John 11:32-44
Good morning and thank you for having me with you this morning. I bring greetings from the Bishop of California, Marc Andrus who installed me as a Canon last year largely because he couldn’t get me to shut up about the responsibility that Episcopalians have to care for Creation. I am often referred to as the Diocesan Loose Canon. I do not deny that I will blast you with stories and facts of environmental destruction that may just (to use a metaphor) knock you over. And I do go on about it if given the chance. I am a seeker of the truth and I do my very best to speak the truth.
But before I go further, I want to recognize that this is All Saints Day when we honor the Saints that have gone before and set the example for us to be good Christians. If you hoped for a sermon this morning that would address ALL the Saints you will be disappointed, because I will reference only one Saint-the patron saint of the city from which I come, San Francisco. Yes, St. Francis who loved all creatures great and small and treated the trees and plants with respect because they were created by God. While Francis is often referred to as an environmentalist, I don’t think he was. I believe that contrary to the folklore about him, he really was a man trying to recreate what it means to be human. He wanted to be as much like Christ as would be humanly possible and for him that meant defining the human purpose on earth. As he understood it, humans were created to care for all that is. It wasn’t the Sierra club that called earth good, first it was God.
Francis set out to set an example for us just as jesus had. He provide a voice for the poor, the underserved and the creation-all that needed a voice, but didn’t have one-all that was overlooked or beaten down by wealth- some segments of society then and now suffer the consequences of others irresponsibility. Often, it is the rich getting richer on the backs of the poor. Francis dedicated his life and ministry to trying to restore balance to a broken world that had fallen into dark times.
There is another reason that I am mentioning St. Francis and it is because I met Kathy and Skip Windsor in Assisi and together we explored the basilicas, caves and olive groves where Francis preached to the birds and gave food to the poor. Without that meeting-in St. Francis’s home town- I wouldn’t be here with you this morning. It was the beginning of a long and close friendship.
Back to my concern for Creation and I want to make it clear that Creation is what we are part of. God created us with special characteristics so we could look after the world he had made, but we are nontheless part of the Creation. The Creation often referred to as the environment, is not something out there------- it is here, it is us. We are the Creation. Understanding that deeply will help us change some of our behavior because we will connect how we treat the environment and how we treat each other as a reflection of how we feel about God. Furthermore it is in our own best interest to treat God’s creation with care. Harming it only harms our own ability to look after ourselves, not to mention everything else that God created.
I do have a passion for stewardship of God’s Creation and I believe that we, (you and I) the people in the pews who profess a love of God should be leading the charge to protect God’s Creation. And we should lead by example, just as Jesus and Francis did.
I know that are still folks in our church that are suspicious of environmentalism with the notion that the subject is political and doesn’t belong in church. I am often asked.
What does religion have to do with the environment, or isn’t the church getting involved with politics if we take stands on ecological issues. You already know my response ….. we, people of faith should be leading the environmental movement.
How can we sit in a pew and profess a love for God and praise the creation without wanting to protect it.
Unfortunately the environmental crisis HAS become political in part and it is too bad that happened because it is a far deeper issue than just politics. It is a scientific issue and I mention that particularly because I believe that contemporary scientist are the prophets of today- scientist like the ones that received last year’s Nobel peace prize. But care for creation is far deeper and far more important than politics or science, it is a spiritual issue and one that must be addressed by the faith community. How we care for Creation, today will dictate the future for many generations to come. It has become a matter of life and death: a matter that humans are the only ones in position to do something about. We created the problem and if we are going to keep this planet healthy for over 6 billion people to live on safely, we need to work hard to make real changes.
We have to have a healthy environment if we are going to survive as a species AND, as is becoming increasingly clear, if we are going to have a healthy economy we must have a healthy environment, too. For our society to be stable, we need three strong pillars for support. One is the economy, one is social/political stability and the third is a healthy environment. They share the weight equally, so if any one of those pillars collapse, the entire structure will fall. And right now, one of those pillars is on the verge of collapse.
The threat to our environment is largely due to an unhealthy reliance on fossil fuel for energy in this country and around the world. We are overly dependant on coal, oil and gas for our electricity, our transportation and our heating and cooling. The burning of these fuels is upsetting the balance of nature; the balance that God set into place in the beginning. We are witnessing the rise in temperature due to the rise in carbon dioxide that traps gasses from leaving the atmosphere. The level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is by far higher than it has ever been.
We are standing on the edge of two worlds. The one that God created and the one that humans are making. And the one we are making is not sustainable.
It is as serious as life and death. So I ask you to reflect back to the Lazarus story. Jesus chose to give life to his friend because he was a healer and I suspect that Jesus would choose to heal the planet, too.
Our readings this morning and the story of St. Francis are lessons in recreation, new birth, starting over - A new vision of heaven and a new earth.
There is something in the parable about Lazarus that I found
interesting. When Jesus called him out of the tomb, he asked for help from the others. Move the stone he said. Untie him and let him free. He didn’t do it for them, they had to participate in the action. They were part of the healing and had to act with Jesus to restore life.
We are in that kind of situation now. We need God to give us the courage and the will to restore balance in nature and to bring back life where things have already died. But we must participate. We cannot sit back and see if things work out. God will not do it for us. David Orr from Oberlin College says this well. To be optimistic is to assume that everything will turn out all right in the end, but hope is different. It is a verb with your sleeves rolled up. You have to be invested in the restoration
God asks us to roll up our sleeves and get to work. It won’t happen on its own.
The ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the leader of the 300 million Greek Orthodox has called environmental degradation a sin. I have to agree. If you love God and you believe that God created everything and called it good, then God loves the creation. God so loved the world, HE gave his only son……….Then isn’t it reasonable to think that insulting the creation, like taking tops of mountains to get coal is insulting to God. There are other ways to get coal that won’t destroy mountains, valley, rivers, streams and everything that lives in them. This can be said about deforestation and fishing with huge nets that capture and kill everything in its way when only fishing for one species. Wasting valuable life and resources. You have heard the expression-What would jesus do- well what would Francis do?
I don’t want to leave you with the idea that nothing is being done. There are thousands of people all over the world who are working hard to restore balance. Lots and lots of Francises who care as much about creation as they do themselves.
There is lots of good news.People are actually buying smaller more energy efficient cars, they are building houses at a more reasonable size. Recycling is becoming a normal thing and not a bother. It’s not everywhere, but I travel a lot and I am experiencing change. You may have a local coffee shop that gives a discount if you bring your own cup. Often there are signs in take out restaurants next to a paper napkin container that say--- Paper means trees- use only what you need. I have been to many hotels that suggest you leave your towels on the floor if you want clean ones, but if you think you could use a towel a second time, hang it up. Same with changing sheets. These efforts save water and energy. They are all steps in the right direction and will have an impact on how people behave. It simple raises consciousness. You can learn more about how to save energy and money at the Adult Forum this morning. Where you will hear from Vince, Clayton and Michael. People want to do the right thing, but often don’t know what to do. I say, just think before you do anything.
Think about justice and fairness for ALL of Creation, not just humans when you are making decision. It is people of faith, people who go to church and love Christ who can serve as models. It is up to us to show the way. We say we love God and love our neighbors then shouldn’t we demonstrate that behavior?
When you leave today, think of the healing messages and how Jesus could restore life, but he asked for help. If we have the faith in ourselves that we can heal this planet and we have the courage to make the changes we need to make AND a God beside us who is a healer- we will succeed. Indeed, as people of conscious and as Christians, there is no choice but to try.
And I will close with one last comment. Neither Jesus or Francis came to show us how to die, but rather to show us how to live.
amen
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