Faith and the Greening of Earth: Book 3

By Dr Clive Ayre

Earth’s changing climate is increasingly obvious, and if humans are largely responsible, we all have a part in the solution. The purpose of this book a faith perspective to Earthcare, and in particular to demonstrate how
Earthcare is an integral part of the Christian Faith and therefore of Christian mission.
It is not a peripheral issue or an optional extra! Moreover, the Christian Faith can interact not only with other faith perspectives, but also with science, and with all who simply care. And in the process of caring for the Earth,
we can build bridges of understanding rather than walls of division.

“Faith and the Greening of Earth” invites the inquiring reader into realistic scenarios and offers high-value resources with integrity.
Rev Dr Wayne Sanderson

A well summarised affirmation of Earthcare as an integral part of faith and an important dimension of Christian mission.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Inspiring Publishers / ASPG
• Release date: Feb 7, 2024
• ISBN: 9781923087705

Book preview

Take off your Shoes

Gerald Manley Hopkins has a poem in which he declares:

The world is charged with the grandeur of God.

It will flame out like shook foil;

It gathers to a greatness, like the ooze of oil

Crushed. Why do men then now not reek his rod?

After generations of human treading, the earth is seared with trade and smeared with toil:

And wears man’s smudge and shares man’s smell: the soil Is bare now, nor can foot feel, being shod.

Traditional Aboriginal people walked the earth barefoot, and they were at one with the earth, their Mother. They did not own the land; rather, the land owned them. There was a natural spirituality at work. Because their bare feet touched the earth, and they were connected with it, it was important that they cared for it; and they did that.

But what about us? Our feet are shod, and we are separated from the earth. We live in cities in which all too often the earth is covered with concrete as if we were ashamed of it. In this sanitised world, food comes from the supermarket, out of artificial packaging, and we are scarcely aware that it comes from the earth. In our urbanised world we don’t even have Harvest Festivals anymore, at least in Australia, I suspect because we hardly know how to make the connection. We are separated from the earth because our feet are shod – our spiritual feet if you like – and shoes easily turn into boots made for tramping on the earth.

Remember Moses at the burning bush? Before that amazing spectacle Moses felt constrained to take off his shoes. Moses, take off your shoes, for the ground on which you are standing is holy ground, he heard God say. It was holy because here was an encounter with the living God. Now before we rush on to talk about Hebrew slaves and how they might be freed, we should pause – in the presence of God – and ask if the eco-crisis of our time has not the makings of a holy moment, a kairos moment of encounter, in which we need to take off our shoes, to let our bare feet feel the earth, and hear what amounts to a divine call, not to free the Hebrew slaves this time, but to free the earth from the oppression of human activity which would presume to enslave it. We need to stand barefoot on the earth and realise that we are on the wrong side of this new burning bush drama!

Sallie McFague uses the metaphor of the earth as the body of God; we won’t want to take it too far; but the image might re-awaken a sense of the sacred in our contact with the earth, as we stand barefoot upon it.

The Hebrew slaves cried out for freedom, and Moses demanded of the Pharaoh, let my people go! But now, it might seem, we have become Pharaoh, and a new Moses is crying out for a new respect for the earth, for God’s creation, as he stands barefoot upon it. The ultimate irony may be that in the end it is we who are freed after all, as once again we are able to perceive the world charged with the grandeur of God.

Weather and the Tears of God

(The following was written at a time of heavy rain and widespread flooding in Queensland in 2021-2).

Judging by the emails that we have received personally, our Queensland weather has been big news around the world. As one wit put it, you may safely talk about religion and politics, but don’t talk about the weather in polite society! Yet we must talk about it.

Many people will be wondering what to make of these events. For some, the Queensland floods plus the cyclone were a once in 200 years event, although part of me wants to add that happens every 30 or 40 years. But it isn’t as straightforward as that either. It is hard to be too dogmatic about these events, yet there are several points that may safely be made.

At the outset we must distinguish between climate and the weather. Today’s temperatures and tomorrow’s forecast are about weather. The trends and patterns that emerge over a significant period of time are about climate. We cannot put too much weight on severe weather events in a single month, but we can and should look for climatic trends – and on this point climate scientists have something to say to us.

It should not come as a surprise that we do not have unanimity about what is happening to our climate; in any field of learning there will always be differences of opinion or interpretation. However, my own perception is that those who are concerned about the environment will not need to be told that the climate of the planet is changing, even though there is significant variability within the overall global warming. The data is out there, and it is clear.

Devastating floods and cyclones in Queensland and other parts of the country have been described as natural, and in one sense that is true. However, there is also a sense in which they are unnatural in that human activity is impacting on the planet in significant ways. We do not need to rehearse all of that here; but climate scientists have every right to say, we told you so. We have been warned that extreme weather events are part and parcel of the current state of affairs that has all the hallmarks of a disaster.

It is encouraging to hear some political leaders saying that rebuilding without careful thought is not a good idea. In our time at Laidley in the early 70’s we experienced two floods, but one has to understand that the Manse and Church were in a natural flood causeway. There are some areas in which we should not build.

But even if I and many others are wrong about what is happening to our planet, and I don’t think we are, there is still a very clear prophetic message here for all of us. There is a clear biblical and theological imperative to care for God’s creation, although common sense alone should tell us that. In any event, while our hearts go out to those who have suffered and lost so much, and it is wonderful to see how a disaster can bring out the best in people (and sadly the worst as well), we need to re-double our efforts to create a better and a healthier global climate for coming generations to enjoy.

The other key question here is, as one recent writer put it bluntly, Where the hell is God? From my perspective the answer is clear enough – that God is hurting along with the Earth. As Norman Habel invites us, we might look for many of the stations of the cross as God suffers with a suffering planet. Indeed, the floods may be perceived as the tears of God in the face of what we are doing to the divine creation.

The sign of promise and hope following the Noah flood was the rainbow, and it still seems appropriate. But Hosea 2:15 also has a word for us: the valley of Achor shall be a door of hope. In other words, the door of hope is located precisely in the situation of human sin and suffering. Whatever route we take into the future, the door of hope is right where we are.

Green Economy

World Environment Day was established by the UN in 1972 to stimulate worldwide awareness of the environment, and is celebrated each year on 5th June. The theme in the International Year of Sustainable Energy for All in 2012 was Green Economy: Does it include you? It raises the question what is a green economy?

We usually associate the economy and stewardship with financial arrangements. There are at least two problems with that. First, we tend to relate to the Earth merely as a resource pool for us to exploit, and the natural environment by definition does not have a dollar value. It is therefore subject to abuse, and the political judgment that a liveable environment would be good if the economy could afford it! But second, economy literally means household management, which means that we need to see this term more holistically with ‘house’ defined as the Earth itself.

The term ‘green economy’ therefore helps us to see more of the whole, and to provide a more substantial platform for management of the ‘house’. The Christian Church has a particular calling to re-vision this more holistic view of the house, which is God’s world, and of the household, which is the life God has created.

A green economy recognises that unlimited growth on a finite planet is not possible. We need to re-image these terms to see ‘progress’ and ‘growth’ as the flourishing of all life, rather than the accumulation of wealth by a few at the expense of the many. Progress needs to be seen in terms of the bringing about of the reign of God, so we see a household that is more just, equitable, respectful, compassionate, and loving. If members of God’s family continue to suffer because some of us are taking too much or many of God’s wild creatures continue to experience the threat of mass extinctions, we are not growing a more holistic household.

The need for a green economy is of course related to increasingly obvious environmental problems, and it therefore behoves us to make ourselves aware of financial gains from Banks and Super Funds through loans or investments in unethical environmental industries or practices.

But it also needs to be understood in the context of our most basic theology, including a doctrine of creation. Earthcare is essentially a theological issue that informs our understanding of mission. It is therefore essential for us to revise and broaden our definition of economy to include the natural world and defy any attempt to put a dollar-only value on it. A green economy understood in the broader sense must involve us all in our expectations, political judgments, and in every other aspect of our life.

It is at this point that stewardship becomes significant; it is not the only word used to describe our calling to care for creation, but it is the most common. In a significant book, Environmental Stewardship, Prof Sam Berry says that stewardship is about caring, and that involves not only everyday things and relationships we value, but the environment as well. Put another way, he says, relationship is at the root of stewardship. In the same volume, Sir John Houghton says, Stewardship is not an option; it is integral to God’s order in creation.

Thus, we return to the original question, does it include you? Clearly the only possible answer is yes. As church we have a responsibility to re-imagine the house in a more holistic sense, and contribute to designing systems and structures that help us live together in ways that take the whole into account.

The Ecological Crisis

The eco crisis as we have come to know it covers many areas. Climate change relates to global warming, including an increase in extreme weather events, and while the process seems sometimes to be slow, in geological time it is extremely fast, with new and unwelcome records