The people of the United Methodist Church: Environmental Justice for a Sustainable Future.

This social statement is not too unlike the ELCA’s own statement. It points out that we, as humans, are given dominion over the Earth by God in Genesis. It mentions that there are 1.2 billion people that live in poverty around the world. The statement lays out how we have gotten to this point. Over use and rapid population growth are among those reasons.
There is then a call for God’s forgiveness and confession of the transgressions against His creation. In this they claim that they have forgotten the good news that they are called to proclaim including the promise that Jesus Christ came to redeem all creation.
They say;
“We believe that at the center of the vision of shalom is the integration of environmental, economic, and social justice.
We are called to eliminate overconsumption as a lifestyle, thus using lower levels of finite natural resources.
We are called to seek a new lifestyle rooted in justice and peace.
We are called to establish new priorities in a world where 40,000 children die of hunger each day.
Therefore, we are called to a global sense of community and solidarity leading to a new world system of international relationships and economic/environmental order. In this way, the misery of 1.2 billion poor now living in absolute poverty can be alleviated and the living ecosystem be saved.”
“Principles for a Sustainable Future 

The Social Principles of The United Methodist Church remind us that "all creation is the Lord's, and we are responsible for the ways in which we use and abuse it" (¶ 160). Development must be centered in the concept of sustainability as defined by the World Commission of Environment and Development: "to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." The Christian understanding of sustainability encompasses this concept. Fundamental to our call as faithful witnesses is the meeting of human needs within the capacity of ecosystems. This ensures the security of creation and a just relationship between all people. Sustainable development, therefore, looks toward a healthy future in three vital areas: the social community, the economy, and the environment.”
Much like the ELCA this statement calls for the people to get involved on an individual level, the churches to get involved at their level and for the big church to get involved. They stress that this is much more than a human issue but an issue about and around God’s creation. Over all it is a good statement, but like ours probably does not go far enough. The old adage of walk the talk, or put your money where your mouth is. In our denomination as well it is easy to do the politics but following through is another matter all together.
All quotes and paraphrases come from:
ADOPTED 1992, AMENDED AND READOPTED 2004
See Social Principles, ¶ 160.
From The Book of Resolutions of The United Methodist Church — 2004. Copyright © 2004 by The United Methodist Publishing House. Used by permission.

http://archives.umc.org/interior.asp?ptid=4&mid=959

ELCA 1993 Social Statement

Below is a one page rewrite of what the social statement says. I had to summarize it for conference that is on the 19th. If you read it before next week and find I should add something or there is any glaring mistakes please let me know so that can be done. Over all this social statement does a good job of stating why we need to practice care for creation, it gives suggestions on how as a church we should be going forward and more than that it gives some concrete ways that individual churches can get involved. Unfortunately it is a political document and does not quite go far enough and paint the true picture of the situation. Perhaps this is because it is 1993 or perhaps it is ...... Any way we need to be aware of what God is up to and how we can further this care for creation in our own context.


Food and Faith:
Ethical Dimensions of America’s Food System
An ELCA Perspective

“Given the power of sin and evil in this world, as well as the complexity of environmental problems, we know that we can find no ‘quick fix’ –whether technological, economic, or spiritual. A sustainable environment requires a sustained effort from everyone.
“The prospect of doing too little too late leads many people to despair. But as people of faith, captives of hope, and vehicles of God’s promise, we face this crisis.” (Social Statement on Caring for Creation: Vision, Hope, and Justice p. 12, ELCA 1993.)
We as a church take very seriously God’s command for humanity to have dominion over the Earth. This dominion is not dominance rather a responsibility to be good stewards of the land. We are to care for God’s creation in all aspects of our lives. We recognize that we can no longer look at the earth as a boundless warehouse that will continue to provide food and resources forever.
Our captivity and sin lie at the roots of this predicament. We have given into the temptation that more is better and in our push for more we have depleted our resources. Our wants have overtaken our needs. Our desire to have the best food and have it now have driven our economy and food production in such a way that keeping up with the demand has harmed the environment, and our constant push will eventually lead to an unsustainable system.
However, our tradition gives us hope. Hope that there is forgiveness of sins, hope that there is new life and hope that there is salvation. This hope comes through the precious blood of Jesus Christ on the Cross and through his resurrection. In Christ we are justified by grace through faith. This grace is a gift from God freely given out of His love for humanity and requires no effort of our own.
In this we are born into new life. It is with this new life that we find hope in our current situation. We are called to serve and keep the earth, trusting its bounty can be sufficient for all, and sustainable. For this to happen changes need to be made. The ELCA calls for a system of justice through participation, solidarity, sufficiency, and sustainability. We pray that we may be a place where differing groups may assemble and discuss the tough issues and that common good be pursued. We pray also for humility to stand with creation and the wisdom to care for it in proper ways. We pray that we may find the courage to change our ways public and private so that there would be enough. Finally, we pray for the inspiration and fortitude to treat our dominion with care and compassion.
To accomplish this we must commit as a church to act on many levels, as individuals, as worship and learning communities, as a committed community, as a community of moral deliberations, and as an advocate. As individual we can make care of creation choices in our own homes, things such as recycling, or buying locally grown products. As a worship community we must dedicate time to the education of care for creation practices, provide education and communication and provide and support programs throughout the year. As a committed community we will work toward sufficiency and sustainability through audits and evaluations. Through moral deliberation we will provide space and time that will allow differing viewpoints to come together for discussion. Finally, as advocates we will support those who work towards the goal of a sustainable food system both privately and publicly.


(All material and paraphrasing in this document are taken from Social Statement on Caring for Creation: Vision, Hope, and Justice, ELCA 1993)

Orr Book

As I started to read “Earth In Mind” by David Orr all I could think of was, “The sky is falling, the sky is falling!!!!!!” It screamed of alertist rhetoric. All I could think is what have I gotten into, this leftist is going to rant for the next two hundred plus pages. But, I plodded forward none the less and I am glad that I did. Being from the conservative side I can appreciate much of what Orr has to say.
For starters Orr is a big picture guy. He has spent his life looking at the issues and gives an idea of what the world could look like. Orr not only gives a big picture but he also gives some practical ideas that would be important cogs in the system. For example his idea about ranking schools on things other than grad standards or ACT scores we should look at the waste they produce and how environmentally effective they are, this would cause for systematic change and also ensure that the students and teachers are aware of the issues at hand.
Orr posits that the problem with the system is the way that we educate. Not only is the system of education that is implemented not working we need to upset the apple cart and start over, before it is too late. As a former educator I can appreciate what he is saying. As teachers we are given a subject to teach and seem to fall into the textbook and what that says. You get into a grove. You concentrate on classroom management as much as content. Not only that, with things like No Child Let Behind and other state standards teachers are almost forced to teach to the test so that students can perform on the test. This, along with tenure, and what I call laminated lesson plans, leads to a lack of moving with the times.
We certainly have a need for the education to change. Another thing that I appreciated was that Orr points out that most of us live indoors most of the time and do not get out and appreciate God’s creation. Educational experiences like what we experience through Shalom Hill Farm, are exactly what he is talking about. It is interesting reading some of the blogs and how influential and formative our short weekend together was. For those that have not experienced it they will never know. It is why as a kid I always enjoyed when the flat-landers from St Louis churches would come to Colorado and experience back packing in the mountains. There is something to be said for being in God’s creation. I personally am at peace when I can spend some time with God in his place, mountains or prairies. While teaching I always try and remember that there are several learning styles and that those need to be attended to so that all learners can take the information in the most helpful way.
God created with just his words, God spoke and it was. This Creation he handed over to humanity to take care of. We are responsible for it and Orr, I believe, wants his readers to realize that the same old same old is not cutting it. We need radical change, and at the same time be attentive to the long range goals.
Over all a good read and informative.

Earth Care part 5

Well the earth care has been slow in my house this last week or so. We have been doing a pretty good job of recycling but it seems that we must be using more of the materials that can be recycled because it seems that the kitchen is filling with cardboard boxes, plastic containers, paper and the like faster than it ever did when it was all going into the garbage. My son continues his practice of picking up the school yard and feels proud because of it. He does this in spite of all the people that were helping telling him it was getting boring and that they were going to do something else. He has a great heart and natural ability for these things. My daughter is becoming more and more attentive and does not truly understand still but knows that it is good for the fish in the lakes that we like to catch. This is the one who said to me on Good Friday, "it is ok daddy, Jesus had to die, so he can come alive on Sunday." From the mouths of babes.

Another practice that we soon will be adopting in down sizing and simplifying what we have in our storage and in life in general. I was placed as the next intern at Prairie STaR Ministries in Windom so we will be headed "South" for the next year. It is our hope between now and the time we move there to consolidate our vast network of storage units and take what we pear down with us. Please pray for us as we open boxes that I am sure have not been opened for over 3 years. our hope is to give what we can to families and individuals that need it and discard the rest. We are also committed to trying to be more attentive to care for creation practices. Once we are there we plan to buy part of a holy cow and I know my wife hopes there is a garden she can get her hands dirty in. Speaking of Holy Cows, Deans letter is very good and gets to the heart of the matter and if you have not already agreed to do so you should let him know you will sign on.

This should be my last post on this issue so I thought that I would summarize things. This task of recycling was a good one for us as a family. it provided something tangible that all could participate in. It will help as we move to the Prairie and adopt the care for creation practices there. Unfortunately, I have not expanded as much as I had hoped with this, but life has gotten in the way. Picking up trash around our building was an eye opener in how much waste can accumulate when we are not looking or paying attention. Mostly, it has just opened my eyes to the amount of reusable stuff that goes into the landfills on a daily basis and how relatively easy it is to take the extra step to help out, even my 4 year old can do it, or if you prefer it so easy a caveman can do it. So I sign off for now and hope to have my reviews of social statements and the Orr book review done soon.