. Perhaps that is the point. “Our carelessness has set creation at war with itself. From visible pollution of our air and water to massive toxic waste dumps to species extinction, the planet is facing assaults from human activity as never before.
For the last forty years, environmental concerns have involved scientists, engineers, lawyers, architects, urban planners, writers, poets, artists, and ethicists as well as government at all levels, businesses, nonprofits, hospitals, and schools.
In short, it has involved practically everyone, except the churches.” Thankfully this reality is finally changing. Ecological theologians and Christian ethicists are challenging long held beliefs and teaching us how to find guidance from our faith in navigating this crisis. They are finding that God’s own perfect creation came programmed with clues to its own healing. Thanks to former Vice President Al Gore, the world is beginning to pay attention.
(Show film clip from An Inconvenient Truth.)
The earth is the lords and everything in it and it needs our help. When we consider the intimate relationship between our Creator and creation its unthinkable how reluctantly the church has come to the environmental table.
There are two “take-aways” in my message this morning. Here is the first one. “Faith communities are recognizing that, even more than a problem for public health, public policy, a sustainable economy, or even ethics, the state of our planet reflects a CRISIS OF SPIRIT.” Clearly we have forgotten who we are and whose we are, when we harm or squander the home we’ve been provided. Our self-serving attitudes about the natural world are endangering our survival and the survival of every species we inhabit this God given world with!
So what had changed?
At long last we’re not standing behind our own arrogance in the belief that we have dominion and can do anything we want to this planet. That crazy idea is finally extinct. We no longer hear church leaders say we don’t need to worry about the environment because God has a mansion for us in heaven and living here on earth is too temporary for us to be concerned. To believe literally that humanity has dominion over God’s creation misses the point that God cares for a vast world beyond human knowing.
Evidence of God’s care for creation comes also in the form of the incarnation of Christ--yes the incarnation! In the incarnation, God did a new thing. God so loved the world that God became material. The spiritual and the material joined together in radical interconnectedness. God’s desire to be materially related to all of creation is a clue to the sanctity of matter. Life itself is a sacrament.
We need only re-read the Old Testament to see that the covenant with Noah spoke to God’s commitment to all life, human and non-human alike! As God’s children, we are called to covenantal responsibility on behalf of all creation. We’re the beings with the big brains who have the means and the potential to participate with God in co-creating health and healing. That’s what separates us from the animals.
So knowing that, how did we get here?
The destruction that threatens all life is the result of human greed and human us-first-ness—near complete spiritual alienation. We’ve put ourselves at the center of the universe and we’ve asked God to move over. Combine that with harmful industrial methods and levels of consumption that are not sustainable and we have a real mess! The three most urgent crises are global warming, water availability and biodiversity.
Here is my second take away. The harm we are doing to the planet and those we share the planet with, we are doing to ourselves. Worse, when we hurt one another, hurt this planet and the life God placed here and we are hurting GOD. Why? Because the world is one big cosmic whole. Imagine--- Michael Jackson had it right—WE ARE the world-literally. God has called us into partnership for social transformation and the renewal of the earth.
Going forward we must treat the relationship of science and spirituality with reason and reverence. Spiritually, the stakes are higher for people of faith. We need to repent from causing the crisis and instead become active co-creators in the solutions; solutions like what just happened at the G8 summit in L’ Aquila, Italy. President Barack Obama our partners have reached a historic consensus on climate change and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. The World Council of Churches working group on Climate Change met at the end of May 2009. Twenty five people, representatives of churches, specialized ministries and ecumenical organizations came from Asia, Europe, North and South America and the Pacific met to discuss on the ecumenical vision on Climate Change beyond the upcoming Copenhagen summit.
Here at home AGC has an eco justice team. Every month your eco team will provide another way we can make a difference. You and I are the continuation of the good news if we get involved.
When we come to the communion table today, I’d like us to see it with new eyes. Depending on the faith tradition you came from, the Eucharist is the “central expression of the Incarnation in worship. This is where God and the material world come together. May we remember that we and this wounded earth are all gathered to Christ and in Christ are called to work as one body for a new creation. The Earth is the Lords and everything and everyone in it. What will be our response?
Sources
Portions quoted from Rev. Martha Kirkpatrick, Episcopal Diocese of Maine’s Missioner for Environmental Stewardship, from her essay “For God So Loved the World; an Incarnational Ecology.