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“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
[vi] https://bayshorechurch.org/sermons/earth-day-sermon/
[vii] Larry Norman Readers Digest 1972
[viii] Bayshorechurch
[ix] 110 Maryland Ave NE, Suite 203, Washington, DC 20002 creationjustice.org
POSTED BY REV. JOSEPH P. SHORE-GOSS AT 12:41 PM
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