By Pastor Rebecca Webb, Regional Eco Church Coordinator for the Upper North Island.
Season: 5th Sunday of the Season of Creation
Reading: James 5:13-20
I wonder, as you read the news – whether it’s a paper newspaper, online app or website – as you take in what is happening in the world, how often do you respond in prayer? This week, some of the things I’ve read about are: declining rates of numeracy skills in our young people, families turning up to church so that they can apply to go to religious schools, the rates of uptake of puberty-blocking drugs being 7 times higher in New Zealand than in similar countries, and a startup company in California releasing sulphur dioxide into the stratosphere to reflect some of the sun’s energy back into space, an attempt at cooling the planet. But do these articles drive me to prayer? I must admit that my first response is concern, astonishment, craziness, and then I put it to the back of my mind and move on with my day. Yet this week, as I’ve reflected on our passage in James 5, I’ve been challenged to pray.
James tells us that “the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective” (v. 16), and then reminds us about Elijah, an Old Testament prophet. Elijah was human, like us, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain for three and a half years. Then again, he prayed, and the heavens gave rain. I think we underestimate the power of prayer, sometimes forget that it’s in our toolbelt. Or that God doesn’t answer prayer today in the same way that he did back then. When Paul describes the armour of God in his letter to the Ephesians, he says the sword of the Spirit is the word of God and urges us to “pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.” (Eph 5:18) My challenge for us this morning is: What are we praying about?
We are in the midst of an environmental crisis. Brian McLaren, in his recent book, Life after Doom, lays out four possible futures for humanity, depending on how we respond to the environmental crisis. In writing this book, he became convinced that human civilisation as we know it is destroying itself, heading towards the collapse of the global ecosystems upon which we depend. Ecologically, economically and politically, he thinks that our civilisation is unstable and unsustainable. The most extreme future of his four options is extinction of our species, yet none of the options are ideal.
Are we praying about the environmental crisis? When we read about it in the news, does it drive us to prayer? Let me back up a bit and first reflect on why we should care about the environment.
Psalm 24:1 says, “The earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.” God created the world and everything in it. It reflects God’s glory, just like a temple in the ancient world reflected the glory of the deity it represented. We should care for creation simply because God created it and cares about it.
But to care for creation is also part of our role as humans. In Genesis 1, when God creates humans, God makes them in his image and says to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” They repeat it again in Genesis 2:15. “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.” These words (subdue, rule, work, care) all reflect a sort of stewardship of creation.
When we steward something, we take care of it and return it in the same or better condition as when we found it. If you were to look after your friend’s child for a day, you would feed them, change them, comfort them, attend to their needs, so that when your friend came to pick them up, they can see that their child has been loved and cared for well. Part of our vocation as human beings is to look after the land and all the creatures that live in it. We are to care for creation.
So, if we are to care for this world and everything in it, our current environmental crisis should elicit a deep emotional response in us, a grieving over the state of the planet. And a drive to fulfil our responsibility to care for it. Many people feel despair and hopelessness about the state of the environment, particularly our young people. The recent Faith and Belief study by the Wilberforce Foundation found that:
- Respondents feel MOST hopeful about relationships and LEAST hopeful about the planet and the future of all human life.
- The major longing in Aotearoa is a hope for the future
As the church, we can help bring that hope. Although we are facing some pretty significant environmental challenges, we have a God who is working to redeem the earth that he created. Our responsibility to care for creation is partnering with God in the work that he is already doing.
- Romans 8:19-21, “For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are. Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope, the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay.”
- Although we are living in a time where sin reigns, when Jesus returns the second time, all creation will be judged and renewed, restored to glory. Not just people, but the natural world as well.
- I believe the story of scripture indicates it is this very world we live in now that will be restored. This is the world that God made for us and that we will dwell in, with God, forever. So, what we do now, matters.
So what can we do?
Paul says to James, “is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray.” (James 5:13) I think part of why we feel despair and hopelessness at the environmental crisis is that so much of seems outside our control – decisions made by big corporations with big money. How can we influence that? How can we engage with the global scale of the environmental crisis? I propose that prayer is global engagement. We can pray. We can pray for our environment. We can pray for our country’s leaders, that they would honour the Paris agreement. We can pray for the leaders of companies who are making decisions about deforestation and chemical fertilisers. We can pray for the low socioeconomic communities around the world who are disproportionately experiencing the effects of global warming and environmental degradation. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
When we pray, something happens. Our perspective changes. We stand in awe of the greatness and bigness of God. It is easier to feel hopeful. It is easier to act.
As well as praying, we can act locally. That’s where Eco Church comes in.
Eco Church exists to help equip and support churches to practically care for creation. Here is our goal: that church communities across Aotearoa, New Zealand, are actively caring for this earth as an integral part of their mission. Eco Church is a project of A Rocha – an international conservation charity, now in 20 countries in the world – and A Rocha commits to supporting Eco Church by resourcing, empowering and building relationships among all those wanting to integrate creation care and sustainability into the life of the church in Aotearoa New Zealand.
We talk about five key areas of church life in which we can integrate creation care – Leadership, worship and teaching; church buildings and facilities; church land and grounds; community and global engagement; and sustainable living.
Eco Churches commit to being on the creation care journey. And that looks different for each church depending on their context, people and interests.
All Saints Howick, welcome to our growing Eco Church whānau, which is now 82 churches around the country. I wonder what your next story will be? Perhaps it will be a prayer story. After dwelling in this James 5 passage this week, I am convinced we need to spend more time in prayer for this environmental crisis. Let us leave this place this morning with the encouragement that the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. What are we praying for?