Sermon
“What gets us into trouble isn't what we don't know. It's what we know for sure that just ain't so.” Says Mark Twain.
I was reminded of that quote when I watched the trailer again for the 2006 documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth.”
“What gets us into trouble isn't what we don't know. It's what we know for sure that just ain't so.”
The first time I jumped, or even waded into the care-for-the-planet conversation was in 2006 when this documentary came out. 36 years after the first Earth Day on April 22nd, 1970. Here we are in 2020, 50 later, experiencing some of the worst air quality in the world, Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica, the so-called “Doomsday Glacier” experienced 20% snow cover melted in just 9 days this past February,1 NASA continues to report on climate change measurements being off the charts,2 hurricane Laura billed as “unsurvivable” that families in the south have suffered through, and fire season is no longer seasonal.
According to a study put out by the University of Santa Cruz, just last week, “For the first time, climate scientists have compiled a continuous, high-fidelity record of variations in Earth's climate extending 66 million years into the past. The record reveals four distinctive climate states, which the researchers dubbed Hothouse, Warmhouse, Coolhouse, and Icehouse.” “Most of the major climate transitions in the past 66 million years have been associated with changes in greenhouse gas levels.” “The climate can become unstable when it's nearing one of these transitions.” “If emissions are constant [after 2100] and are not stabilized [before 2250], global climate [by 2300] might enter the hothouse world of ~50 million years ago with its multiple global warming events and no large ice sheets at the poles.”3
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The book of Genesis includes two versions of the creation story. There are people who quote from the first Genesis story in Genesis 1:28, “28 God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.” On that sixth day God gave humans dominion over the earth.
The second version of this story is what we read today. “— 7 then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being. 8And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed. 9 Out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. 16 This second version tells us that God's marching orders for us were telling us to tend to the garden, not subdue it and have dominion over it. Out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree, and the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground. We are literally made of the same stuff as the rest of earth. On a spiritual level or metaphysical level and a biological lever, we are absolutely connected to our surroundings. Why would we not take care of our very selves?
In struggling to choose which story to believe and which story is true, it has been helpful for me to remember the books of Karen Armstrong.
In 2005 she was interviewed on NPR's Talk of the Nation. Neil Conan introduces her by first quoting her:
`Everybody,' writes Karen Armstrong, `wants to know where we came from and where we're going. As soon as people became aware of their own mortality many thousands of years ago, they created stories that gave their lives meaning, that explained their relationship to the spiritual world, that instructed them on how to live their lives.' In "A Short History of Myth," religion writer Karen Armstrong describes what these stories are and what they're not. A myth is not a lie or just a story, for example, nor is it simply an explanation of scientific phenomena, as we're often told. Myths are also not about comfort or condolence, but force people to face the realities of life and death.” 4
Our two creation myths are part of the human pattern of searching for meaning. Every society has a creation myth associated with them. We are in good company, when we realize that people have always wanted to explain the unexplainable and have come to their own thoughts about the how and why of their own existence. Calling our two creation stories myths neither denies their truth nor explains every question that comes up. What is clear however, is that we have always believed that there was some place perfect that we want to return to. It is a longing that will never go away. When struggles arise we want to be somewhere else. Finding a beginning and trying to understand what went wrong is what we do when we want to be better, change things in order to improve what is now, and prevent harm in the future.
How can we take this morning's text explaining that our first assignment was to tend to what we were given, and compare them to our orange sky of Wednesday, the worst air in the world right now, and the horror of the destruction fire and wind that so many individuals are suffering right now, and not talk about climate change? It feels irresponsible not to.
Waking up Wednesday to an orange sky was disorienting, frightening, fascinating, confusing, and for some, the absolute tipping point. So many of us, stunned every day by some new upside down version of the world for so long, really just couldn't cope. I'm sure it breaks all of our hearts to think of people with far fewer resources for companionship, emotional support, medical support, food and shelter, and safety feeling this same tipping point.
What are we to do? How can we cope? How can we help?
Here are some things we already do.
We remember. We remember pain. We remember past insurmountable struggles and how we surmounted them. We remember how 10 years ago this week the community at Bethany was devastated by the loss of three from one family in the explosion of the PG&E pipeline. People who represented best friends, great family members, close loves in the hearts of everyone here. We remember that that same week meant the loss of another beloved family member. And the loss that comes with watching adults leave to go to their grown up lives somewhere else.
We remember resilience. We tell the story in the Bethany Story Project. We even put a phoenix into a display of our pain set out on our wall for everyone to see. A phoenix who is us, as we were destined like a phoenix is destined to rise from the literal ashes. We put our emotions on display for the community to share by designing, creating, building, and installing a beautiful meaningful memorial wall, and we include anyone from the community to come be a part of the work, because we are designed to be connectional. We are designed to connect when we love, when we hurt, when we are well and when we are not.
We give. The generosity of our Bethany community comes from our pain. The pain of any one suffering. We wear our pain and our love on the same sleeve. We have been a part of the San Bruno Shelter because we want to connect and support and help. As soon as the opportunity came to meet the needs of nearby new worshipping communities we came to life. Every blanket drive, baby clothes drive, leaves us with stacks of gifts to give. Right now we seem to love diapers and beans and rice! Generosity is one of the greatest gifts from God.
We worship. Even in our distress that comes from covid we work hard to be together, even through technology. While human touch and presence can never be replaced we don't give up. We pray.
We play.
We love.
We rest.
This Garden of Eden that we want to return to is a myth because we can't go back. But it's also real because God's garden is out there. Humanity is the garden. Our mandate to tend the garden is our mandate to tend to each other. Our individualism is going to smother us. Anything we do on our own is of no value on its own.
In a recent article in The Atlantic this week, Ed Young lists 10 things about human nature that make it difficult for us to make systemic changes, and decisions about what is right.5 One of the things on the list is False Dichotomies. We tend to think we only have two choices. Between this person's idea or this person's idea. Between this drug or that drug. Between this safe behavior or that safe behavior. Once we make one decision we tend to think the decision is over and we have properly handled that question. We don't have to decide to be individualistic or work for the group. We don't have to decide to stay home or go march. We don't have to decide to give up or join the fight. We don't have to decide between light or dark.
It is so important to recognize that God made us and made us for good. God's love for us is what will sustain us through our introvert days in bed and our extroverted days of marching. God's love is what will sustain us through our tears and our resilience. God's love is what allows us to have some fun and laugh and love even in the midst of tragedy too big for any one person to hold by themselves.
We are the garden. Our world is the garden. The complexity of life is part of our garden and it is the love of God that will get us through. We know that here at Bethany because we've seen it.
Please pray with me….
1 "Antarctica's colossal Thwaites Glacier is melting fast"
3 "66 Million Years of Earth's Climate History Uncovered"