All Our Relations

I’d like you to think back a moment, if you can, to 1970. What were you doing in 1970? It’s a lifetime ago and some of us were not even born then but most of us were. If it helps, 1970 was the year that Simon and Garfunkel’s ‘Bridge over Troubled Water’ was at the top of the charts. I was in secondary school and planning to become a missionary in Ethiopia. Anyone else care to share what you were doing?

A few other things happened that year: the US invaded Cambodia, Apollo 13 made it to the moon and back, four students were killed at Kent State, and the Beatles split up.

It was also the year that growing concern about pollution led to the first Earth Day and the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency. Since then, the Clean Air Act and the end of leaded gas have enormously reduced pollution. But at the same time, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased by 30%,[i]  the average temperature has increased by 2.8 degrees (F), and sea levels have risen by over 6 inches.

Even though we think of God as the Creator and scripture starts with the creation of the cosmos, the Church was slow to catch on to the need to focus on the environment. Although Earth Sunday started to be celebrated in 1970 it wasn’t until twenty years later that churches began a serious focus on Creation each September.

Like everyone else, we pretty much took nature for granted. And some of our ideas have helped to alienate humanity from the rest of Creation. We can see now that these are distortions of the gospel but for generations they have been unexamined. The first is that humanity is in charge of the show – that we were created to dominate the rest of Creation. Although it seems that we have a particular role in Creation, the idea of dominion which comes from Genesis is contradicted by the New Testament and also by our lived reality. The second is that we are just passing through this life and what’s important is what happens next. The implication is that this world simply doesn’t matter. This is directly opposite to Jesus’ teaching.

But we are heirs to a tradition that tells us that humanity is more important than anything else and that takes the natural world for granted, in fact sees it as less important than human flourishing. And so we have failed to see our dependence on insects for pollination and we use insecticides so that we can eat fruit and vegetables without blemishes; we failed to see that when we cut down the rain forest to grow beef for cheap hamburgers or for palm oil we are cutting the very source of our planetary flourishing.

In the 26 years since that first Earth Day we have become increasingly aware of the connections between every part of Creation and we are witnessing devastating effects of our effect on the planet. I don’t need to spell out the effects of climate change or remind you of the decline of non-human species. Since 1970 there has been a decline of 70% in the number of vertebrate wild critters.

The roots of our current environmental crisis are spiritual. And that’s where we come in, as agents of transformation. Yes we are smaller than a mustard seed, but the promise is that the reign of God starts very small, in fact starts very small and hidden in the soil but can grow into a large shrub that provides safe haven for birds and insects and food for animals.

We are coming to realize that the cross is not just a symbol of God’s love and God’s participation in human suffering, it’s not just a symbol of our personal connection to Jesus, but rather it is a symbol of God’s participation in the suffering of all Creation. Wherever there is pain, there is God. And wherever there is resistance to the powers who crucify Creation for their own ends, there is the cross and there is the power of the cross.

And wherever the cross is, there too is the seed of resurrection. And my friends, we are the people of resurrection.

There’s a passage in Romans 8 which was not selected for our readings today because the readings are focused primarily on the importance of non-human animals, but there is a passage which talks about the whole of Creation waiting as if on tiptoe for the people of God to realize their true identity in Christ.

And why is Creation waiting so eagerly for us?

Because we are the mustard seed. The redemption of the cosmos is already secure but is being worked out through us. As we realize our identity as the daughters and sons of the living God we can move ahead without fear, knowing that ultimately nothing can harm us as we are held in the love of the Godhead. And so we can stand up against the powers that are harming this world, just as Jesus did.

And those powers are not hidden. Every day we see them writ large – might is right, we are entitled to take whatever we want. The future of the planet is unimportant in comparison to current desires and industrial growth and growth is limitless.

These, my friends, are not the values of the reign of God. The fruits of the Spirit are non-violence, love, joy, peace, sharing and patience. The people of the Spirit live with open hands, giving and receiving generously, not holding on to what they have, holding everything lightly as a gift from God to be shared.

This is the alternative community we are called to create and to live. One which understands and acknowledges the deep web which connects all of life, all of the cosmos. A community which practices non-violence, love and gentle forbearance. A community which honors the earth and all who live in and on her as members of God’s body just as we are.

A great deal has changed since 1970. And much of it for the better. Women have many more opportunities now than then, and so do LGBTQ folk. Change does happen though it may take a lifetime.

And that gives us hope. It gives us hope that our attempts to bring the reign of God in Morro Bay and beyond, our attempts to embody the Sermon on the Mount, our intention to live in harmony with all beings will bear fruit. That this little church, this faith community might be like that mustard seed.

And that we might grow into something that looks very different, something that may appear to human eyes to be totally separate, but the Spirit will know that it grew out of the mustard seed of a small group of people living the Gospel.

the Rev. Dr. Caroline Hall


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[i] https://abc7.com/post/earth-day-how-planets-climate-has-changed-first-1970/16222484/#:~:text=It%20is%20now%20rising%20at,Force%20on%20Sea%20Level%20Change.