Back to Sermon List

“The Greening of Christianity”  (Mother Earth Sunday)

May 9, 2004
Sermon by Peter Terpenning
                                                                                   
Genesis 1:26, Psalm 24:1, Acts 17:24 and 28, Chief Seattle

            In the first book of the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the world of Narnia is taken over by the White Witch, who is evil and oppresses all the creatures of Narnia. It is winter all year, and never Christmas. But with help of some human children the Witch is overthrown by Aslan, the Lion who is the Christ figure in the world of Narnia. Then comes this scene that I love as the power of the Witch is gradually overthrown. Spring returns to Narnia. All of the land comes back to life. Not just the humans are redeemed, but the plants, animals, the weather and land itself is restored to life. In the course of a single day the world of Narnia wakes up, leaves pop out, animals come out of hibernation and all is new.
            This is an image I want to hold up today as a model for us as we conceive our human place in God’s creation. This is in direct contrast to the view of creation that has been prevalent in Western, Judeo-Christian-Islamic society for the last several millenniums. This view was of dominion. A single verse in the Old Testament has unduly and I think, incorrectly, molded this view: Genesis 1:26, “Then God said, ‘Let us make humans in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping think that creeps upon the earth.” This well known passage became the justification for humans doing anything they wanted to the Earth. The humans as the lord of all they survey. John Calvin wrote in his commentary to Genesis, “the end for which all things were created (was) that none of the conveniences and necessaries of life might be wanting to men”. Henry More in the mid 17th century argued that God created garden weeds to exercise the industry of people to dig them out. Even the louse was argued to have a role in teaching people cleanliness. In 1963 a minister in the Church of Scotland defended his action of shooting two pet otter cubs on the grounds that God have man control over the beasts of the field.  This attitude toward nature prompted Robert Burns to write a poem of apology to a mouse, “I’m truly sorry man’s dominion has broken nature’s social union, an’ justifies the ill opinion which makes thee startle at me, thy poor, earth-bound companion, an’ fellow-mortal”.
            I believe the dominion theory is a complete distortion of the Bible’s message about the human relationship to nature. There are multiple passages that teach just the opposite. First of all, there are two creation stories in Genesis, one from the Northern Kingdom of Israel, and one from the Southern. The second, southern passage tell of Adam (humans) being made from the dust of the earth, part of the garden, not presiding over it. God’s good dust (earth) is taken and God’s good breath breathes life into it, and a living soul is created. This human soul then takes its place among the other good creatures who are made also of earth and breath. The human creature, made in the image of God is then given stewardship over the others – responsibility for them.
            Multiple other passages, such as Isaiah’s “peaceable kingdom”, denote humans living in harmony and peace with other creatures. Job 5 reads, “you shall be in a league with the stones of the field and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with you.” Acts 17: 24 and 28 have Paul telling the people of Athens, “God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that God is Lord of Heaven and Earth, dwells not in temples made with hands….for in God we live and move and have our being, as certain also of you own poets have said.” So God does not dwell only in human temples, but we meet God everywhere: beaches, prisons, sheep pastures, burning bushes, deserts, mountains, rivers. Usually, in fact, God is encountered in nature settings.
            Chief Seattle says it as well as anyone, “All things are connected like the blood which unites one family…whatever befalls the earth befalls the sons and daughters of the earth. Man did not weave the web of life; he is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself…contaminate your bed and you will one night suffocate in your own waste”.
            This is the view of our relationship with the world that I think we must embrace. The old Western view can be described as dualism: humans as separate from the rest of creation. The correct Biblical view I believe is unity. Recent science has given us a similar lesson. I read that Quantum Physics, which I am by no means an expert in, suggests that at the deepest level the universe is a single unified whole, indivisible and bound together by a simple, yet powerful force. Professor James Lovelock’s Gaia hypothesis states that “the entire range of living matter on Earth, from whales to viruses and from oaks to algae, could be regarded as constituting a single living entity.” Rather than being in opposition to these ideas as was long held, and is still held by many conservative Christians, I believe the Bible supports this view.
            I called this sermon “the Greening of Christianity” because I think we are being called to a new understanding of our relationship to the Earth as Christians. We are called to a Green Christianity first of all because the Bible calls us to it – and second because our Earth is facing a crisis that has been induced by we humans. For too long we have believed and acted like we own the place, and that the Earth and its living things are given to us to do what we want with: exploit, kill, eat, pollute and generally ravage. This can not continue. We are jeopardizing our lives, our safety, as well as our relationship with God who expects us to live in harmony with the rest of creation and care for it.
            Peter Sawtell of Denver’s Eco-Justice Ministry says that what is needed now is a radical change in our values and our daily lives. Part of this is embracing a new way of living that affirms “being, not buying”. He calls churches to a new activitism for the Earth. Peter tells of talking to a college sociology class about some churches he was working with who were embracing a new “green Christianity”. One church, he said, discovered that a soft drink machine was a real energy hog, so they negotiated with the distributor for a more efficient vending machine. He shared this as a practical example of a change at the local level. But a student in the back row spoke up, “What are they doing with a pop machine at all?” Peter said this expresses well the different levels of commitment – moving from small, practical and easily sellable changes to a whole new worldview. The student was ready to live out an alternative way of living that would be in harmony, whereas the church was just beginning.
            The question to us is: is the goal for green churches to do good, kind and efficient things within the framework of society – or are we called to a “deeper transformation, one that may appear foolish in the eyes of society”? (Peter Sawtell, Eco Justice web site)
            Eventually, if the Earth is to be saved, we are called to the transformation of how we live and how we view our relationship to God and God’s good Earth. Someone said we should judge all our actions by how it will affect the seventh generation of children who follow us. Mother Ann Lee said, “do all your work as though you had a thousand years to live on earth and as you would if you knew you must die tomorrow”. We don’t have a lot of time left –the time to start is now if humans and the Earth are to survive for another thousand years.