Sustainability Sermon

When you look at the world around you what do you see? Over the years I can tell you that I have had many answers to that question, some better than others. As I have thought about what the biblical narrative has to say about sustainability, it has occurred to me that how we answer that question may be much more important that I had thought before.
The way we view the world around us is at the very heart of the issue of sustainability. How we view creation will determine how we interact with it. Our own view on what God’s creation is and how we fit in may determine the very essence of what our faith calls us to when is come to sustainability.
Theologian Mathew Fox has a great deal to say about the way we see the universe. He points out that after the industrial revolution we have begun to see the universe as if it were a machine. We see it as cold, lifeless. Somewhere along our journey as humankind we have lost our sense of connection to the life and creativity infused into the universe by God. The very life that God has gifted to us is represented in the world around us and that connection is not only important to us spiritually but practically as we learn more about the awful effects that we can cause to the world around us. It will be hard for us to become better stewards and to try to live in a sustainable manner if we do not reexamine our world view and take seriously the idea of God as creator and the universe as creative. We can not continue to see the universe as dead because if we do we will continue to treat it as if it is dead.
If we are to rediscover a world view of a lively universe it is wise for us to turn to the indigenous people, the first peoples who have traditionally seen the world around them as very much alive. As we heard Michael Jacobs tell the story of creation, we hear the focus repeated that God not only created sometime in the past but rather that God created, is creating and will create. Creation is a process, a dance that we are invited into. That sense of God at work all around us in the natural world helps us to view the natural world very differently. We begin to see creation as a part of us and us as a part of creation. By now you’ve probably noticed the music in the background. This is a ceremonial song of the Lakota people honoring creation. They believe that when they sing and dance to this music they are assisting the creator in creating. We must begin to view our creative efforts each day in the same way. God is calling us to be co-laborers in the creation process. This is why we are given the gift of creativity. Sustainability is going to take new ideas and creative solutions from all areas of life if we are to live in connection with the universe. It is important now more than ever that we have a world view that embraces that connection.
Science is beginning to show us just how truly connected to each other and to the universe we really are. (Youtube Clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGK84Poeynk&feature=player_embedded)
As I hear the words of the great scientists in the video I feel that we are not only connected to each other biologically, to the earth chemically, and the rest of the universe atomically, but if we are so deeply linked to the rest of creation what does that tell us about how deeply we are linked to the creator.
You see the very nature of God is creatively creating. God has put in the very universe itself the quality of creativity. All we have to do is to leave some carbon and hydrogen atoms alone long enough to see that they will become any number of things from stars to life. If the very atoms we are made of are infused with such creativity how much more do we have the responsibility to be creative.
By shifting our world view we join in the dance of creation. By rediscovering our connection to the universe around us we rediscover a much greater connection, a connection to wonder and awe, a connection to life itself and the source of that life.
Seeing the universe as creatively created by God to be infused by life that is connected, we begin to realize that sustainability is about much more than simple survival. Sustainability is about being in connection with God and in communion with the world around us. We are being called to much more than simply stopping the damage that currently is being done to the world around us, rather we are being asked to join the universe to creatively find solutions to the issues that face us environmentally.
As our world view changes we will begin to see God calling us to be co-workers in the business of life. God calls us to take an active roll in the world around us. This extends beyond even the natural world to each aspect of our life. As we take that active roll of creativity we will discover how creativity can be a spiritual act, a means of Grace.
If we continue to see the universe as nothing more than a machine than our only responsibility is to keep the machine running so that it can serve us. But if we begin to take serious the connection that we find in the universe then our very well being depends on the well being of the universe around us. We must rediscover our place in the universe instead of somehow seeing ourselves outside and separate from the rest of the natural world.
We must continue to heed God’s call to create. We must find new ways to live that respect the value and life of the universe around us. We can not continue simply to use that which is around us because as we have heard over the last couple of weeks, it is destroying us. God has given us the gift of connecting to all the life that is around us. Let us accept that gift, and protect it.
The God of wonder calls us, how will we respond? Our creative creator invites us to look at the world with new eyes, can we do it? My prayer is that we can look at our universe with new eyes, that we can connect with life accepting the great gift that life is, and that we can be co-workers with God as God continues to create around and within us. Let the God of all creativity inspire us to act creatively, to better connect to the joy and hope that already