Green Christians?

Every spring, many churches observe Soil and Water Conservation Sunday. It is a special day, often observed in rural congregations because of the close attachment that many farmers have to the land. As fewer and fewer of us make a living by farming, there seems to be a certain amount of diminished appreciation for the most basic of conservation practices.
That diminished concern can be observed in the comment of one young teenager in a large city who never made the connection between milk and cows. He thought milk came from the corner store as though it simply appeared in the dairy case. Before we laugh, we need to recognize that fewer and fewer of us have any significant exposure to the operations and efforts that bring us our daily bread, our fresh vegetables, our meat, our fruits and juices, or our many products made from trees and other fiber sources.
Land that once was ground for fertile fields is diminishing in acreage each year as cities swell and land is converted into subdivisions and office parks. Pavement covers what often served as a resource for food production and now creates significant storm drainage runoff and excess erosion and potential flood damage. As farmers learned to keep land from being destroyed, many others of us take such matters for granted. We ignore the necessity of appropriately disposing of everything from car batteries to used motor oil. We oftentimes see car tires tossed or see household garbage dumped in streams or along roadways. Chemicals from manufacturing and construction are often poorly handled and end up polluting wildlife habitat and reservoirs.
Does it matter? Check the number of health warnings associated with eating certain fish in our large tributaries and lakes. Visit the Environmental Protection Agencies list of toxic waste sites needing cleanup. Consider the ever increasing demand for purified water sources due to pollution, excess bacteria in wells and other water supplies due to sewage runoff and poor or insufficient sewage treatment options. Look at the numbers of endangered waterways filling with silt and sediment due to erosion and construction runoff.
Studies that measure global warming have given clear warning that without significant changes, average global temperatures can rise as much as 10 degrees in this century, melting large areas of arctic ice and creating entirely new landscapes along the coastlines of the earth. Hundreds of species of sea, plant, and animal life can be dramatically affected. Our persistent use of fossil fuels in every higher quantity, world-wide may create cataclysmic climate change. Does it matter? Without question. But does it matter that as Christians, we recognize God’s call to be stewards of the creation that He gave us? The time is now for all of us to recognize that stewardship begins in all the decisions we make about living in our world. God calls us to responsible stewardship, not to destroy the world.
Stop and think about your stewardship practices. Plant a tree. Recycle your newspapers. Consider giving account one day for your choices. Thank God for the daily opportunities to use wisely the resources over which you exercise stewardship. As you do so, remember to use your voice and your influence to encourage others to recognize that we share this planet with a world of people like ourselves who like to eat, sleep, live and breathe. Let’s show them God’s love in the way we take care of what He has entrusted to us.
“God saw all that he had made, and it was very good” – Genesis 1:31 NIV