Siblings in Creation Justice: An Earth Day Meditation

Last weekend, during a college visit for our daughter in Northampton, Massachusetts, I took a run by Mill River. The first thing you see when you start on the trail is a small island in the middle of the water. It was a foggy morning, but I could clearly make out the green spot of land that appeared to float on glass.

Out there on the still water, it was an island with no path on any side leading to it; but it was not isolated. It was connected to the air and the water all around it, nurturing its grass and feeding the roots of its trees that would soon be in bloom.

For me, that island is a picture of our interconnected existence. Human beings may be more individualized than ever before, but we are not isolated from one another, nor can we afford to be. We are connected by the air we breathe, by the water that gives us life, by the soil of the earth that gives us sustenance. And how we treat this earth—that the Creator of every good thing has spun into being—determines our common destiny.

Today, April 22nd, is Earth Day. In recognition of this day, which celebrates environmental justice and turns our attention toward the importance of long-term ecological sustainability, our church incorporated its themes into last Sunday’s worship service. And with serendipitous timing, we received word from the national United Church of Christ and made the announcement that Friends Congregational Church had been approved for designation as a Creation Justice Church.

It took a lot of work on the part of our church’s Green Justice Team—researching our history of practicing faithful stewardship of the earth, drafting a “creation justice covenant” and bringing it to the congregation for a vote, and submitting an extensive application to the national UCC for approval—but it paid off. We are now a Creation Justice Church, which means that, as followers of the Way of Jesus, we seek justice—to be in right relationship with God, our neighbors, and the whole of creation that we share and that we depend on to thrive. As the UCC says on its website, “If there is something that should bring together Christians in common cause, it is protecting the gifts of creation, because who doesn’t want clean air and water?”

Being a Creation Justice Church does not mean that we are doing everything right. It does not mean that we have done all we are required to do to take care of the earth. Having the Creation Justice Church designation means that we are committing together to be better stewards of the air, water, and soil that we share in witness to the faith we claim. It means that we hold ourselves to a standard that pledges to always recognize our interconnectedness, despite the divisions and hyper-individualism of our day, and that promises to honor that undeniable relationship by caring for the earth and never assuming it is ours to do with as we please.

The Indigenous leader, Seattle, chief of the Duwamish and Suquamish, said, “One thing we know, which the white man may one day discover—our God is the same God. You may think that you own Him as you wish to own our land; but you cannot. He is the God of humanity, and his compassion is equal for the red man and the white. The earth is precious to Him, and to harm the earth is to heap contempt on its Creator. Even the white man cannot be exempt from the common destiny. We may be brothers after all. We shall see.”

Yes, Chief Seattle, we may be siblings after all. Yes, compassionate God of humanity, yes, Creator of the earth we share, we may be siblings after all. We shall see.

Until then, we work and we pray (and this is a variation of a prayer written in Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals): Thank you, Holy One, that you do not claim to be God over just some people but are the Creator and Redeemer of all creatures. In these days of Eastertide and especially in this Earth Day week, help us spread the good news that no one can claim ownership of you, because each of us belongs to you. Amen.