By Revd George Mwaura

Romans 13: 8–14 and Matthew 18: 15–20

Creation and Sustainability: Caring for Mother Earth

Here is a riddle for you: ‘What did the storm say to the hurricane?’ ‘I have my eye on you.’
Here is another one: ‘What did one tornado say to the other?’ ‘Let’s twist again like we did last summer.’
Jokes about the weather and climate change are a dozen for a penny.
My favourites though are jokes on Donald Trump and his ignorance on climate change.
Listen to this one: Trump said he had a plan to tackle climate change.
All we needed to do to lower the global temperatures quickly was to switch from Fahrenheit to Centigrade!
It may be OK to poke fun at world leaders and climate deniers, but climate change is no longer misguided science or a joke.
It is an emergency and I want this church – no, I am pleading with this church – to take this as seriously as we possibly can.
We have only one earth and we cannot afford to destroy our children’s inheritance.
The damage so far, according to science, is reversible, but it will take every woman, child, and man to accomplish this.
Here in the west, we have been lucky so far, even though we have been among the worst polluters.
But our sisters and brothers in Third World countries have not been that lucky, even though they have had the least contribution to global warming.

As I said on Pentecost Sunday, we must talk about climate change in the church. Not because it is topical, but because it is an emergency.
How effective then are the words contained in Christians holy books in speaking to us at a time of crisis?
Do the scriptures challenge our politics, status quo, and the careless exploitation of the planet?
What does the Good Book have to say about the polluted waters and seas,
the tonnes of plastic waste floating in our water system and choking marine life?
In nearly all the continents, we have driven key species to extinction and our efforts to re-wilding have so far been half-hearted
and at best an exercise in engineered self-righteousness.

As a result of the rise in the earth’s temperature, the climate of the world is rapidly changing,
and with it comes increased and extreme levels of disruption to normal life.
No longer can the peasant farmers in Third World countries hope to harvest enough food to feed their families,
leave alone to take them out of poverty.
Then there is the dangerous cycle of floods, wildfires, hurricanes and other unseasonal weather patterns.
As our demand for food increases, we are on the verge of destroying the forests of the world
in Asia, the Amazon and Congo, which are essentially the lungs of the world.
Dare we hope that there are words of wisdom which can guide us in the scriptures before it is too late?

The letter from the apostle Paul to the church in Rome is a good example of scriptural wisdom we can use.
Here we find guidance as we wrestle with ways to manage the care of the earth which God gave us as a gift.
The beginning of chapter 13 of this letter to the Romans and the passage from Matthew’s gospel
both carry the theme of God’s people being obedient to God’s Commandments.
The advice to the saints that whatever they bind on earth would be bound in heaven
clearly shows that a relationship exists between the worshipping community and its Creator and between earth and heaven.
In the Romans reading, we hear the command to love our neighbours as ourselves because in obeying this command, we are fulfilling Gods will.

And so perhaps the question to ask ourselves is who our neighbours are.
If you are familiar with the parable of the Good Samaritan, then you know that this is not a new question.
Today, our neighbours are the people who are the direct recipients of our excessive living.
Those in Bangladesh living with the constant fear of floods because of climate change.
Those in my village of Mwenje in Laikipia County, Kenya who have not had a decent harvest in many years
even though their carbon footprint is zero.
Those in Australia dreading another summer of wildfires caused by drought.
Our neighbours are the key animal species we have driven to extinction, even though we were mandated to exercise stewardship over them.
The plain truth is that global warming is a crime and a sin for which all of us,
especially those in the developed world and the churches, are guilty of.
So, here is a question for all of us: How do we as a global family and Christians turn this around, because we are clearly going against Gods will?
How can we love our neighbour in the current climate-change crisis?

The global response to the killing of George Floyd in America last spring has shown us
that it is possible to mobilise even on a global scale for a good cause.
Right now, I cannot think of a better and more urgent cause than climate change.
The Church of Christ the Cornerstone in conjunction with Citizens:MK is involved in many good campaigns that are very worthy,
and one of them is social justice.
But we must remember that there cannot be true justice if we forget the mandate to seek justice for the earth and the created creatures.
So really the question is: How do we find justice and equity for our neighbours, the planet, and all other forms of life on this earth?
If we are honest and driven by a sense of justice, there is enough for all of us on this planet; it is greed that makes fair distribution impossible.
Multinational firms who destroy millions of acres every year to plant crops and raise cattle in Indonesia and Brazil can no longer go unchallenged.
For far too long as church and global consumers, we have kept quiet as the destruction of the environment in far-flung places
has gone on because it was not on our doorsteps.
Well, now it is, in the form of economic migrants coming here on boats as their part of the world becomes inhospitable!
It is time to wake up!

Careless destruction of the earth’s resources is not part of God’s will and we must oppose it at every opportunity.
COVID-19 was not directly caused by climate change.
But the infectious diseases that are spread by pathogens jumping from animals to people are becoming common
because human beings are encroaching on natural animal habitats through environmental destruction.
We must make the environment a priority, just as we did in our fight against the pandemic.
As a church, we must become an eco-church.
This will demand a radical, deliberate co-existence with all God’s created creatures and the planet.
If we purposed to achieve social, economic and ecological justice for our neighbours and the created world,
we will have come a long way in fulfilling God’s command to love our neighbours as ourselves.

As individuals, we must take responsibility, because we too have played part in creating this mess.
We must become intentional, for example, in our desire to change to clean energy where possible,
be activist and write to our MPs and lobby the government. Refuse to dump our plastic waste willy-nilly.
Reduce our travel and meat consumption to mitigate against greenhouse gasses emission.
As individuals we might not make a humongous difference, but collectively we can change the world.
This is not a fight we can leave to scientists and governments alone – we must get involved.
Let me finish with the words from the apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans. Listen:
We know the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth until the present times (Romans 8: 22).
Friends, I can hear the groaning of our planet in need of renewal.
Roll up your sleeves; it is going to be a tough and dirty fight. May the spirit be with us.

Amen