Reading: John 14:23-29 Easter 6C
May 20, 2001
The Rev. Karen Siegfriedt
St. Jude the Apostle Church, Cupertino CA,
Jesus said to his disciples: "The Holy Spirit.will teach you everything and will remind you all that I have said to you." (Jn. 14)
Today's gospel concludes the first unit of Jesus' farewell discourse. Before he is about to die, Jesus gathers his disciples around him and delivers his final testament. This is similar to the situation where a dying person gathers her loved ones around the bed and offers them some departing words of wisdom. If you read the whole text of this final discourse, you will notice that Jesus tells his disciples:
In today's reading of this discourse, Jesus consoles his disciples by telling them that he will not leave them orphaned. Instead, God will send them the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, an advocate, who will teach them everything and remind them of Jesus' words and work. Since Jesus has not fully said all that the Church needs to understand, disciples will have to depend on the Holy Spirit for clarification in the future. Since we are celebrating Rogation Sunday today and will bless our buildings and grounds in celebration of all creation, I would like to talk about the connection between this Spirit of Truth and our relationship with Mother Earth. For it is the Holy Spirit, who leads us into "love and harmony with God, with ourselves, with our neighbors, and with all creation " (BCP 852).
Jesus addressed the many situations facing the Jewish people of 1st Century Palestine. And while he talked about the centrality of love in all relationships, he certainly did not specifically address many of the concerns of the 21st century. He did not address issues such as equal rights, sexuality, cloning, global economics, nuclear energy, abortion rights, organ transplants, and ecology. So how are we to know God's desires in these arenas? Jesus said, "I will not leave you orphaned. God will send you the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, who will teach you everything."
When it comes to our relationship to mother earth and all of creation, we as Christians need to rely on the Holy Spirit to enlighten our conscience and to lead us forward into doing the right thing, rather than relying on Holy Scripture or the words of Jesus. Why is that? Because the Bible and the Christian tradition are primarily anthropomorphic. Anthropomorphic means being focused on human beings and not on the rest of creation. While the Bible does address the goodness of all creation and the necessity for us to be good stewards of the earth, its main focus is on human relationships. Thousands of years ago, the earth seemed very large and the human population was very small. Back then, a couple would need to have at least six children in order to maintain the population at 0% growth. Because of this, the earth was easily able to absorb the occasional abuses from human civilization.
However, the situation of the planet has changed since Jesus walked the earth. In the last 50 years alone, economic expansion has increased five fold. Because of the demand for natural resources and the resulting pollution, the environmental demands to keep this economic system going, have filled up the available environmental space of the planet. We now live in a "full world."
The planet's ecosystems are deteriorating at an alarming rate. Take for example the state of Iowa, a state rich in topsoil. The state of Iowa will be a desert by the year 2020 if the current rate of soil depletion continues. This has already happened in Northern Africa and is responsible for the many famines plaguing those nations. 1/3 of the world's forests will disappear in the next fifteen years. When the forests go, so will many plants, birds, and animals. Species of animals are disappearing at a rate of one every twenty-five minutes. In 1965, a couple moved to Montana. At that time, birds were so abundant that when they drove down their dirt road, they had to drive very slowly as waves of birds parted. But today, when they wake up in the morning, they do not hear one bird sing. On the other hand, the human species, which is one of the most recent species to inhabit the earth, is populating at a rate of 130,000,000 per year. Our world is indeed, "full." How do we respond to this "full" world? What is the Spirit of Truth guiding us to do as Christians?
In his final discourse, Jesus calls us to abide in his love. But it is the Spirit of Truth who encourages us to extend that love to all creation, not just human beings. It is love for the created order that will motivate us to change our life styles so that our earth is not destroyed. And so in the spirit of God's love, I would like to leave with you an image of the human body as an analogy to mother earth.
The human body is an amazing host to many living cells and organisms. There are colonies of different bacteria, cells, antibodies, organs, and sensations that are in equilibrium with each other. If this equilibrium is disturbed, then sickness results. For instance, if the bacteria in the colon are killed off, then diarrhea results. If our system of antibodies go out of whack, then we can suffer from an autoimmune disease (such as AIDs) or die of an infection. All of us have immature cells in our bodies. As long as they are kept in check, we remain healthy. However, if the immature cells reproduce at an alarming rate, they crowd out the healthy cells. This is called cancer. One of the treatments for cancer is to poison or radiate the immature cells. But in doing so, the healthy cells are also killed, resulting in much suffering by the patient. Sometimes, the host can not cope with being out of equilibrium for too long, at which point, the body dies.
Mother earth is like the human body which tries to maintain equilibrium! Our planet earth has coping mechanisms to keep things in working order. However, if one immature species overpopulates or causes too many assaults on the earth, not only does great suffering occur, but Mother Nature reacts by trying to kill off the overpopulated species. Unfortunately, we are that immature species.
So the principle theological question for us today is this: Is nature there only for us, as the stage for our actions, as a vacation place, as a backdrop for the human history, as raw material for our consumption? Or does the rest of creation have inherent value in itself? And if the rest of creation is inherently valuable and deserves to have a future, then how do we act as stewards of this earth? "All good things around us are sent from heaven above; then thank the Lord, O thank the Lord for all his love."(Hymn #291)
| Updated 5/20/01 |
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