“Wrapped in Plastic, its fantastic…Maybe not!”
Steve witney an Anglican preacher shares this
story. “So I think I’ll begin with a
true story. Last Tuesday afternoon, I took some time off, and knowing
these remarks would require a little thought, I gathered up a Bible and some
other materials and walked down the street to our local pub for a cool micro-brew
and a sandwich. Needless to say, the waitress was a little surprised at
my choice of reading materials, so I explained what I was doing and then I
asked her if she thought it was improper to write a sermon while sitting in a
tavern. She replied by asking where I went to church. When I said
“St. Stephen’s Episcopal” she chuckled and said “Oh, don’t worry about
it, they’ve all been here.”
And she may be right, and that’s OK. Because,
unlike some other religious traditions, those of us in the Anglican tradition
openly celebrate God’s creation in all of its manifestations.
(I would place the UCC in that realm as well) The forests that blanket
the landscape, the clear water that flows from the mountains, the bald eagles
and killer whales, the flowering shrubs that paint our neighborhoods with flashes
of pink and yellow, the diversity of human life, and yes, even the hops for my
beer last Tuesday afternoon. For all that we have, and all that we are,
we owe thanks to God.”[i]
Everything is good in moderation even celebrating the
gifts of hops and or grapes or rice or potatoes or sugar cane…whatever your
favorite beverage is made from. God has
called us to live abundantly and live fully. But on this earth day Sunday we
must ask what have we done? How did our lives become so detrimental to Gods
creation.
“Abundant Life?
“I came that you may have life and have it abundantly,” Jesus tells his
followers. Unfortunately, we seem to have confused “abundance” with “excess,”
and nowhere is that more obvious than in the ways we produce, use and discard
plastics. The pervasiveness of single-use plastics has trained us to believe
that the things around us are disposable and not to be cherished or preserved.
The use of plastics to make things more portable, convenient, and comfortable
obscures the ways in which those same plastics have made the world less
inhabitable. Can an abundant life be one where we continue to extract fossil
fuels from the planet’s heart? Should our abundance lead to waters that are
impossible for fish and dolphins to safely navigate? Do the plastics we create
give us a better appreciation for the abundance that exists in God’s creation,
or do they feed into the compulsion for more, bigger and better?”[ii]
Our hunger as a species has become a ravenous hunger
for the quick and easy without any thought to the consequences. The plastic manufactures started this simply
with Tupper ware and saran wrap. This led me to the question
“How Long Does It Take For Cling Wrap To Decompose?
“Posted on April 08 2022
Cling wrap, also known as plastic wrap in other parts
of the world, is a thin plastic fabric that clings to itself or other smooth
surfaces, allowing it to cover food without any additional devices or
fasteners. Unfortunately, the convenience they provide pales in comparison to
the environmental harm that cling wrap causes.
Why is cling wrap such a threat to the environment?
Plastic pollutes the environment, and even when recycled, it is more expensive
than using virgin resources. According to The World Health Organization, both
PVC and PVDC can release a very dangerous chemical called dioxin when they wind
up in landfills or incinerators.
So, how many years does it take for cling wrap to
decompose?
Many types of garbage, particularly plastic waste,
take far too long to decompose. Some plastic goods can take up to 1000 years to
decompose in landfills. On the other hand, ordinary plastic bags take 10-20
years to disintegrate, whereas plastic bottles take 450 years. Cling wrap is no
different to most plastics and can take anywhere from 10 years or hundreds of
years to decompose.”[iii]
I can’t help but wonder what Jesus thinks of all of
this waste and ravaging of the land. It says that Jesus was mistaken for the
gardener outside of the tomb. But is it
truly a mistake or just a true vision.
“Jesus’ parables indicate “an inward affinity between
the natural order and the spiritual order.”192 There is “the sense of the
divineness of the natural order is the major premise of the parables.”[iv]” Sean
Freyne commented that Jesus’ parables “are the products of a religious
imagination that is deeply grounded in the world of nature and the human
struggle with it, and at the same time deeply rooted in the traditions of
Israel which speak of God as creator of heaven and earth and that is in them.”[v] These quotes are from God
is Green: An Eco-Spirituality of Incarnate Compassion .
But I believe they answer my question Jesus can not be
happy with how as a species we have treated the garden and all within it.
“Nature is the great teacher of how God works—the
complexity and interconnectedness of life.
When Jesus talked about the kingdom of God, he spoke
about it not just as heaven after we die but as something we can experience in
this life. He often used things in nature to tell us what the kingdom of God is
like describing it as a mustard seed, a bush, a vine, and a tree. He talked
about being the living water and told us to consider the birds of the air and
the lilies in the field. That is, nature points us to God, which is God’s
realm.
Like nature, the kin-dom of God is made up of complex
networks of interdependences and cycles of life and death and new beginnings.
Jesus talked a lot about improving relationships, seeing the other as connected
to us, and how essential interrelationships are. He said not only should we
love our neighbor. That sounds good until we realize our neighbor is nosy
George, who can’t mind his own beeswax. That’s why Jesus followed it up with
the love of our enemy, too.
Inspired by the prophets, Jesus promotes a vision of a
peaceable kingdom. Even if lions and lambs don’t share the same field in the
animal kingdom, humans can learn to live peaceably together.”[vi]
Unfortunately, many of our brothers and sister push
back against this concept of the peaceable kin-dom. “, one would think that
Christians could at least agree on taking care of the planet. We would all
share a common sense of stewardship about God’s creation. You would think that,
but it is not the case. Maybe everyone cares about the environment until it conflicts
with economic interests or gets framed as part of culture wars.”
Many denominations see this as a waste of time for the
Rapture is coming and we are all going to be raised up and these earth loving,
human rights caring, crazy people will all be left behind. A Christian artist
popular in the 70’s and 80’s summed up this attitude;
“And everybody has to choose whether they will win or
lose
Follow God or sing the blues, and who they're gonna sin with
What a mess the world is in, I wonder who began it
Don't ask me, I'm only visiting this planet
… This world is not my home
I'm just passing through”[vii]
Reverend Dr. David Clark of Bayshore UCC in Long beach
states; “Somehow, we can trick ourselves into all kinds of justifications to
side against God’s creation. The main three pernicious propositions promulgated
by pious people are:
We have dominion to exploit the resources. That it was
all created for us to use. This position sees humanity as the apex of God’s
creation rather than a part of creation. I always figure that if you want to
talk about dominion, you ought to model it on God’s dominion of us. That is,
lovingly, caringly. Somehow, they forget the first story about humans is that
we come from the earth—a mixture of dirt and water, mud. The first lesson is
that we belong to the earth, not that we can abuse the planet to make our lives
easier.
The apocalypse will be much worse (Do a search on the
popular Christian website Got Questions about should Christians recycle it
advises not to be too concerned because Jesus is coming back soon.
The emphasis on saving souls made concerns about our
planet secondary. Many churches despise any sense of social justice issues.
Don’t get political—keep it spiritual.
Unfortunately, all these positions skew us away from
engaging and making this a high priority. Fr. Richard Rohr identifies the roots
of our environmental crisis as a spiritual crisis. We have detached ourselves
from what is good, and until we reestablish that sense of connectedness, we
will continue to fail.”[viii]
I believe we are called to serve and be stewards,
shepherds to this planet of which we as humans were given to care for. We are
called to work to avert this spiritual crisis.
One way of doing it is by considering becoming a zero-waste church.
Allow me to share a story from our resources for this Sunday from Creation
Justice Ministries…
“The Zero-Waste Church Church of the Nativity in
Raleigh, North Carolina, historically prioritized creation care in its
ministry, so the foundation for becoming a Zero-Waste Church was already laid.
“This is who we
already were,” former Rector Stephanie Allen explained. “This was important to
us, and so the question was ‘how do we take this further?’”
Allen and a small team began brainstorming. Inspired
by composting and the concept of returning things to the earth, they came up
with the concept of “Zero-Waste Church.”
Initially,
Zero-Waste Church focused on combating food waste, but they later expanded to
reducing single-use plastics. Their mentality is that ecological processes are
spiritual practices, and they turn this message to action through
communication, education and evangelism. (Now that is the good kind of
evangelism)
They also do advocacy, post resources on their webpage
zerowastechurch.org and teach about how our actions directly impact the
environment.
Zero-Waste Church’s mission is heavily rooted in
theology. Stephanie says, “Every person, every being has a use and has a
purpose within the Kingdom of God.” The concept of single-use plastics is
inherently unchristian, disregarding God’s intent for environmental
preservation and contradicting God’s doctrine of eternal life.
The life cycle of plastics corresponds to the concept
of life, death and resurrection — we shouldn’t simply throw things away because
it is easy. “Plastic is a sacrament for our god of convenience,” says
Stephanie, equating haphazard plastic use to false idols.
Churches and
faith communities play a unique and important role in combating the climate
crisis by tying together science and spirituality. With the increasing demand
for congregations like Stephanie’s to go zerowaste, she offered some advice for
any church or faith community looking to take the same steps she and her church
took.
“Just start
small,” she says. “Start where you are, with who you are … choose three things;
we’ve got a list of suggestions on the Zero-Waste Church page.” Stephanie
reminds us that any movement in the right direction is positive momentum.
Nothing fancy or expensive is needed to move toward this type of lifestyle —
just people who care. She adds that it’s okay to be imperfect: “Jesus still
loves you, even if you drink out of a plastic water bottle.”[ix]
What can we do to take steps towards becoming a zero
waste church? For one we could separate
out our recycleables from the trash bin and make a run to the recycle bins as
needed. So keep small bins for plastic
glass and paper and recycle them ourselves.
We could start composting our grass clippings and even
good compost waste that as it becomes done we can give it away or use it in
some raised beds here. We could partner
with the school so the kids can learn how to care for plants and grow food that
they could in turn take home, or donate to a local food pantry.
We can slowly change out the fluorescents for led
lights. Use the ceramic coffee cups and
encourage the use of water bottles.
Besides being radically inclusive we can be that zero waste church.
Some of these things one can implement in your own
home as well. So the planet, the Garden can breathe easy and free and we will
have left something better for our children and their children’s children.
For God so loved the world that they gave their only
child…I think we can show a little love for the world considering the gift god
gave us. Amen!
[i] https://earthministry.org/an-earth-day-sermon/
[ii] 110
Maryland Ave NE, Suite 203, Washington, DC 20002 creationjustice.org
[iii] https://urbanethos.co/blogs/journal/how-long-does-it-take-for-cling-wrap-to-decompose#
[iv] Shore-Goss,
Robert E.. God is Green: An Eco-Spirituality of Incarnate Compassion . Cascade
Books, an Imprint of Wipf and Stock Publishers. Kindle Edition.
[v]
Ditto
[vii] Larry
Norman Readers Digest 1972
[viii]
Bayshorechurch
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