Love Thy Neighbor, Love the Environment

I wasn't quite sure how to articulate my position on gross human exploitation of the environment and its connection to our culture of violence because I have been waiting for a theory, a fundamental theological doctrine connecting the dots to fall into my lap. It just made sense to me that we cannot be successful saving the environment if we do not first stop to evaluate our own human interactions, our relations and whether or not we follow the commandment to love one another. I believe that this commandment is not just applicable to Christians but to all of humanity, the secularists, "believers", agnostics, and atheists alike. We may not like it but we have the choice to either love one another, though imperfectly, or to perish together as a species.

As one of my very erudite classmates observed in a recent class forum, "Christianity is always a little scary for me because I know that the deeper I go into the faith the more it demands of me. It seems to me that church at once is the place of solace where we can get nourishment and support as we go deeper and extend ourselves more widely but it is also the place that pushes us to be instruments of God’s in all that is most scary and raw." Yes! The discomfort I feel and that a listener or reader might experience upon evaluating the theory suits the profundity of the revelation. We should all take pause to reassess our every step and belief.

In my frantic search to find some truth to this connection between love of self, and other and the environment I stumbled upon the Evangelical Climate Initiative. www.christiansandclimate.org I was struck by this particular statement located in Claim 3 of the Initiative:
Christians must care about climate change because we are called to love our neighbors, to do unto others as we would have them do unto us, and to protect and care for the least of these as though each was Jesus Christ himself (Mt. 22:34-40; Mt. 7:12; Mt. 25:31-46).

This was the doctrine I needed (though perhaps obvious to others) in order to make the claim that our actions extend beyond what car we drive or what cleaning solution we use but challenge our very purpose for existing and finding peace and fulfillment in life. I don't know of any other reason of why I am on this earth other than to love my neighbor and God. Love of God, love of neighbor, and the demands of stewardship are more than enough reason for evangelical Christians to respond to the climate change problem with moral passion and concrete action.

In this quest for a doctrine I also came upon the book Serve God, Save the Planet by Dr. Matthew Sleeth. I find he is a true non-conformist in the greatest sense because he calls us to fulfill the commandment to love one another by leaving a smaller footprint on the planet. What made my spirit jump for joy was reading that in his commitment to God and to creation, in the radical reordering of his life, he came to be closer to God. There were less "things" in the way to salvation.

“Although I believed in the “environmental cause” before I accepted Christ as my Savior, my belief did not translate into action.” He also states that after he “became a Christian, I went through a process of examining my life, and I found it was filled with sin and hypocrisy. I decided to conduct an assessment and figure out a rough estimate of the actual environmental impact by my family. This honest inventory indicated what the Christian faith required of me.” Furthermore, Dr. Sleeth writes, due to “these changes, we have more time for God. Spiritual concerns have filled the void left by material ones. Owning fewer things has resulted in things no longer owning us.”

I think God is found in the trees, cleansing breezes, sunrises, glacier lakes, falling snow, and rambling streams. I think that is why Jesus went into the wilderness. To be challenged but also to be closer to God. I know what is required of me. I pray I take the necessary steps to love my enemy, my neighbor and the stranger to restore the earth to her glory in honor of our Creator.

Amen