Stewardship and Christianity
In this special week of our year, many people feel the joy and love that Christmas is really all about. So I thought it appropriate to explore the role of stewardship in Christianity in today’s blog posting. I enjoyed a personal interview with Bruce Sanguin, minister at one of Vancouver’s most popular churches, Canadian Memorial United Church. Here’s what he told me.
Stewardship 101
Genesis, the first book of the Bible, tells the story of God creating the universe and Earth, the animals and plants, and human beings. Human beings are then told to be stewards – to care for the plants and animals and our planet. The ideal of stewardship includes the idea that our planet and nature don’t really belong to us. They belong to God our Creator, and we’re trustees of what has been given to us. Being a steward and caring for creation means acting in alignment with the line in Genesis in which God declares His creation to be good. And when we don’t care for any part of our planet, we’re practicing poor stewardship. “Being stewards of the earth is central to our identity as people of God,” Bruce Sanguin added.
Stewardship 201
However, there is some controversy. One of the creation stories is that God created everything and put human beings in charge of the rest of creation – granted them dominion over creation. Some “critics of Christianity and Judaism say that the word has been interpreted by the church and by believers in a way that gives them license to do whatever we want to do with creation,” Bruce explained. Rather than being stewards, some people interpret having dominion as equalling the right to industrially dominate and even destroy our planet and the plants and animals. The critics claim that “our voices have not been strong enough to be advocates for creation,” Bruce added. In his opinion, however, it’s a weak argument.
Stewardship 301
Bruce Sanguin feels that the metaphor of stewardship doesn’t go far enough. Science, especially evolutionary science, tells us that we are biologically kin with all of creation and there’s no disconnection. “We need to fall back in love with creation as kin, and to start treating our biosystems and all creatures with the kind of respect we would treat any of our ancestors. We need to realize our deep connection,” he suggested.
It’s A Wrap
A friend of mine emailed me from a cruise ship on the Amazon River with disturbing news. The River is very muddy, much of which is runoff from deforested areas upriver. Even worse – at one stop, the passengers were told that the Amazon Rainforest, the lungs of our planet, is receiving less rain and may begin to dry out. I asked Bruce about it. “We need to realize our deep connection.” With a disconnection, “we can forget that the Amazon is the lungs of our planet. We don’t know where our food comes from,” he replied. “We’re so deeply disassociated from the earth and earth processes that we are enacting all kinds of atrocities ultimately on ourselves.” So, the challenge for all of society is to get back into the right relationship that we have to live with creation.
Memorial Church has a sign with changing sayings beside Burrard Street, one of Vancouver’s busiest streets. Several months ago, the sign read “There is no Planet B”.
You can learn more about Bruce Sanguin’s views and read his blog on his website (www.brucesanguin.com). The site also includes information about the books he has written, which include Darwin, Divinity and the Dance of the Cosmos, with the subtitle An Ecological Christianity.
Caring About Climate Change
If you drove through Vancouver’s Kerrisdale today, or one of many other neighborhoods across North America, you may have noticed groups of people holding signs about climate change.
The group I stopped to chat with was led by Janette McIntosh of KAIROS Canada and Kevin Washbrook of Voters Taking Action on Climate Change (VTACC). They had a sizable turnout considering the freezing weather, and were received warmly by the many people driving by who honked their support.
Both organizations are grassroots and volunteer-driven. VTACC focuses on getting people involved politically on behalf of our planet with regards to climate change. When the group started in 2007, governments were not listening and although the large environmental groups were doing good work, they were not getting results. Kevin attributes this to a lack of involvement from the general public.
VTACC’s events are positive, fun and family-oriented, and include soap box derbies and parades. Occasionally the political signs appear, such as on the first day of the current international climate change conference. VTACC also organized leadership debates during the election. Their goal is to legislate serious carbon emission reductions to help stop climate change. “Climate change is not a political issue – it’s about creating the type of world we want to live in for the rest of our lives,” Kevin told me. “We’re not going to solve this unless we’re all working together.” VTACC forms alliances with other groups to accomplish goals related to climate change, as well as human rights and social justice. It’s an urgent time for action and although there are reasons to be worried, some things give Kevin great hope, including China and India announcing reduction targets, and the Canadian government’s shift in position. If groups are active now and then Copenhagen fails to reach an agreement, people will ask “why not?”.
VTACC is asking supporters to participate in a rotating fast during the Copenhagen talks – information is available on their Facebook page.
Janette McIntosh of KAIROS explained that her organization is multi-denominational and involved with climate change as well as social issues. Five years ago, Janette, a public health officer by trade, took on the issue of water abundance and went to churches to educate people. Soon after, other environmental activities related to resource extraction followed, especially in places where North American laws don’t apply. Three years ago, KAIROS decided to “focus on a longer-term, three-year climate change campaign, which gives us a chance, [as] volunteers, to become better educated and to become better advocates on the issues,” Janette explained. Being faith-based, KAIROS takes its message to congregations, and writes resources and policy documents based on Christian messages. Currently KAIROS is facing budget cuts from CIDA, which will negatively affect the international work they do.
Janette reports that some people who have witnessed old forms of environmental activism feel hesitant to get involved. Others are too busy, even lacking time to think or reflect. She approaches issues gently and takes time to build relationships and establish trust so people start to listen. In time, some join her group. She agrees that the role of stewardship is an important model. Feeling humble makes it much harder to approach our planet with an attitude of dominance. The bottom line is our relationship with ourselves, with other people, and with our planet. We need to examine who we are in relation to our world, how we live, and that we’re not alone. “In the business of going from place A, to B to C, communication dwindles – you’re not able to have meaningful conversation on issues that matter. If you’re not having those conversations, then the depth that all of us long for is not being met,” Janette suggested. Many people are not aware of how fulfilling life can be when it is lived intentionally, or with purpose.
Sometimes an overdose of climate change information — as with some media outlets during the lead up to Copenhagen — can make people feel hopeless or even desensitized. Those who get scared can bury it, pretend a threat doesn’t exist, and carry on with business as usual. Other people become overwhelmed as they stretch their energy in too many helpful ways.
There are different ways to approach this, but Janette suggests — and I agree — that people with an awareness or who have time to think, have a responsibility to help. “There has to be political analysis and an ability to work with an alliance-building and a partnership approach,” Janette suggested. Many people are helping and their voices have the right to be heard. A number of churches now have environmental committees or stewardship groups. Seattle-based Earth Ministry, for example, has a lot of activity going on to reach everyone. And we need everybody – all hands on deck, please!
The 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen started today. May great wisdom guide the decision makers and may they work together to reach an agreement that supports our planet. We wish them well.
Tags: Climate Change, Copenhagen, Earth Ministry, environment, grassroots, KAIROS, steward, UN, VTACC
