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John the Baptist and Environmental Stewardship Yr
A Adv 2 December 9, 2007 Rev. Tom Trutner
You would think that John the Baptist has a problem. He seems to
desperately need a good speech writer who could help him couch his words in
dulcet phrases that could get the point across with a little bit of righteous
indignation, perhaps, but not so much such off-putting, almost vicious anger (or
am I trying to be too politically correct?)
On the other hand, John might have known one of my homiletic teachers at
Seminary who taught us a clever way to keep focused in our sermons. He told us
to answer these questions: “Ho Hum”; “Why did you bring that up?”; “For
instance”; and “So what?” In other words, get the peoples’ attention, explain
why this is important to consider, give an illustration, and finish with some
course of action that can be taken.
Our Baptist friend certainly got the fist part right: He sure grabbed their
attention when he screamed, “YOUR BROOD OF VIPERS! Who warned you to flee
from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance.”
Our Minister of Music, Bob Adams, said that he was in a church once where he and
the preacher conspired to have Bob come into the back of the church at the
beginning of the sermon, all disheveled and wild eyed, yelling “You brood of
vipers!” --- You don’t know how close I came to enlisting him in this role
again, (especially to wake up the eight o’clockers!). But it would be so un-Episcopaiian.
Getting their attention; raising their conscience. Getting our
attention; raising our conscience. Isn’t this what Scripture is
all about?
Think for a moment about the tension between the glorious vision of what God
intends as we heard in Isaiah: “the wolf shall lie down with the lamb, the
leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling
together, and a little child shall lead them (and so forth, and ending with)
“They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be
full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the seas.”
Think of this magnificent realm of peace and well-being, contrast it
with John’s challenging exclamations, and immediately we’re confronted with the
dilemma that we are in . And if we are really listening, it comes
like a bolt of lightning. For if we are to bridge the chasm between John’s
warnings and the vision of Isaiah, then WE have to change.
John’s message, of course, was to the Pharisees and Saducees who were
coming to him for confession and baptism, as were many other folks. These two
groups considered themselves the religious authorities, the models of observance
of the Torah, of the Jewish religion. John quickly disabuses them of their
pretense, telling them that even though they were children of Abraham, that
didn’t cut it. They claimed for themselves the privilege and veneer of
respectable religion, but In fact, he says, their hearts were not in the right
place. They must “repent,” - which, when you get right down to it, means
“change.”
They needed to turn away from the falsity of their religious posturing, and
begin doing the things that really matter to God. John indicates
pretty clearly this faux religion of theirs needed to be cut out at its source (“the
ax is lying at the root of tree” ). Given the behavior of the Pharisees and
the Saducees which John well knew - their callous attitude about “lesser”
people, their blind eye to an unjust economic system - let alone the advantages
they derived from this system, their claim of privileged birthright - given
these facts, it becomes clear that John’s message was about justice, about
social change. He challenged these primates to get down to the root causes of
problems, to uproot unfruitful trees, so to speak.
To change - John called them to change their behavior, to change their
attitudes, to change their hearts - and “...bear fruit that is worthy of that
change.” Walk the walk, because their talk had been empty.
But, as always, we need to “unpack” this verses for ourselves. As always,
these scriptures are not just ancient stories, irrelevant to our contemporary
scene, but stories and teachings that are as important to us today as they were
then. They are alive.
Now I am not sure that “brood of vipers” is the best way to approach people
today, to raise the consciousness of responsibility, but if we are humble and
wise enough to allow these scriptures to challenge us to change, then we
had better listen up.
There are many approaches one could take in talking about repentance for
the modern citizen: care for the poor, a just economic system, honesty in public
life, wasteful lifestyles, but the issue I want to address has to do with the
environment. We Christians, of all people , should be out front in
raising peoples’ awareness of the crisis we face and helping find solutions. We
have a religious and a moral imperative to do this.
Matthew Fox, a controversial but interesting theologian, makes a very
crucial point in reminding us that the first blessing of God was creation. It
was intended to be a paradise peacefully inhabited by our species who had a
responsibility “to till and keep” (“dominion” in the Hebrew) this precious gift.
And it is quite evident that this creation is finely tuned. There is a
splendid video we have in our church library in which an astronaut tells of
being out in space, looking back at the earth with its thin shield of atmosphere
that protects us from the harsh rays of the sun - which is at exactly the right
distance from the earth to sustain life. He remarks that the moon is located at
a perfect distance also: any closer and the tides would be disastrous; any
further and the oceans would stagnate. More and more research shows us that the
biodiversity we enjoy is actually in an exquisite balance that needs to be
maintained for the overall welfare of the planet. I could go on and on about the
astonishing way this creation has been put together and functions.
It is truly a wonder, and sometimes when I am walking, I am moved sing to
myself that beautiful hymn, “O Lord, My God, when I in awesome wonder consider
all the worlds thy hands have made. I see the stars and hear the rolling
thunder, thy power throughout the universe displayed.” The Psalmist writes, “The
heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows his handiwork.” (Ps
19:1).
Yes, the question of environmental protection and sustainability is most
certainly a religious issue and one to which we must respond and respond
vigorously. Imagine having a beautiful house with a lovely big garden and you
willingly and generously let some good friends use it while you are on a long
trip. Upon returning, you find the house dirty, nicked up in places, and with a
smelly stench. The garden is terribly overgrown, weedy, and full of poison oak.
You find a note saying that the original tenants left early. They decided to
sublet it and expected the new folks to take care of the problems.
Folks, maybe, just maybe, the good Lord is looking down upon us, wondering
if this is what is going to happen to the home he has given us.
While many do not have a perspective of stewardship for God’s gifts,
WE DO - and the primary stewardship responsibility we have is for
God’s gift of creation. It is absolutely central to our faith.
And the matter of the environment is a moral issue also - moral because we
are all responsible for our actions, and if our actions injure or demean someone
else, then we are culpable. No getting around it. Let’s just imagine that I am
sitting at a restaurant smoking, and a slight breeze takes the smoke from my
cigarette to the table next to me at which a person with allergies is sitting,
we have a problem. Who came first, who should move, etc. etc. Nevertheless, the
smoke is damaging someone else’s health. If I were not a Christian, I suppose I
could argue these aforementioned points, but as a Christian, I am bound by the
teachings of Jesus to do for that person what I would have them do for me.
Now imagine a village that is downwind from a plant that spews out a toxic
gas. The people in this village are becoming sick because of this. Obviously
they can’t move. But don’t the owners of the plant bear some serious
responsibility? I think we all probably agree they do, but, among other things,
they have to take into consideration the jobs they are providing. These
arguments go on and on.
But from the Christian point of view, the morality of whatever actions take
place MUST derive from the most basic tenet of our faith: “Do unto
others as you would have them do unto you.” So the question always put before us
is this: Are our actions commensurate with our beliefs? Is our behavior a
reflection of this Golden Rule? Are we, in fact, doing things that affect others
in a way that we wouldn’t want them to do to us?
Already harm has been done, that if not irreparable would take thousands of
years to correct. And even though we know the earth goes through cycles of
weather changes, what danger lies in the accelerated change we are forcing? I
don’t lable myself a conservative in the popular sense, but I sure do believe in
a cardinal principal of conservative....and that is to conserve!
I’m not going to get into a “What would Jesus do?” kind of dialogue with
regard to what kind of car am I going to purchase, etc, etc.. On the other hand,
I have to ask myself continually, “What do I need as opposed to what do I want?”
We live in a nation in which expectations for consumption are sky-high, but we
also waste more than any other nation in the world - by far. Are we connecting
the dots between what we feel our are lifestyles necessities and the source
causes of environmental damage? Meanwhile, people across the globe (indeed,
right here in our country) are homeless, starving, and in need of very basic
necessities. Knowing this, the morality of the environmental questions blows
right back into our faces. And let’s face it, we all fail.
Thank God for confession each week, “Most merciful God, we confess that we
have sinned against you [and it should continue, “and one another”]...by what we
have done and by what we have left undone.”
But it would be a mockery to let it go at that. “Bear fruit that is worthy
of repentance,” John says, Jesus reiterates, and the whole history of our
religion emphasizes. Do things that are worthy of your being a Christian; live a
life of constant consideration of others showing ourselves to be serious - and I
might say, “joyous” - followers of Jesus.
Folks, the world is going to change, this planet is going to change. Of
that we can be sure; it is inevitable. The challenge before us each day is this:
are we going to be shapers of that change for good, or are we and our children
and children's’ children going to become victims of a disastrous change because
we failed to hear the message and failed to take responsibility for our calling?
Last Friday, night we hosted a very enlightening and forward thinking event
that was organized by Barbara Bisel ( who is to be commended) and the Caring for
Creation Committee. It centered around the little booklet, “How many Light bulbs
Does it take to Change a Christian.” I have cracked up at this title in the wake
of the old joke, “How many Episcopalians does it take to change a light bulb?”
“Change....the lightbulb?”
We were challenged by two speakers from England who explained that as huge
and stark as the challenges are, each of us by even small changes and sacrifices
can make a big difference. There are many too many examples to give you now, but
just consider the fact that for each compact fluorescent light that you change
for an standard light bulb, over 730 pounds of CO2 emissions and 6 pounds of
nitrogen oxides and sulfur are prevented from entering the air.
There are such little but important steps that each of us can take. I am
reminded of a time when I was in New Zealand with a rugby team and we had the
privilege of having the National Rugby Coach of the country spend a day with us.
He spoke of teamwork in which 14 players on the field do everything in their
power to help the 15th player score a try (“touchdown”). Isn’t this what we
should all be about.
A great mentor of mine, Dr. Robert Boyd Munger, often used this poem to
remind us of our discipleship, “Christ has no hands but our hands to do his work
today; He has no feet but our feet to lead folks on their way.” Does anything
more have to be said.
I encourage you to get this little booklet. Pay attention. Be mindful.
Find out what you can do, and then do everything in your power to reflect God’
love for all the people of this world, for this beautiful planet on which we
live, and for this beautiful creation which he said was “very good.”
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