Genesis 1:26-2:4a
Matthew 28:16-20

In The Twenty Ninth Day, Lester R. Brown has a riddle.  The riddle portrays a pond with a single floating water lily leaf on the first day; on the second day another leaf sprouts; and on each day thereafter, each leaf sprouts a new leaf, so that the total number doubles daily.  After 30 days, the pond is entirely covered with leaves, and the riddle asks:  on which day is the pond only half covered?  The answer is the twenty-ninth day.  Brown says the riddle describes most of us today, seeing a world population of 6 billion and supposing there is plenty of room for more, when it is already the twenty-ninth day.  One more generation may fill the world with all the people it can support.  Excessive population not only fills the world's biological systems but also can overtax and destroy them. 
           
We are takers.  We cannot forever take from creation and not give to it without bringing its utter collapse.  We are confronted with the question, "Whose universe is it?"  Our lifestyles reveal the conviction that the universe is ours for the taking and exploiting and destroying.  But the slightest reflection tells us that the universe does not belong to us.  The Pslamist states it well, "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein;" (Ps. 24:1).  We are called to be managers, not manglers, of the earth; we are to be its caretakers but we often act like its undertakers.  The early writers of Scripture understood the task of humankind.  In recording the beginning of this entire enterprise in Genesis, these ancient storytellers pointed out the partnership between God and people.
           
The tragedy of nature and humankind are linked together and the redemption of nature is related to the redemption of people.  Personal salvation and cosmic redemption are inseparable.  "Through his son, then, God decided to bring the whole universe back to himself" (Col. 1:20).  We are called to develop an ecological lifestyle that will establish a cultural framework which promotes and reinforces a new approach to science, technology, economics, and politics.  Transforming ourselves, recasting our world view, remaking our institutions, and restoring the earth are all part of the same process.
           
We are wrong to destroy nature and add to its suffering.  There is a moral and religious responsibility to conserve and care for nature's well being.  The love of neighbor and nature means to work for and to maintain an optimum ecological and environmental balance.  An ethic of soil, reverence for life, technology, progress, energy, conservatism, and ecological asceticism are some practical implications of love that is essential in achieving a healthy environment.
          
  "Of special significance is the responsibility that we bear toward our children.  We hold their world in sacred trust.  What we do to the world around us, we do to them.  Our prodigal living is their deprivation.  None of the generations that come after us will ever see any of the species that we extinguish.  There is a single earthly heritage for everyone on the earth and for all the generations that will ever be."
           
God's covenant with people is for us to care for the earth.  Every living creature, trees, and land have legal and moral right of protection in God's covenant.  The environment suffers when laws of the covenant are broken.  The vocation of people is to be the earth’s keepers for God's glory.   
           
We are beginning to see more clearly than ever the interrelatedness of all the universe.  What happens to the rain forests affects the animal world.  What is done to or put into the atmosphere affects plants, animals, and humans.  Bill Mankin, an atmospheric scientist, and a host of colleagues have made three expeditions to the polar regions to study the effects of human-made chemicals on the ozone layer.  "From the point of view of the church, we're not being responsible when we do things that cause major changes in our environment," he asserts.  "We have no right to disturb the intricate set of biological, physical and chemical interactions that have evolved over the years."  Christians must join the chorus of scientists, politicians and other concerned citizens who speak out on environmental issues and hold people responsible for the care of all creation.
           
"Humanity is in a war right now and it is not too Draconian to call it a war for survival.  It is a war in which all nations must be allies.  Both the causes and effects of the problems that threaten the earth are global, and they must be attacked globally."
           
We need to affirm the interrelatedness of God's activity in creating, redeeming, and sustaining the universe.  We need models, images, and pictures that portray God's relationship to the creation.  We must seek inclusive images in Scripture.  God is "above all, through all, and in all" (Eph. 4:6).  Like a mother relating to a developing child in her womb, God is relating to the creation, sustaining the creation, and emphasizing the continuing growth and life of the universe.  Our greatest challenge is to rejoin the Christian calling to defend the creation and to establish justice. 
           
We have lost the relationship with the earth we once had when we were an agrarian culture.  We are distant from that relationship and need to reestablish our bond with the earth.
           
What can I do? It is both an ancient and modern question.  We ask it with an inflection that creates an initial response that there really is nothing one person, one group, or one church can do.  The environmental issues seem too large, too complex.   
           
I was so pleased a couple of years ago when the Missions Outreach Board began including periodic blurbs in our newsletter encouraging us to take seriously our stewardship of the environment.  And they did this in such a helpful way, providing suggestions in each article of what we could do individually and collectively to take better care of God’s creation. Those articles underscored the truth of an old Chinese proverb that says the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.  As we find ways we can take one step toward healing the environment.    
           
Even for those who are convinced that energy conservation is a good thing, it often seems a lonely and pointless activity in present-day United States.  It may be that those around me are not doing their best, but my concern must be with doing my best.  That is the surest way to remind and encourage others to do their best.  Individual conservation, recycling of newspapers, plastic bags, and aluminum cans are small, almost invisible actions, ones that have effect only in the very long term.  But this also is the deepest form of change--change in the very being of the most fundamental building block of society and culture--the individual.       
           
We can begin on a personal level.  Soon after Keith Merritt began as our Facility Manager in 2008 he noticed how many lights were left on throughout the building in areas that were not in use.  He personally began turning off lights in those areas and encouraging staff to do the same.  Sue Newberry put notes on blue paper on light switches asking, “Does this light need to be on?”  Not only were these efforts positive environmental decisions.  They also resulted in financial savings.  Other things we can do personally. Don’t leave the water running while you are brushing your teeth.  Take showers instead of baths.  See that your house is well insulated and install storm windows.  Set your water heater on 110-120 degrees.  Use cold water in the kitchen whenever possible.  Be sure the dishwasher is full when you use it.  Reduce the amount of detergent you use in the laundry and use biodegradable detergent.  Recycle newspapers, plastic bags, aluminum, and glass. Peggy is the recycle police at our house and at the school where she teaches.  She demonstrates how easy it is to recycle by doing it consistently and encouraging others to do the same.  They’ll miss her when she retires.  But knowing her as I do she will never retire from being the recycling police force at our house.
           
Every Sunday, more than hundreds of thousands of trees are used to produce the 88% of newspapers that are never recycled.   Recycling one aluminum can saves an amount of energy equivalent to half that can full of gasoline.   Set your thermostat on 68 degrees or lower in the winter and on 78 degrees or higher in the summer.  When you buy an automobile, buy one that gets 35 or more miles per gallon.  Keep the tires on your automobile properly inflated and keep the engine properly tuned.  Develop a compost in a corner of your yard to throw vegetable peelings, fruit peelings, and egg shells.  Add the leaves from your yard when you rake in the fall.  You will have excellent fertilizer for your garden in the spring.  You might be ahead of the law by doing this.  In 2008 Raleigh, NC passed an ordinance prohibiting the installation of garbage disposals in new homes.  Studies had shown how grease being eliminated through garbage disposals was clogging the city’s drainage system. 
           
Plant a small garden.  Gardening is a major hobby in the United States.  At one time it was the number one hobby in the United States.  I don’t know if it still holds its number one status.  Having a garden is good for the soil, good for the air, and the vegetables have a better flavor and better for you than any you can find at the supermarket.  We will also develop a closeness and kinship with the earth like our ancestors experienced.  As this kinship develops, we will discover a stronger need for planetary stewardship.
           
Write your Congressional Representative and the Senators who represent your state in the United States Congress.  Solicit their support.  Be informed about bills pending before the House of Representatives and the Senate related to environmental issues.  Remember that members of Congress work for you.  Let your views be known and how you want your representatives to vote.  Take this same approach on the local level and with your state legislature.  Find other citizens who share your concerns and request a meeting with your representatives.  They are more likely to listen closely to ten people from ten households and several businesses than they are to one person about an issue.
           
While there are many things we can do individually to be good stewards of the environment, we must not stop there.  We must not be Lone Rangers.  We need the encouragement and support that result from collective environmental stewardship.  As children of God we are citizens of the reign of God and citizens of Earth.  We need to find ways to be stewards of the environment which God has created and provided for our well being. 
           
We need to take our planetary stewardship to church.  What can the church do?  Churches can build useful, efficient buildings designed to contribute to save energy.  Use church buildings for variety of needs.  We strive to be good stewards of our building and it gets lots of use.  In Columbia, MD there is a religious center.  Congregations from several religions and denominations use the same building.  Services and meetings for the different congregations are coordinated and scheduled throughout the week.  The ministers of the congregations have offices at the center.  That is good building stewardship. 
           
Form an interest group of people you know who have expressed some concern about the environment.  You might start by finding out who in your church recycles newspapers.  This interest group may discover that their calling is to help the congregation become more environmentally sensitive. The gospel of redemption and reconciliation extends to and includes the management (stewardship) of soil, air, water, and natural resources.  The church can teach members to have an eco-conscience.
           
Remember whose universe it is.  Let us find ways we can be earth keepers and earth lovers.  God has called us to be co-workers together with God for the good of God's good creation.  Let’s live up to our calling.
                                                                          Notes