"Earth Day Every Day"
A sermon by Pastor Bill Chadwick
Oak Grove Presbyterian Church
April 25, 2010
Psalm 104 Genesis 1:24-28, 31
We begin with an imagined conversation between God and St. Francis today.
God: St. Francis, you know all about gardens and nature. What in the world is going on down there?
What happened to the dandelions, violets, thistle and stuff I started eons ago? I had a perfect, no maintenance garden plan. Those plants grow in any type of soil, withstand drought and multiply with
abandon. The nectar from the long lasting blossoms attracts butterflies, honey bees and flocks of
songbirds. I expected to see a vast garden of color by now. But all I see are these green rectangles.
St. Francis: It’s the tribes that settled there, Lord. The Suburbanites. They started calling your flowers
“weeds” and went to great lengths to kill them and replace them with grass.
God: Grass? But it’s so boring. It’s not colorful. It doesn’t attract butterflies, birds and bees, only
grubs and sod worms. It’s temperamental with temperatures. Do these Suburbanites really want all
that grass growing there?
St. Francis: Apparently so, Lord. They go to great pains to grow it and keep it green. They begin each
spring by fertilizing grass and poisoning any other plant that crops in the lawn.
God: The spring rains and warm weather probably make grass grow really fast. That must make them
very happy.
St. Francis: Apparently not, Lord. As soon as it grows a little, they cut it, sometimes twice a week.
God: They cut it? Do they then bale it like hay?
St. Francis: Not exactly, Lord. Most of them rake it up and put it into bags.
God: They bag it? Why? Is it a cash crop? Do they sell it?
St. Francis: No, Sir – just the opposite. They pay to throw it away.
God: Now, let me get this straight. They fertilize grass so it will grow. And when it does grow, they cut it off and pay to throw it away?
St. Francis: Yes, Sir.
God: These Suburbanites must be relieved in the summer when we cut back on the rain and turn up
the heat. That surely slows the growth and saves them a lot of work.
St. Francis: You aren’t going to believe this, Lord. When the grass stops growing so fast, they drag out
hoses and pay more money to water it so they can continue to mow it and pay to get rid of it.
God: What nonsense. At least they kept some of the trees. That was a sheer stoke of genius, if I do
say so Myself. The trees grow leaves in the spring to provide beauty and shade in the summer. In the
autumn they fall to the ground and form a natural blanket to keep moisture in the soil and protect the
trees and bushes. Plus, as they rot, the leaves form compost to enhance the soil. It’s a natural circle of life.
St. Francis: You’d better sit down, Lord. The Suburbanites have drawn a new circle. As soon as the
leaves fall, they rake them into great piles and pay to have them hauled away.
God: No! What do they do to protect the shrub and tree roots in the winter and to keep the soil moist
and loose?
St. Francis: After throwing away the leaves, they go out and buy something which they call mulch.
They haul it home and spread it around in place of the leaves.
God: And where do they get this mulch?
St. Francis: They cut down trees and grind them up to make the mulch.
God: Oh, my Me!
We’re silly, aren’t we?
As is the case with many of the world’s ills, at the heart of the matter is bad theology. During the
Industrial Revolution people read those words from Genesis in which God gives over the world to man’s (and I use the word intentionally here, not inclusively)…over to man’s “dominion” and chose to interpret that to mean the people could do whatever they wanted to the earth and the water and the air and the animals.
But that, of course, is not what the Genesis writer intended. The word translated “dominion” means to
“have stewardship over,” “to care for” that which belongs to someone else. Just as when you borrow
someone’s car or someone’s sweater you plan to take good care of it, knowing it doesn’t belong to you.
In mistreating the creation we are clearly violating God’s intentions. It’s the essence of the definition of sin: we forget who is the Creator and who is merely a part of the creation. We act as if we are God.
But we are not. Remembering that is the key to environmental stewardship. The word “human” is at its root very similar to the word “humus” and the word “humility.” Humility is the key to effective
stewardship of the Creation. We are a culture that wants a lot of stuff and we need it now and we need it cheap. We don’t want to wait for a bus, we need to move fast, on our schedule. We don’t want fruit with the slightest imperfection in it and we don’t want a weed in our yard…the list goes on. It’s a culture of arrogance and immediate gratification. In contrast with the famous tenet of the Iroquois
Confederacy, in which decisions are made on the basis of how they will affect one’s descendants down
to the seventh generation.
Again, humility is the key to effective stewardship of the Creation.
It is encouraging that more people, including evangelical Christians, are taking environmental issues
seriously these days. You don’t need me to remind you how critical this is. The planet is seriously
endangered. Many scientists are warning that we don’t have a generation to make major changes.
We need to make major changes in this decade or we will have gone over the tipping point. I won’t go
into the details. So what do we do?
Disclosure time: I could live a lot simpler and more earth-friendly than I do. We own with my younger
brother a 20 year-old runabout boat which is totally an unnecessary luxury and is a source of some
pollution. I could move closer to work and cut down on my driving. I could grow more of my own food.
Every other year I reluctantly put weed killer on our lawn. We could live in a smaller house. And so on.
I need to do a better job of living in harmony with the earth. So if I point fingers I recognize that three are pointing back at me.
That said, I am going to suggest some things we might do in this area. And there are, of course,
literally thousands of suggestions. It’s overwhelming. So I am going to limit myself to four: one tiny,
one medium, one big, one giant.
Tiny. Later this summer I am going to suggest we do a Bike to Church Sunday. That’s a day I’m
really going to wish I lived closer.
Medium. The Session Tuesday night approved the formation of a committee called Earth Friends to
make suggestions to us for how we might be more “green” as an institution and as individuals. This will be a subcommittee of our Building and Operations Committee—which already does a pretty good job in this area—and will work closely with adult ed in offering educational opportunities in this area. If you are interested in serving on the Earth Friends Subcommittee please let me or the church office know.
Big challenge. Earlier this week on the radio I heard a speaker say that the single most important thing anyone can do for the environment is plant a tree. What?! That is so far wrong it’s not funny! (He is in the tree-selling business.) Planting a tree is a great thing to do, but is ridiculously far from the BEST thing we can do.
Think of an environmental problem. Get it in your mind. Now what causes that problem? And what’s
behind that immediate cause? And what’s behind that? I submit that if you trace any environmental
problem—water pollution, global warming, chemicals in the air and soil, you name it, every
environmental problem is traced back to… too many people. Now, I am not talking to those of you who
already have finished your families, whether you have zero kids or 12 kids. I’m not trying to embarrass
anyone. I’m talking to those of you who have potential procreation yet in your future. We can recycle
cans to kingdom come, we can insulate our homes, we can drive hybrid cars, but the single biggest
thing a family can do to help the environment is to limit family size. I am dismayed that this is
receiving so little attention these days. It’s a no-brainer. And we can’t just point our fingers at people in developing countries. The typical American child will consume 10-12 times as much of the earth’s
resources as a child born in a developing country.
Now, Giant: Any guesses as to what I am going to suggest?
I distinctly remember the first time I read that the earth was running out of oil so we needed to start
developing alternative energy sources. How long ago do you think that was that I first read about an
impending energy crisis? Over 40 years ago. The predictions were entirely accurate. So why has so
little been done? Why are we still dependent on oil to run our cars and to heat our homes?
And what is the true cost of oil? If we figure in government subsidies of the oil industry, cleanup costs
of pollution, the staggering cost of having our military flung across the globe to protect oil interests and shipping lanes—not to mention the lives lost—our gasoline does not cost us $2.89 a gallon. Our
gasoline costs us between $10 and $15 a gallon. So why are we still dependent on oil? Over the past
forty years why have there not been the same sort of subsidies for alternative energy sources that are
cleaner and that don’t send money out of this country? Lack of political will. Because Congress is
financed by Big Business. It is simply the reality of American politics and it is the ball-and-chain on
every effort to develop alternative sources of energy. How do they compete with the subsidies of the
petroleum industry?
Now, I’m not saying that Big Business is entirely bad and is the cause of all the world’s problems.
There is sin enough in every direction. I am grateful for businesses that make jobs and pay salaries.
But…for Business the bottom line is the bottom line. And the earth pays the price for that. You and I
pay the price for that.
What I am proposing is that the single, most effective thing we can do as Americans to help the
environment is campaign financing reform. That would allow our elected officials, most of whom truly
want to do good, can be unshackled to make the hard decisions needed to save the planet!
So, four things to help the planet. Tiny: bike ride. Medium: be part of the Oak Grove Earth Friends
Committee. Big: Limit family size. Giant: Campaign Finance Reform.
Let me finish with some words of hope. The Creation, Mother Nature as we like to anthropomorphize,
is incredibly resilient if we give her a chance. A few decades ago eagles in this country were nearing
extinction. Once DDT was eliminated they came back much faster than anyone predicted.
Lake Washington in Seattle in the early 20th century had raw sewage dumped into it. After treatment
plants around the lake were in place things got a bit better, but fertilizer runoff from suburban lawns
became the big problem in mid-century and algae growth was rampant. Many native species of fish,
crustaceans and other life were in danger. By October, 1963, the Post-Intelligencer called it "Lake
Stinko." Cleanup efforts began and again, the recovery was more rapid and more complete than the
scientists predicted. (http://www.washington.edu/research/pathbreakers/1955c.html)
A few years ago our then-presbytery executive, Judy Kolwicz, reported at a presbytery meeting on her
recent trip to Scotland. This was just shortly after the Mad Cow epidemic went through the UK and the
livestock were all killed to help prevent the spread of the disease around the world. Judy reported that
when Scotland’s sheep farms started over with new breeding stock they found an amazing
phenomenon took place. Ewes, the mama sheep, which would normally be expected to have one or
two lambs each spring, regularly had two or three instead. The flocks were back up to full size much
more quickly than expected.
God’s Creation is so full of life, fecundity and fertility, if we just give her a chance. May we be faithful! |
