Ecology

So yesterday we had a lecture by Williams Rees in CTC about the current state of ecology and creation. Perhaps a large side note is that Rees is not a Christian, so his point is very interesting. He sees Creation, which might include a Creator, but more so he sees what we have done/should do with the ecology as a moral issue. And so the point that his lecture was that the world cannot sustain our current consumption rates (we would need 4 more Earth's to do this actually). So we must cut back, or someone will suffer. This is seen in the rich getting richer, and the poorer getting poorer, and the middle class being separated form both until the time that it all falls apart. And what was one of Israel's sins that sent them into exile? Rich being rich, and poor being poor, without any social justice between them. Just saying...

And so as we Christians are thinking of ways to cut down on our own consumption, we must begin by setting an example that is counter-cultural. This is not to say that we are reject cultural, but rather that we need to make a statement that is more than Green Party propagada. These ways need to be small enough to be able to do easily, but large enough to be seen by others that it makes a definite statement.

My reasoning comes from my actual reality. Me and Melissa don't have a car, so we are forced to walk or take a bus. On Sundays we walk to St. Philip's Anglican Church down the street. It's about 3 blocks walk, no more than 10 minutes. Even when it rains (like it did last Sunday) it is still close enough to walk so that we aren't uncomfortable. No, we don't like it, or necessarily agree with all of what the people in it say... That's not the point. It shouldn't be about preference, but about worship of the one, true God.

So perhaps this could be applied to all Christians. By giving up personal preferences, Christians could walk to close, local churches, to worship God on a Sunday morning. By doing this a LARGE percentage of gas consumption would be cut, and most wonderfully, local communities are built up. Instead of people choosing their communities to be associated with, Christians must worship with each other on basis of location, so that not only toleration is built up, but also love for those who are the closest to you. Can we even imagine what that would do for Christianity?

For two years I lived next to a church in Bowling Green. How much gas did I use up because I decided to go elsewhere? Just because I preferred another worship style or something. I eventually wasn't happy with any of the churches in Bowling Green, but if I had just gone to the church next door, it wouldn't have mattered. Worship is worship, no matter where it is done.