THE EARTH IS OUR COMMON HOME

 

 

At this very moment, every human being ( all eight billion of us) are being challenged by the reality of global warming. It is very possible that the earth could warm up that human life, and all forms of life, would find it very difficult to live and thrive. This issue can appear so overwhelming  that many people will just turn away: There is nothing I can do about it! They might just give up!

 

Our Christiaan faith and the way we must live it is not a recipe all worked out for us. We must deal with the unplanned movements of God. We now live in crisis times: we humans are doing all kinds of harms to the earth. What does out Christian faith have to say about this?

 

In many concerned and committed C Christian communities there has been a recovery of our place and responsibility towards the earth ( including all its inhabitants).  Pope Francis gave us the encyclical (official policy for the Church), Laudato si in 2015. He beings from the pain of the earth. “This sister [i.e, the earth] now cries out because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods which God has endowed her.” (#2)

 

All humanity must recover and take ownership that the earth is our common home. It belongs to everyone and everyone must work to nourish and preserve our common home.  This is where our Christiaan faith can give us so much energy and love for the earth: every  single human, leaf and gopher! Set out on the journey to discover how God actually feels about creation.

 

Now, consider your own home and try to picture that your family will live in this house to your great-great grandchildren’s generation. You will not do anything like dump garbage or chemicals into the soil that will destroy life in the future. You will care for your house and yard with maintenance, upkeep and you will beautify it. You will take great pride in your house/yard because it is a living part of your own family. This is not something to use, abuse and then throw away. This is my legacy that I want all the members of my family to benefit and enjoy. 

 

Now, we must take ownership of this same attitude. The earth is our common home, for countless generations in front of us; and we want to care for it, love it and help it to thrive. We are challenged to change from dumping  tons of CO2 into the atmosphere or polluting any water-ways and to ensure that all living species can continue to live and thrive. 

 

At this point in time, we are challenged to return to our Biblical roots and once again discover that God has made all parts of the earth to be good. God takes great pride and joy in all aspects of creation. We humans have been placed on this earth to care for, to steward, all parts of creation. A warming climate challenges us to make some drastic changes in our means of production. But we can make these changes if we are motivated by our Christiaan faith. If we open ourselves to reality that this is our common home. Not only do we want to preserve it, but we want to earth to thrive and be joyful.

 

Good things will come with this new awareness of the part we can play in nourishing and supporting our common home. 

 

What a great day to be alive!