God Trusts Us With His Creation: Christian Environmental Stewardship

While the debate over global warming continues, Christians cannot disregard their responsibility on environmental stewardship. In the creation story from Genesis, God entrusts humanity with, "every living thing that moves upon the earth." In short, God has put humans in charge of the environment. Study after study continues to indicate a global increase in temperature. And while a handful of politicians continue to deny the accuracy and credibility of the mounting research, you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that when God created the earth there were no smoke-belching factories, or cars, fewer animals and people producing ozone eating methane, chemicals, plastic and solid waste to harm the environment.

Recently the head of a large Protestant denomination wrote a resolution calling on Christians to steward the environment, a commendable move. However, it fell woefully short of accepting responsibility for the harm already done. It continued the illogical pattern of denial regarding humans affect and impact on the environment, noting that a recent, highly accredited scientific study on global warming did not specifically prove that humans are the reason global ocean and air temperatures have increased. I'm not making this up! A simple search of the EPA's website on global warming reveals the following:

According to the National Academy of Sciences, the Earth's surface temperature has risen by about 1 degree Fahrenheit in the past century, with accelerated warming during the past two decades. There is new and stronger evidence that most of the warming over the last 50 years is attributable to human activities. Human activities have altered the chemical composition of the atmosphere through the buildup of greenhouse gases – primarily carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. The heat-trapping property of these gases is undisputed although uncertainties exist about exactly how earth’s climate responds to them.

The attitude of denial continues to fuel accusations and polarize members of both major political parties. Accusations and denial always take the focus off personal responsibility and accountability. When one party blames the other, and another denies, both can avoid personal responsibility and accountability on any topic. Instead of debating the research we should be asking what do we need to do to slow down global warming, pollution and care for God's creation? According to God's Word, our care and stewardship of the planet is not optional. We are responsible and we are accountable to God.

For years some noted theologians (Ron Sider, Richard Foster, Wendell Berry, Tony Campolo and others) have been calling on Christians to be leaders in environmental stewardship. We need to take the lead. Easy, I'm not saying we all need to go strap ourselves to a red wood tree in the Pacific Northwest, or cruise the ocean alongside whales. I'm simply saying that of all people, Christians should set the pace on environmental care. We can begin by doing simple things like:

• Recycling (plastic, metal, aluminum, paper, chemicals)
• Cutting back or bumping up the thermostat
• Using newer and more energefficientnt light bulbs
• Carpooling, or using public transportation when possible
• Drive late model cars that employ gas saving and pollution conscious technology
• Conserve water usage
• Purchase and use energefficientnt rated applicances, tools, and electronics
• Condense car errands and trips
• Use non-aerosol products/sprays

These are just a few examples, there are many more on the EPA website listed below under "actions". We can agree to disagree on the causes of greenhouse gases, climate increase, severe weather patterns and the ozone, but if you are a Christ-follower you cannot ignore our responsibility to care for the environment the Creator has entrusted us to steward. Future generations are dependent upon our use and care of the environment. Below are just a few websites regarding the issue:

• http://yosemite.epa.gov/oar/globalwarming.nsf/content/index.html
• http://www.giss.nasa.gov/research/features/altscenario/
• http://www.researchmatters.harvard.edu/topic.php?topic_id=98
• http://www.thewe.cc/weplanet/news/water/rising_sea_tempeerature_killing_great_barrier_reef.htm
• http://www.earth-policy.org/Books/PB2/PB2ch4_ss2.htm

Uptight Christians

Author, radio talkshow host and seminary professor, Steve Brown often says, "You ought to live your life with so much joy and freedom that uptight Christians will doubt your salvation." I think He's on to something. His book, Scandalous Freedom is a book that will make legalistic, uptight Christians squirm and sweat.

Brown isn't saying that Christ followers ought to purposely and intentionally sin to make the legalistic pious talk about them. But he observes that many Christ followers are trying to live according to someone else's standards, out of guilt or to meet a prescribed list of behaviors carefully approved by the self-appointed theologically pure, instead of God. Brown just wants Christ followers, both tenured and young to live fully in the incredible freedom that comes in Christ. The tenor and tone of Brown's book echoes much of what Paul dealt with in his letter to the Galatian Christians. Paul repeatedly reminded the Galatians of the freedom that comes through a life committed to Christ.

I'm amazed that in 2006, we still have Christians who are trying to please a church, denomination, pastor, or public ministry instead of trying to please God. Living in Christ really means that we are free to do whatever we want. However, because of Christ's resurrection power within us, we should desire to please God and bring Him glory through our decisions, conversations, and actions. Our freedom is not restricted, but simply transformed by the same passions and concerns Jesus had during His earthly ministry.

What was Jesus passionate about? Was He consumed with a legalistic, literal adherence to scripture? No, He spent much of His time debating and refuting the very leaders who were consumed with such legal issues. But He didn't bless sin, condone destructive behavior or dismiss the law. He did spend time with the socially marginalized, religious outcasts and noted sinners. He didn't focus on forcing them to follow the Law or the interpretations of man. Instead, He simply wanted people to experience love, grace, forgiveness, and justice so they could put it into practice in their own lives. His words were always in sync with the written Word, but His love for sinners (like me) is what made the Word become real, revered, respected and alive.

There's a classic encounter with the religious lawyers and Jesus in the 8th chapter of John's gospel where Jesus is trying to explain that ethnicity and conformity to the Law doesn't save people. He is the author of freedom and He saves people, which is something they couldn't handle. And freedom through Him celebrates the authority and proclaims the validity of His Word:

"So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know you are Abraham's descendants. Yet you are ready to kill me, because you have no room for my word." (John 8:36-37) The culture has yet to experience the transforming power that's generated when Christ followers yield fully to the freedoms we have in Christ. Let's live in the freedom, but be mindful of the responsibilities that come with our freedom.

Life Together Is Worlds Apart - Part 2 of 2

Get the book, "Bowling Alone," by Robert Putnam. Putnam is an academic and professor of public policy at Harvard. His up close and hands-on observation of American culture is sobering. His book notes how the frayed ties of community are rapidly coming apart at the seams. Christians should use the book for helpful insight on the broken places we are called to minister and how we can help revive "community".

In the first part 1 of this blog post, I cited Boston Globe columnist Ellen Goodman's recent article entitled, "You Are Not Alone In Your Isolation". The article addressed America's dramatic increase in social isolation. The article was based on the study, "Social Isolation in America," co-authored by Duke University sociologist, Lynn Smith-Lovin.

Goodman comments, "Now we are living in smaller, tighter circles. We are 10 degrees of separation from each other and one or two people away from loneliness. And many now outsource intimacy from friends to professional therapists and, gawd help us, talk shows. Who can we talk t o about important matters? Who can we count on?"

Christ-followers need to see the "friendless" society as a wake up call and an opportunity for ministry. Not simply to be put another notch on our ministry gun-belts, or add to our membership rolls, but to offer hope through sincere, and authentic relationships with those who have "no one" to talk to. The solution for this troubling trend has Jesus written all over it. Even Jesus' earthly critics have to admit He was friend to the wounded, outcast, dejected, despised and lonely, and He was always investing in relationships and building community.

This is the work and passion of our Savior. Community is someting we should all be seeking, creating, nurturing, preserving and protecting. My concern is that my own faith community and others will become so safe, comfortable and complacent that we will be reluctant to share our Savior with others. If we do that we cease to be the New Testament church and we become a "bless me" club offering little more than IRS charitable deduction credit.

As long as there are lonely, marginalized, disconnected people we cannot sit idle! The love of Christ compels us to love others. Hopefully, years from now when sociologists look back they will note what a big part Christians played in reversing social isolation. On a practical note, what's something you can do for a neighbor (the one you hardly know) today? A potted plant, fresh baked cookies, bread or cake can open the fence of isolation. Who knows, they may be overwhelmed and blown away by the personal contact. Let's blow our neighbors away with love!

Life Together Is Worlds Apart -Part 1 of 2

Cultural observer and futurist Faith Popcorn observed in the 90's that many Americans were beginning to live isolated lives. She called it, "cocooning". Christian historian and futurist Len Sweet was among the first in the faith community to talk about the implications and impact this trend would have on the church. Pastor and author Leith Anderson also challenged churches not to get swept up in the culture of isolation and to offer an alternative.

It's been 10 years since Popcorn's "cocooning" observation and a new study reveals American's isolationism has no intention of reversing itself. Duke University sociologist, Lynn Smith-Lovin has just released the results of a study of 1,467 adults entitled, "Social Isolation in America". According to Boston Globe columnist Ellen Goodman, the study revealed that 25% of Americans say they have no one to talk to about, "important matters". This wasn't even the most, "startling fact," of the study. Goodman writes, "The study is a replica of one done 20 years ago. In only two decades, from 1985-2004, the number of people who have no one to talk to has doubled."

Goodman notes the significance of the increase when she compares the lackadaisical response of the culture to what would happen if other cultural issues shifted as dramatically: "Imagine income had gone down by a third, or divorce doubled or the medical system halved. We would be setting up commissions and organizing rallies."

Thankfully, the study noted that the nuclear family seems to have survived the first wave of isolation and may have even grown closer as a result of failing secondary relationships like neighbors, work, church and other community relationships. "The greatest loss has been in neighbors and friends who will provide help, support, advice, and connections to a wider world," writes Goodman.

Oddly, Goodman believes the record rise in technology over the last 20 years may bear much of the blame. Cell phones, Blackberries, laptops and the Internet help us communicate with more people, but at a greater distance. They have stolen chunks of time that we used to invest in developing those secondary relationships that are so vital to community. How many of us know the names of the four closest neighbors geographically, let alone the life concerns with which they struggle? Goodman observes, "It's become easier to keep extensive relationships over time and distance but harder to build deeper ones in our back yard."

The tragedy of isolationism is the rising number of people who have no one to talk to. Think about the emotional, physical and mental challenges a "friendless" culture poses. Trust is built upon communication. And trust is essential for a healthy culture. If we're not talking, we're not trusting, and if we're not trusting, we soon live in a culture driven by cynicism, doubt, fear and suspicion. Essentially, we become a society without hope.

This is especially troubling if it plays out in the church and we lose sight of our universal call to reach out beyond the "safe and protective" walls of the physical church building. But the good news for the church is that we can offer hope the culture cannot produce. The challenge for Christ-followers is to build intentional relationships that tear down the walls of isolation with hope and love. The role of Christianity in a "friendless" society is part 2 of this blog to be posted soon.

Tenderness In Action

I was sitting in my virtual office at one of my favorite coffee haunts just typing away when I saw them enter out of the corner of my eye. You couldn't miss them. Two women who appeared to be in their mid to late 30's were helping an elderly woman enter. It took both of them to help her get to a table. Once seated, it was obvious the woman in her late 60's to early 70's was struggling to keep her head off the table and even drink from a straw.

From her moans and struggles to stay in the chair I assumed she was suffering from Parkinson's, ALS, Alzheimers, or the effects of a stroke. The two women lovingly moved her to the table, and talked to her in sweet, gentle tones, but unlike so many others in those situations, they didn't treat, or talk to her like a child. It was obvious that every breath and movement was a major effort for the elderly woman. The young women were talking to her and treating her with such tenderness and respect. Several times I heard one of them call her, "Mom". As they lovingly fed her from their plates and helped her take a sip from the straw it was obvious that this was their mother.

One of the women left while her sister and mother stayed to finish their lunch. As the daughter got up to leave it was obvious she was going to need some help getting her mother to the car. It was a real pleasure to help the daughter and her mother. As I took her Mom's hand and supported the other side as the daughter gently led us out the door, she turned to me and said, "She's a real go getter and has always done it by herself so she's not used to this."

As I helped her to get her Mom to the car, I was thinking back to my adolescent days when I watched my father do the same with his mother(a brittle diabetic) in her last years of earthly life. And images of my Mother doing the same with her mother flashed across my memory bank. I remembered the incredible amount of energy and patience it took to go to the doctor, or to a restaurant. I wondered how tired the daughter's must be, but you would never know it. They only treated her with love, respect, admiration, tenderness and joy. If they felt otherwise, you couldn't tell.

As our population ages and people live longer this is an image we are going to see more and more. While I recognize, understand and affirm the need for residential or home health care, it is refreshing to see people, even younger than me, who still value their elderly loved ones while much of society just stares on in disbelief, or with apparent disdain at having been inconvenienced in a restaurant, doctors office, etc., by someone who doesn't appear to contribute anything to society. One day it could be any of us!

May God help us to follow the Jewish pattern of paying respect and honor to the elderly. Throughout the Old Testament we see the aged being revered and treated with great respect. A society that cares for it's elderly, indigent and those who've carried the torch in preceding generations models a biblical principle for future generations. Societies and people that don't are self-centered, impatient, and lacking in the very compassion all of us will one day need! Regardless of their vocation, education or socio-economic level, let's pay homage to the men and women who've gone before us and made sacrifices so we can have the quality of life we now enjoy.

The lessons two sisters taught me today: 1) Love your elders and treat them with respect no matter how they may change in the future; 2) Instead of staring at people in similar situations in public places, offer to help, or bow your head and say a prayer for them; 3) No one is ever too old, or ill to receive our respect, or be denied human dignity; 4) Treat your spouse, children and parents with such love and respect that it will be returned when you need it most; 5) Pass a blessing on to my children that relieves them of any future guilt regarding seeking outside care for me in the future, but also empowers them to express their love even in the most challenging of circumstances; 6) Exercise more patience with the aged and infirmed I encounter. Show them the love of Christ through my eyes, hands and words.

Eastern countries and peoples seem to get this better than we western people. It's a Levitical principle: "Rise in the presence of the aged, show respect for the elderly and revere your God. I am the LORD (Lev. 19:32)." May it be so, may it be so!