Dear friends in Christ at Peace and Grue,
The most hopeful affirmation in Christian life occurs at the graveside: “In sure and certain hope of resurrection to eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ, we commend to almighty God our brother/sister and we commit his/her body to the ground; earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust.” This declaration stems from a confidence that the one who created all life will also renew that life that the one who “formed man from the dust of the ground” (Gen 2:7) is not done creating.
Farmer/writer Wendell Berry, in his book “The Gift of Good Land, says:” “I wish to deal directly at last with my own long held belief that Christianity, as usually presented by its organizations, is not earthly enough.” Most often, theology begins with the fact that there is a God to whom each person is equally precious. But human life is obviously more than a relationship with the Creator. Because one is related to the Creator, one is intimately connected with the whole creation, human and non-human, part of the web of life. When a person is disconnected from life’s web, he or she falls into the illusion of being the creator of life and the environment, leading to violence, disregard of the ecological balance, and uncontrolled hunger for power. This in turn leads to the denial of the ancient Ash Wednesday affirmation: “You are dust, and to dust you will return” and all that comes with it to symbolize new life and hope.
Since the Renaissance, God has been understood one-sidely as “The Almighty.” Omnipotence has been valued as the supreme characteristic of godliness. God is the Lord and the world is God’s property to do whatever God wills. As God’s likeness on earth, we humans must see ourselves as having the knowledge and the will to shape the world, as we see fit. Or so said the French philosopher, Rene Descartes, who at the beginning of the modern era declared in his philosophy of science that it is to be the aim of the natural sciences to make the human, “Lord and owner of nature.” According to this understanding, neither through goodness and truth, nor through patience and love, but through power and domination humans prove their likeness to God.
Is this true? Is nature our property to do with what we want, or are we part of the larger family of nature which demands and deserves our respect? Do the forests and fields, the rivers and lakes belong to us, or are they the home of many plants and animals and do they, like us, belong to the earth? Is the earth our “environment”, or are we simply guests on this earth which tolerates us humans so patiently and graciously?
If nature is nothing other than our property, then we will simply address ecological challenges with more technology. Through genetic engineering we will attempt to create climate resistant plants and animals and breed a new human race which needs only a more sophisticated technological environment. We may well be able to create such an artificial world, a global space station perhaps, to support our visions and habits, but how shall we change ourselves?
We Lutherans have understood living in the faith as a “daily dying to self” leading to daily renewal. As Luther argued in the “Large Catechism:” “Now, when we enter Christ’s kingdom, this corruption must daily decrease so that the longer we live the more gentle, patient, and meek we become, and the more freed from greed, hatred, envy and pride.” It is the greed, hatred, envy and pride which pulls us away from our humanity. Conversely, gentleness, patience, and meekness brings us closer to the earth, and attentive to the web of life in order that we learn to respect, if not to love the dust, that thin layer of topsoil spread so unevenly over our planet on which all life depends.
Hope your summer is going well,
Pastor Dan