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Contemporary Eucharist
The Reverend Lisa Hines
Readings: Psalm 65:5-14; Luke 12:22-31
(Opening Sentence of Service: Jesus said, "Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.")
Tuesday of this week is Earth Day, and I chose the gospel and the psalm to fit the occasion. There is a growing "green movement" in the church today, and not only in the Episcopal Church, but across denominations. Here at St. Thomas we have more and more parishioners who are becoming involved in St. Thomas Green, a group focused on reducing energy and water use at the church, as well as the amount of waste and other pollution we generate. We are also helping to educate one another on the ways in which our consumption affects the environment and people in the rest of the world. Part of the green movement and of St. Thomas Green in particular, is to become aware of just how much we consume — how many material things we think we need to be happy, and the true cost of producing and disposing of so much stuff.
If you go searching in the Bible for all the times Jesus says, "Truly I tell you, do not pollute," you'll be frustrated. Jesus isn't recorded as offering much environmental advice. That's not surprising, given the radically different situation in first century Palestine. The size of the human population was insignificant compared to today's level, and for the vast majority of people, survival in a harsh landscape was the problem, not excessive consumption. Possessions were few; "industry" was minimal. Think a potter's wheel and hand tools. Because of the poverty, waste was minimal. So, we can't lift many slogans from the pages of the New Testament for many of the critical environmental issues facing us today, like global warming and vanishing wildlife habitat. That doesn't mean that Christians can shrug their shoulders and say that destroying the environment isn't a problem so far as our faith is concerned. Jesus and his fellow Jews knew something that we seem to have forgotten, that the earth belongs to God. It isn't ours to use up. The Church fathers in the middle ages taught that the purpose of all creation is to praise God. When we degrade the water and the air and the surface of the earth, we are defeating God's purpose.
Although Jesus didn't have much to say about pollution or recycling, you don't have to flip too many gospel pages to find words of Jesus that speak to the problem of materialism and wealth. Take today's gospel passage from Luke as an example. Imagine what the management at the mall would do if you were to broadcast Jesus' words across their sound system. "Attention Mall Shoppers: Do not worry about what you will wear." They would freak, because the goal of almost every store in the mall is to whip you into a frenzy of worry over what you will wear, how you will look, whether you have the latest phone or mp3 player. "Do not worry about what you will wear." Talk about counter-cultural for today. And it was counter-cultural then as well, even though the people who were worrying had only a minute fraction of what we possess today. We all know that Jesus taught us to save up treasure in heaven and not on earth, and that God's justice requires that we share what we have with those who are in need. It's nothing new. Way back in the 4th century, St. Basil the Great summed it up in ancient words that freshly accuse us today for our lifestyles:
It is the bread of the hungry you are hoarding, the clothes of the naked that hang in your wardrobe, the shoes of those who go barefoot that fall to pieces in your house, the money of the poor that you possess and do not use. You commit as many injustices as there are things you could give away.
So, we all know what the Bible says about piling up more and more things, but none of us like it.
Nevertheless, there are those, Christian and non-Christian, who contend that there isn't room for the green movement in Christianity. Last week I saw a website set on proving that in order for Christians to be environmentally concerned, we would first have to throw out most of our holy scriptures. "Oh, really?" I thought. One of the website's arguments that Christianity is opposed to environmentalism is that the scriptures consistently put human beings ahead of other creatures. The fancy word for that is anthrocentric. And indeed, part of what environmentalists try to teach us is that all life on the planet is important, so we must consider the cost of our actions not just to other human beings, but to other animals as well, and to plants — to entire ecosystems. I lived for twenty-five years in Austin where a great deal of energy goes into monitoring the well-being of a particular species of salamander that lives in Barton Springs. The health of that species trumps the city's recreational use of the springs and development along its watershed. We can get exasperated with that sort of minutia, but it's hard to deny that what we do and how we live hasn't already had drastic effects on the nonhuman life on this planet.
So, what do we do with the anthrocentrism of the Bible? Because I concede that it is anthrocentric. In Genesis, God gives Adam and Eve dominion over the earth. We also heard it today in Luke. God cares for the lily and the sparrow, but we are of greater value to God than they. So, does that mean we can't be environmentalists and Christians? Of course not. Just because our scriptures focus on the value of human beings doesn't mean that our job as Christians is to be mindless of our fellow creatures. It helps to think why our scriptures are so anthrocentric. It sometimes helps to state the obvious, so let's remember that although the Bible is inspired by God, it was written by human beings for human beings. It's no wonder that human beings take center stage. If salamanders could write scriptures, I have no doubt that salamanders would take center stage in the holy salamander writings.
And that leads to a second reason why our scriptures are anthrocentric. So far as we know, no other species of animal or plant seems to worry much about its relationship to God, much less its relationship to other species or even to other members of its own species. Christians believe that we are made in God's image in a way that sets us apart, and that way can roughly be described as being self-aware and capable of moral action. In that sense, it's understandable why the scripture writers assumed that human beings are more valuable. However, I should point out that the early Church Fathers did teach that all creation reflects God's image to some extent, although not to the extent of human beings.
But there is another reason why we don't need to be ashamed of the anthrocentrism of the Bible. An argument can be made outside of theology that human beings are the most important life form on earth. Unfortunately, that argument can be best supported not by our noble and godlike qualities but by our sheer and singular capacity to destroy the earth! Because of our ability to reason and to think abstractly, we are able to populate this planet far, far beyond the limits of our natural food supply; we are able to create artificial worlds of ease and comfort that mask our dependence on the planet; we are able to manipulate our environment like no other plant or animal on earth. Which is why, I think, our creation story in Genesis puts us in charge of the earth. We can't just go our own way. It's too destructive. We have to take responsibility for the rest of creation. And that is what Earth Day is about.
 [Read Earth Day Prayer together]
O God, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen:
You place us in your creation, and you command us to care for it.
Your works declare glory and splendor, and you call us to praise and reverence.
Where we have degraded or destroyed earth's bounty, forgive us.
Where we have taken beauty and majesty for granted, have mercy upon us.
Where we have become estranged from the creatures
with whom we share this planet, grant us your peace.
Renew us in the waters of baptism,
refresh us with the winds of your spirit,
and sustain us with the bread of life.
In the name of Jesus Christ, and for the sake of the new creation, we pray. Amen.
Earth Day Prayer of Confession. Copyright 2005, Ken Carter
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