The Sermon Text —Genesis 2:4b-9, 15

In the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no one to till the ground; but a stream would rise from the earth, and water the whole face of the ground— hen the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being. And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed. Out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil....

The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it.

The hymn puts it this way: "This is my Father’s world." Scripture has a different way of saying it: "The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein…" Ps. 24. 1

If you are not a believer you can talk all day about owning land and property. You can display your land deeds for everyone to see. You can waltz down to the title company and invite people to see a bunch of legal documents verifying all that you own. But, if you are a Christian you are never more than a tenant. Or at best, you are the recipient of an extended lease of perhaps three score year and ten, or even by reason of strength fourscore. Even if you succeed in keeping property in the family for a longer period, Christians know and confess that they are simply caretakers of God’s land.

The story of our relationship with God the Creator begins in the book of Genesis. The writer tells us that God blesses the world and sees it as "good," even before humans come on the scene. All creation, not just humankind, is viewed as "very good" in God's eyes (Gen 1:31). God gave the earth to us along with the command to till it and keep it, or as The Message translates it, "to work the ground and keep it in order." We are care-takers of the earth. The word is powerful, "taking care" of God’s creation. We love the earth because we love God, the owner of everything, and the one who loves us.

We were created to have a special relationship with the earth. The first chapter of Genesis (1.28) says, "And God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth."

It is clear that some have believed that to have dominion over the earth means to dominate it. Hardly. It means, "Be responsible for it." We are to care for the earth as the Creator cared for it. To have dominion is not to exploit the earth, but to love it, embrace it and defend it if necessary.

All believers ought to be environmentalists. We may disagree on how to love and care for this world, but we shouldn’t disagree that it should happen.

But we have not always loved the world God has created. We have treated it like an ashtray, dumping our refuse and letting someone else clean up after us. To switch metaphors, we also treat the earth like a gigantic buffet. We pick whatever we want assuming that the resources are endless. Both poor and rich exploit the earth’s bounty for their own ends (Amos 5:6-15). Mostly, however, we have been careless.

Sin lies at the root of our current crises. The earth is a planet of beauty and abundance; the earth system is wonderfully intricate and incredibly complex. But our careless disregard for the air, soil, and water cast a dark shadow over the future health of our home. We face unprecedented threats. Most of our threats are global and stem from what we have done and what we have left undone. Our current practices may so alter the living world that many wise people wonder whether we will be unable to sustain life in the manner we know.

In the United States we have frequently not been lovers of the earth. We have spoiled huge sections of prairie, creating dust bowls. We have clear-cut forests, losing valuable trees and creating erosion. We have hunted animals into extinction. Thankfully, individuals and governments have taken actions that are making a difference. Still 19 animal species are on the endangered list in Wisconsin alone, including: The Bald Eagle(which is coming back), two species of Plover, the Canada Lynx and the Gray Wolf.

In the industrialized nations we need to take a long look at our excessive consumption. Not only have we used a disproportion of the world’s natural resources (oil, minerals) our consumption appears to have a huge impact on deforestation in other nations, acid rain all over the planet, and wastes that are being poured into the world’s oceans.

A second problem, certainly connected, is the relentless growth of human population worldwide. More people, more consumption. More people, more solid waste. More people, more possibilities to pollute.

One of the reasons we are concerned about such things as water and air pollution, is that it has a disproportionate impact on the poor, the very people God has told us to care for. In our center cities, air pollution has a major impact on the people who live there. Our Lord was forever supporting the poor, and charged us to do the same. What is clear is that the most vulnerable among us suffer more from environmental decline and they have the least access to relief from their suffering. In terms of air pollution the asthma rate in center cities far exceeds that of those who live where there is clean air. One of the advantages of our Circle of Love program that annually brings children from the Chernobyl area of Ukraine is that they have several weeks where they have good water and clean air to breath.

Toxic waste sites don’t occur in wealthy neighborhoods. Wealthy people won’t allow them to develop. Not so some of our poorer neighborhoods. When we care for the earth we are frequently supporting the poor among us. Caring for people is the issue with all environmental issues, including global climate change. At its core it is not an issue of economic theory or political platforms. It is about the future of God's creation and the human family. It is about protecting both the human environment and the natural environment.

We are called to live according to God's wisdom in creation, which brings together God's truth and goodness. Wisdom, God's way of governing creation, is discerned in every culture and era in different ways. In our time, science and technology can help us to discover how to live according to God's creative wisdom. We need to listen to the wise among us, the prophets who cry out for change.

I am certain that we need wise legislation to assist us in our environmentalism, but my task is not to tell people what legislation to pass. In fact, I believe the church needs to first get its house in order before it speaks to the government. Before the Quakers called for an end to slavery they worked to rid to have all Quakers free their slaves. Only when they had their house in order did they think they had the right to tell others what to do. We in the church ought to live environmentally friendly lives before we tell the world how to live.

I can’t tell others how to live, but I do want to share how my family is attempting to approach this situation. Our first challenge is to tithe environmentally. The goal is to produce ten percent less in waste, and to consume ten percent less in non-renewable resources. Here are some of the kinds of things we have started doing.

We are replacing our light bulbs with more efficient Energy Star compact fluorescent ones. I’m told that for each incandescent light bulb I replace with a compact fluorescent bulb, I reduce my annual CO₂ production by 500 pounds. I’m not totally sure what that means, but it seems like a step forward.

We compost our grass, our garbage and our leaves. We have done this for thirty years. Why waste our leaves and waste city resources to pick up our leaves when they can work for us. We have found a place on our property where we can compost everything. I have a worm farm, where I put most of my garbage. The worms eat it and we use the tailings for fertilizer. We have compost bins for weeds and grass. All of this creates a wonderful rich humus which we use in our flower beds.

We are committed to purchasing appliances (washers or dryers) with the Energy Star.

We have ordered two fifty-five gallon tanks to store rainwater. It appears rather simple, and means we have excellent water for our flowers and plants. When the rainwater is used it doesn’t sweep debris into our lakes.

Here is what we are not doing. We are not using our automobiles less. I need to find a way to share rides, use public transportation or somehow cut my driving. Most of my driving is solo driving. I can do better.

I’m not telling you what to do. You can find your own way. Many of you do far better now. If you decide to tithe you will find a way to use less.

For Christians all of this begins with a renewed love affair with the world we live in. It begins when we look more carefully at the birds, the trees, the water, and the world around us. It begins when we approach the world with radical amazement, falling in love with God’s world all over again. It means we will pray our way through God’s world. This kind of prayer will include words, gestures of gratitude and thanks. If we are living in gratitude, if we are constantly thanking the Creator for this incredible world, I’m certain we will find a way to live with it in a way that is healthy and whole.

© 2007