The Eco-Ethical
Bridge Connects Us
Sermon, United in Christ Lutheran Church, West Milton, PA
The Rev. Leah D. Schade
9-30-2012
Mark 9:38: “John said
to him, ‘Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we
tried to stop him, because he was not following us.’”
Insiders and outsiders.
That’s what John is concerned about.
Who’s in the “Jesus Club”? Who’s
not? And if someone is doing the work of
Jesus but not actually following him, shouldn’t they be stopped? Only insiders should be able to access that
kind of power. Outsiders either need to
make the decision to follow Jesus, or accept that they’re not part of the club
and get out of the way.
I have to admit that I was worried that I would encounter
the John-attitude here in Central Pennsylvania before I moved here. In the weeks before I was about to begin my
call here at United in Christ, while I was still living in Philadelphia, I
would tell people where we were moving, and nearly everyone had a similar
reaction. “Wow – that’s such a
conservative Christian area! It’s like
the Bible Belt of Pennsylvania. How are
you going to deal with that after living in the Philadelphia area for the past
decade?” The implication was that the
city is a place of diversity and variety, while the middle of the state is a
homogenous blob of pale-faced Christians.
And I have to admit, I was a little concerned that I would miss having
the opportunity to work with clergy of different faiths, as I had the pleasure
of doing during my time in Philly. And I
was worried that I would encounter some who insisted in the exclusivity of the
Jesus Club, as John did.
But it wasn’t long after we moved here that Jim was out
playing the drums at the Bull Frog, and he met another drummer whose wife is
the pastor at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Northumberland. “You need to get in contact with her and
connect with her,” he encouraged. So
Pastor Ann Keeler Evans and I had lunch, and she clued me in on something about
this region of the state I was not yet aware of.
“There is much more diversity to this area of Central
Pennsylvania than you might at first think,” she said. She went on to tell me about the Jewish
synagogue in Sunbury, the thriving Muslim community in the area, and the myriad
of other non-Christian faiths and practices around us, everything from pagans
to New Age to agnostics and atheists.
And when this really started to become apparent for me was
last December when the Susquehanna River Basin Commission was about to have a
public meeting on the approval of water withdrawal permits for natural gas
drilling, and we began circulating a letter to area clergy asking them to sign
in support of protecting the Susquehanna from these million-gallon
withdrawals. In three days’ time, over
50 people had signed the letter from six different faith traditions.
We knew something important was happening in this area,
because people of different faiths wanted to join their voices and meet across
interreligious lines to protect God’s sacred creation. So this past January, we decided to form an
organization called the Interfaith Sacred Earth Coalition. In the past nine months I’ve been blessed to
meet, correspond with, and work alongside an incredible variety of people who
have taught me so much about what it means to do the work of Jesus, even if
they themselves are not followers of Jesus.
Remember Jesus’ response to John about the man who was
casting out demons: ‘Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my
name will be able soon afterwards to speak evil of me. Whoever is not
against us is for us.”
What I have found is that there is an incredible number of
people who are trying to cast out the many demons that are afflicting our
society and our earth. They may not be
followers of Jesus, but they are doing the work that Jesus calls us to do.
· * I’ve seen Christians, Muslims, and Jews discuss
the sacredness of water in each of their traditions and how that informs their
work of environmental justice.
· * I’ve watched New Age spiritualists stand
alongside Lutherans making speeches that confront the demons of political power
abused, corporate wealth used to oppress, and ignorance manipulated for profit.
· * I’ve witnessed a Roman Catholic Church serve as
host to an interfaith care-of-creation symposium with nearly 50 people in
attendance from different faith traditions.
· * I’ve watched a gathering of non-religious
philosophers and environmental activists take part in an interfaith vigil
lamenting the loss of the Riverdale Mobile Home Park in Lycoming County,
decrying the demons of corporate capitalism that value profits over human
community.
· * I’ve seen Buddhists join with Christians and atheists
in a Native American four-directions ritual to bless a gathering of people committed
to protect the area of Rock Run and Old Loggers trail.
· * I’ve seen Muslims and Jews stand side-by-side in
solidarity against the demon of hate crimes at the synagogue in Sunbury.
What is it that is binding us together? I think Psalm 19 can give us some
insight. The Psalm begins with declaring
that the heavens and earth are proclaiming God’s glory. Nature is silent and voiceless, yet somehow
has speech and words that are heard across the earth. The writer explains that the very design of
nature discloses the law of the Lord which is perfect, revives the soul, makes
wise the simple, rejoices the heart and enlightens the eyes.
I suggest that there might be a connection between attending
to God’s law in nature and the exorcist working outside of the disciples’ inner
circle. What is that connection? Well, the members of the Interfaith Sacred
Earth Coalition, while they may not be part of the same club, have certain
beliefs and values in common. For
example, we believe that children, women, men, and earth-kin have the right to clean
water, land, air, and health. We are committed to being a public presence
on ecological issues in order to bring ethical, moral, spiritual, and religious
perspectives to bear.
In other words, what once made us outsiders of each other’s religions is making us insiders of the same planet. It is what’s outside our houses of worship that is making us insiders working for the same cause.
The theologian Paul Knitter, in his book Introducing Theologies of Religions (Maryknoll,
N.Y.: Orbis Books, 2002), says that one model for a theology of religions, that
of “mutuality,” where the diverse religions are all considered “true” and are
called to dialogue with each other. He
uses the metaphor of “bridges” to illustrate the means by which people of
differing faiths can meet and connect either philosophically, mystically or
ethically. Knitter says:
Given the
present pain-ridden and crisis-strewn state of the world, the religions have a
job to do, a job they all share. Taking
up this job together will enable them to get to know each other better. For this bridge, ethical issues and ethical
responsibility are the pillars that will sustain a new kind of interfaith
exchange. A pivotal term in this
approach to pluralism and dialogue, therefore, is global responsibility: in
being responsible for our endangered globe and all its inhabitants, the
religions have new opportunities to understand both themselves and each other.[1]
That is exactly what we are seeing right here in the
Susquehanna Valley. Our hope is to raise
consciousness and offer education about eco-justice issues so that citizens may
be better informed, advocate for eco-justice issues in the public arena, and
offer a positive, creative vision for our planet based on our collective
interfaith dialogue.
This is not to say that there are no points of tension in
our work together. Issues of race,
gender, power, and theological discord are always part of our discussion. But we don’t see them as excuses to shut each
other out, as John wanted to do with the exorcist. We see them as opportunities to learn from
each other, and find points of commonality that allow us to build these
eco-ethical bridges.
Today we’re going to see another instance of bridges being
built in protection of our area. This
time the bridge is going to include music.
At 4:00 there’s going to be a concert at Oak Heights on Rt. 15 called “Songs
from the Sacrifice Zone.” Musicians from
all over the region are going to be performing songs celebrating the beauty of
Pennsylvania and raising awareness about the threats to the area from natural
gas drilling. I’m going to be playing
the harp as well. There are going to be
all kinds of people there – people with long hair, people with short hair. People wearing “hippy clothes” and people
wearing jeans and t-shirts. Young
people, older people. Religious people,
non-religious people. University
professors and factory workers.
We’re all outsiders to each other in some way. But we all live inside the same atmosphere threatened by the climate crisis. We all
live inside the same state threatened by powers that see our land only as a
profit-making venture and our residents as nothing but a sacrifice. We all live inside the same planet whose sun comes
out “like a bridegroom from his wedding canopy, and like a strong man runs
its course with joy. Its rising is from
the end of the heavens, and its circuit to the end of them; and nothing is
hidden from its warmth,” (Psalm 19:5-6).
“Whoever is not against us is for us,” said Jesus. And, I would add, whoever is for the planet,
is for all of us. Amen.
