Not a Throwaway God

Karen Karpow

Danbury United Methodist Church

June 19, 2011

Not a Throw-Away God

Pray also for me, so that when I speak, a message may be given= to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel. Ephesians 6.1

Five hund= red million. Half a billion. That’s a big number, right?<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'>

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Five hund= red million…water bottles. =

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How long = would you guess it takes the residents of the United States to throw away f= ive hundred million water bottles?

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I’l= l tell you. One week.

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Over twen= ty six billion water bottles a year, just in the <= st1:place w:st=3D"on">U.S. That doesn’t count soda bott= les or cans, or juice bags, or wine bottles. Twenty six billion water bottles, filled with a substance that costs= a fraction of a penny from the tap and for which people pay an average of 200= 0 times more. And did you know that 1= /3 of our bottled water is actually municipal tap water? Bottled water is not as regulated, sometimes not as clean as city water. And water bottled in plastic loses in taste tests to New York City—and Cleveland—tap water every time.

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Making th= ese water bottles for the residents of the United States uses enough oil= and energy to fuel a million cars every year.&= nbsp; Then we ship it all over the continent and the planet—and drin= k it in what, two minutes? Slightl= y over 20% of those bottles get recycled, which means that 80% of them get shipped= to landfills (many of them in India) or incinerators (where they produce toxic fumes as they burn) or get dumped out at sea, where they float. They contribute to the Great Pacif= ic Garbage Patch (real name, I didn’t make that up), also known as the Pacific Trash Vortex, an area of the northern Pacific ocean where plastic t= rash photodegrades into smaller and smaller pieces that float in the upper water column. Ultimately, the pieces become small enough for fish and water birds to eat. These toxic chemicals thus enter t= he food chain, including that delicious wild-caught Pacific salmon. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch va= ries in size, but it is at least twice the size of Texas. There’s another one, hundreds of kilometers across, in the Atlantic Ocean.

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Nobody is responsible for it, so nobody has to clean it up. In fact, once the plastics start to break down, they’re pretty much impossible to clean up. The solution is to keep the plasti= c out of the ocean in the first place.

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But how d= o we do that? One bottle at a time, I guess. Every time we drink sa= fe, delicious tap water instead of purchasing a water bottle, the water bottle = we didn’t buy can’t end up in the ocean. But what difference does one bottle make? One bottle, in a pile of twenty six billion water bottles? None. I admit it. It makes no difference.

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That̵= 7;s the thing about all of these reduce-reuse-recycle initiatives. Each individual action doesn’= ;t matter. If I leave the lights= on in my office, or drive an extra trip to the store, or throw away a yucky conta= iner instead of washing it out, what does it matter? I can afford it—and our econ= omy thrives on it. The more stuff= we buy, in fact, the happier Wall Street is.&= nbsp;

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But shoul= d a happy Wall Street be our goal? Our scriptures today call us to a higher vision. They command us to remember who we= are, and whose we are: we are God’s special creation, made in God’s image, given responsibili= ty for caring for everything.

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I could t= alk for a long time—just ask the Green Justice committee—about issues of ecology and justice. You see, they’re connected. Ever= y time we use more than we need, someone else has less. Every time we pay less than someth= ing actually costs, someone else pays the price. We’ll get to fair trade coff= ee in a little while. First, I want= to talk about the spiritual dimension of caring for creation. Even when our individual actions don’t fix these huge problems, they make a difference—to our so= uls. It’s a spiritual matter, not= just an ecological or justice matter.

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In today&= #8217;s scriptures, we learn that we are created by God, on purpose, the pinnacle of creation. On the sixth day, <= o:p>

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God said, “Let us make humankind^c in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the = sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all [the wild animals of] the earth,^dand over every creeping thing th= at creeps upon the earth.”

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Out of the gazillions of creatures in the universe, the billions of humans, we are bol= d to claim that God knows our names, even the number of hairs on our heads. What makes us so special? It is not because of what we have = done, but because of what God has done: God—the creator, redeemer, and sustainer of all—chooses = to love us. Chooses to set us fr= ee, over and over. Chooses to gui= de us, if only we will follow. Choos= es to trust us with power over creation. <= /span>

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Because c= reation was not all finished on that sixth day.&nb= sp; God is still creating—and we play a part in how it goes.

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It occurs= to me that there is nothing throw-away about God’s kingdom. Every creature, every rock, every = tree, every bug, every cloud, every person—all have a purpose, all are belo= ved of God. The scripture tells u= s that all creation praises God—not just those of us with grammar and syntax= and voices. The ocean roars. The sky glows with brilliant glory= . Birds sing, trees clap their hands= , says Isaiah. All creation is inclu= ded. All the people, too.

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Remember = how the religious leaders got their noses all out of joint when Jesus hung out with= the outsiders? They asked,

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“Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” ^3=
1Jesus answered, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; ³²I have come to call n= ot the righteous but sinners to repentance.” (Luke 5.30-32)

God heals= the hurting, includes the outcast, loves the poor, uses the thick-headed for God’s plans and purposes. Everyone and everything is included. A= nd we are made in God’s image. There should be nothing throw-away about our life in the world, either. We are created, beloved, a little = lower than God—but do we treat ourselves and others that way? Is being part of a buy-it-use-it-t= hrow-it-away culture consistent with who we are created to be?

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I recentl= y had a conversation with someone who was upset about the United Methodist Church’s posi= tion on an issue. We went around f= or a while, discussing the topic. I wanted to make sure she understood the church’s actual position, which had been over-simplified, taken out of context, and exaggerated by a radio = talk show guy. My friend tired qui= ckly of the conversation, and I wasn’t enjoying it either, frankly. Finally she said, “I just wa= nt a church that doesn’t have any positions on anything.”

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I underst= and that longing. I, too, would like a= faith that comforted me without demanding anything. But I am afraid that is not the wa= y it works. As John Wesley put it, “The gospel of Christ knows of no religion, but social; no holiness b= ut social holiness.” As we practice our faith, we begin to notice things we might not have noticed before. We see injustice. Our hearts begin to break over the= same things that break God’s heart. We are made in the image of God, af= ter all. And once we see these th= ings, we have to take action.

I imagine most of you have noticed some of the work of our new= Green Justice committee. We’v= e been meeting for a few months, trying to make our church’s actions more consistent with our beliefs in care for creation, and justice for all. Perhaps the most noticeable change= is the availability of mugs during coffee hour, and the fair trade organic cof= fee that is being brewed to fill them. I don’t know how everyone feels about this, but I can say that I’ve heard some grumbling. The mugs are more work, the coffee is more expensive, the mugs are heavy, how do you know where they’ve been? We don’t have enough money to spend it on this fancy coffee when you can get it for half the price at Costco.

Half the price to whom? An estimated 25 million people make their living growing coffee—and most of them barely make a living. The four dollars some people drop = for a latte at Starbucks—the typical farmer sees little or none of that money. For instance, Tatu Mus= eyni, a widow and small coffee farmer in Tanzania, recently saw a retu= rn of fifteen dollars for her entire yearly crop. Although education would improve h= er children’s chances of having a better life, annual school fees are ten dollars per child. She sells = the food from her garden that she grew for her children to eat, and she works o= dd jobs, leaving her six children alone much of the time. Locked into government mandates, or living on land where the soil and terrain limits options, farmers like Tatu Museyni are desperate to survive. Five companies control the global coffee market, and they set the prices. They make huge profit= s, while the farmers make nothing. The increasing poverty of the farmers leads to all sorts of other problems, including deforestation, people turning to growing lucrative illegal crops, organized crime, and desperate overcrowding in cities.

Enter fair trade cooperatives. These groups seek to work within o= ur current economic system in ways that respect the dignity of the people invo= lved and ensure that they receive fair compensation for their labor. It’s not charity—it= 217;s justice. The last year I coul= d find numbers for was 2008, when fair trade coffee cooperatives paid a minimum of $1.26 per pound to the growers, often more. Free market coffee paid the grower= s an average of less than half that amount, 60 cents, which in many places didn’t even cover the cost of growing the coffee. The fair-trade co-ops also require= safe working conditions and increasingly sustainable farming practices. Fairly-traded products that meet s= trict guidelines receive a certification label, allowing those of us on the buying end of the transaction to know that workers were protected.

Fair trade certification is available not only for coffee, but also for tea, chocolate, fruit, nuts, sugar, rice, and vanilla. And if you think the story of coff= ee is sad, please investigate the situation of the children who pick almost all of our chocolate. Buying fair tr= ade coffee isn’t an imposition on us.&nb= sp; I believe it is the least we can do.

There are huge problems out there. Poverty, pollution, climate change= . They seem insurmountable. But we have more power than we know. Americans can make a huge difference= , just by voting with our dollars. E= very time we get our wallets out, we have an opportunity to choose God’s way—which sometimes might mean putting our wallets back in our pockets and walking away. =

We are made in the image of a God who treasures all of creation. We= have the opportunity, the calling, to shine the light of our God into the world = with our words and our actions. Ev= en when our words and actions seem too small to make a difference, it matters = to our souls.

I would like you to take a moment and think of one thing you m= ight change this week to care for God’s creation better. You might forgo buying something.<= span style=3D'mso-spacerun:yes'> Turn off lights whenever you leave= a room. Give up bottled drinks.= Recycle everything.

Now, please turn to someone near you and tell them what you’ve decided.

Everybody please come back next week to follow up!<= /span>

In the bulletin you have an insert that tells you about how we= are recycling at the Danbury UMC. These same procedures might well apply at your home, now that Danbury has gone to single-stream recycling. Please follow these guidelines—because God has given us an awesome responsibility to care= for creation. It’s good for= our souls. We don’t serve a throw-away God.

Would you please turn in your hymnals to number 883, and join = me in this statement of faith.

Psalm 8 (edited by me)

¹O Lord, our Lord,

how majestic is your name in all the earth! R= 30;

³When I look at the heavens, t= he work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars that you have established= ;

⁴what are human beings that yo= u are mindful of them,

mortals^a that you care= for them?

⁵Yet you have made them a litt= le lower than God,^b

and crowned them with glory and honor.

⁶You have given them dominion = over the works of your hands;

you have put all things under their feet…<= o:p>

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5279;9}O Lord, our Lord,

how majestic is your name in all the earth!=

Today’s scriptu= re reading is from the book of Genesis, chapter one, verse one, through chapter two, verse three.

In the beginning= when God created the heavens and the earth, ²the ear= th was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. ³Th= en God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. ^ʌ=
79;4And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from= the darkness. ⁵God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.

⁶And God said, “Let ther= e be a dome in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters.” ⁷So God made the dome and separa= ted the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dom= e. And it was so. ⁸God called the dome Sky. And th= ere was evening and there was morning, the second day.

⁹And God said, “Let the = waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. ¹⁰God called the = dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And = God saw that it was good. ¹¹Then God said, “L= et the earth put forth vegetation: plants yielding seed, and fruit trees of ev= ery kind on earth that bear fruit with the seed in it.” And it was so. 12 The earth brought forth vegetation: plants yielding seed of every kin= d, and trees of every kind bearing fruit with the seed in it. And God saw that= it was good. ¹³And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

¹⁴And God said, “Let ther= e be lights in the dome of the sky to separate the day from the night; and let t= hem be for signs and for seasons and for days and years, ^15=
;and let them be lights in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth.R= 21; And it was so. ¹⁶God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule= the night—and the stars. ¹⁷God set them in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth, ^{18 to
rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the
darkness. And God saw that it was good. ¹⁹And t=
here
was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.}

²⁰And God said, “Let the = waters bring forth swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the dome of the sky.” ²¹So God cre= ated the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, of every kind, with which the waters swarm, and every winged bird of every kind. And God s= aw that it was good. ²²God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let bi= rds multiply on the earth.” ²³And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

²⁴And God said, “Let the = earth bring forth living creatures of every kind: cattle and creeping things and = wild animals of the earth of every kind.” And it was so. ^25&#=
65279;God made the wild animals of the earth of every kind, and the cattle = of every kind, and everything that creeps upon the ground of every kind. And G= od saw that it was good.

²⁶Then God said, “Let us = make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have domini= on over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattl= e, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing t= hat creeps upon the earth.”

^27᥿=
9;So God created humankind in his image,

in the image of God he created them;<= /span>

male and female he created them.

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9;God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion = over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thi= ng that moves upon the earth.” ²⁹God said, “See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the fac= e of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them f= or food. ³⁰And to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, everythi= ng that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.” And it was so. ³¹God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude. ^A=
279;2And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. ^=
3So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God res= ted from all the work that he had done in creation.

May God add a blessin= g to this reading from the Holy Scriptures.