Wisdom of Creation (Job 12:7-10)

 In today’s sermon, since it is “Earth Care Sunday” (Or, “Earth Stewardship Sunday”), I’m going to introduce you to some of my closest friends… and by friends, I mean some of my favorite trees.

This incense cedar tree I encountered on a hike along Vivian Creek near Mount San Gorgonio, the highest mountain in southern California. When I saw it, I literally stopped, and gasped.

My son Tristan, who was with me on that hike, probably thought: What is Dad doing? Has he never seen a tree before? 

But this tree was beautiful and magnificent. And it had been through some things, as you can tell. It was hollowed out on the inside, with black fire scars. Perhaps it had been struck by lightning at some point in its life.

I began to imagine what stories this tree could tell, and probably would tell, if I were patient enough to sit and listen. 

But trees speak very slowly, and we had a mountain to climb…

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This stunted, gnarly oak tree can be found at Disneyland in California, in the line for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. The branches spread out more horizontally than vertically, providing lots of shade to people waiting in line to ride. 

This is one spot where I wish the line for the ride would actually move slowly, because I just want to spend some time here, tracing the branches with my eyes…

By the way, there are only two pictures today that I didn’t take myself. I found this photo online, on a Facebook page dedicated to the horticulture of Disneyland. Apparently someone else appreciates this tree as much as I do.

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Another favorite tree of mine is a giant, 150-year-old oak tree at Loch Leven, our Disciples camp in southern California. Loch Leven is located in a dry, desert-like environment; however, the camp is located where two canyon streams meet, and there, where those streams meet, are many shady trees, creating a cool oasis. 

And for many of the summers I spent there, campers could safely climb to the top of the tallest of these trees by harnessing themselves into a professionally-installed system of ropes.

There were even a few hammocks placed high in that tree. Some campers liked to hoist themselves up 40 or 50 feet off the ground, and lay in one of those hammocks. If there was a breeze, they’d feel a gentle rocking motion. Sometimes they’d just stay there, and wouldn’t come down until it was time for dinner. 

Those campers fell in love with this tree as much as I did. I’m pretty sure that, in those moments, those campers were being taught by the trees, as our scripture says.

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The toyon is a California tree so small that it is sometimes considered a bush and not a tree. This toyon is one I photographed on Catalina Island, on a hike I took one day after substitute teaching at the school there. 

When I look at this picture, one of the things it tells me is that school must have been dismissed early that day. How do I know this? Well, because toyon berries only grow in winter; and in winter, the sun sets too early for me to have time to go for a hike after school… unless school got out early.

Birds and wildlife love Toyon berries. And native Americans—the Tongva and Chumash people—made use of them as well. In fact, the name of the plant—toyon—is derived from the Ohlone language, a Native American people of Central California.

The toyon is a signature plant in southern California; so much so, that the restroom interiors at the Hollywood Bowl are painted a shade of green that was color matched to the toyon. 

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After I moved to Illinois, I was walking through Ewing Park one day, and I saw these two small trees that looked a lot like toyon. I took this picture a few weeks ago, but when I first saw these trees, it was early summer, and the branches were full of dark green leaves and bright red berries.

I learned that these trees—the ones I saw in Ewing Park—are called serviceberry. Since toyon doesn’t grow in the midwest, the serviceberry quickly became my favorite Illinois tree.

And midwestern birds love serviceberry just as much as California birds love toyon. 

A few months after I decided that serviceberry was my new favorite tree, Robin Wall Kimmerer published a book she titled… Serviceberry. So when it came out, I had to read it.

In the opening pages of that book, Kimmerer writes that “the Serviceberry supports biodiversity. It is a preferred browse of Deer and Moose, a vital source of early pollen for newly emerging insects, and host to a suite of butterfly larvae—like Tiger Swallowtails, Viceroys, Admirals, and Hairstreaks—and berry-feasting birds who rely on those calories in breeding season.

Kimmerer also writes that “Human people, too, rely on those calories, especially in traditional Indigenous food practices. Serviceberries were a critical ingredient in the making of pemmican. The dried berries, along with dried venison or bison, were pounded to a fine powder, bound with rendered fat, and solidified into the original energy bars. This highly concentrated, preserved food provided full nutritional sustenance through seasons of hunger, was easily transportable, and could be cached or carried. 

“Pemmican became part of the traditional trade economy, a sophisticated local and transcontinental network that distributed vital materials across ecosystems and cultures. Surplus Serviceberry calories could be exchanged for other goods not locally available.”

I love Kimmerer’s writing so much; it’s tempting to read her whole book to you this morning, but I’ll just share a little more.

She writes that “The leaves of the Serviceberry [like the leaves of most plants] draw carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, which they make into sugar via photosynthesis.”

I don’t know about you, but I still remember that exciting day in high school when I learned the chemical equation for photosynthesis: CO₂+H₂0+sunlight → C₆H₁₂0₆ + O₂. (I’ll leave it to you to balance that equation.) 

The sugar that photosynthesis produces in the serviceberry is stored in the berry, along with essential nutrients and minerals. Kimmerer notes that a bird (say) eats the berry, and some of that carbon becomes a beautiful, brightly colored feather. When that feather falls to the ground, it becomes food for beetles, who become food for a Vole whose death feeds the Serviceberry. 

This demonstrates that God’s creation is characterized by abundance and reciprocity (giving back); and reciprocity, borne out of gratitude, would go a long way toward making our world a better place, if only we humans learned the lesson of creation—if only we allowed ourselves to be taught by the plants—and put those lessons into practice.

Yet we often take without giving back. And we create systems in which scarcity, not abundance, governs how we think, how we act, and the economies we develop. There is no reciprocity, and no gratitude.

Data centers have been in the news a lot lately, and are a good example of what I’m talking about. 

Data centers suck up enormous amounts of energy, and enormous amounts of water. Utilities struggle to keep up with the demand, and to help finance the need for more energy and more water, they raise their rates… for everyone. WE are paying higher utility costs because of these data centers.

But that’s not all. Data centers generate a tremendous amount of heat. Some large data centers have raised the average temperature of the surrounding region by as much as six degrees. With the climate already warming due to climate change, you can see why this is a big problem.

Data centers take so much in terms of earth’s resources, but give nothing back to creation.

But I believe that we have the solutions, if not the will to implement those solutions. We have the technology and the ability. God has given us the knowledge and wisdom we need.

The companies that build data centers could, if they were motivated enough, find a way to do it without that huge, negative environmental impact. We—and our leaders in government—need to find a way to give them that motivation, and work together to undo the environmental harm we’ve caused.

It is possible! We CAN make positive environmental changes!

I’ve seen it happen.

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This is the other photo that is not mine. It shows that when I was growing up in southern California in the 1970s, the smog was terrible. Los Angeles regularly looked like it does on the left side of this photo. 

After a day of playing outside, my lungs literally hurt, and it was hard to breathe.

But then we passed the Clean Air Act, and California in particular took controlling smog seriously. 

Smog still exists, but it has gotten a lot better. Today, Los Angeles looks more like the right side of this photo.

It IS possible to create POSITIVE environmental change.

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And there are other things we can do, to actually help cool the environment. Trees have a natural cooling effect. 

In 1955, Disney imagineers planted a jungle in Anaheim, California. Now, 70 years later, that jungle has matured quite a bit, with some of the trees reaching incredible heights. And that jungle has created its own micro-climate, where the temperature is actually cooler than the surrounding city. 

Now, when I took this picture from the Jungle Cruise boat several years ago, I do wonder what the other people on the boat thought when I spent much of the ride gazing up at the trees, instead of looking at the elephants, the hippos, or the “backside of water.” 

But I know I’m not the only one. Did you know that, at Disneyland, you can walk into City Hall on Main Street, and right there under the counter, they have this massively thick binder in which every tree and plant at Disneyland is listed? The species name is listed, along with its location in the park; and any special watering needs or care instructions for that tree are also noted. And anyone can just go in and ask to look at that binder…

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At camp this summer, I’m not going to lecture the campers about all the details of all the trees in camp.

But I do hope that campers will find a tree or two that they can get to know, and learn from. A tree that they will spend some time listening to, and gain some of the wisdom that is referred to in today’s scripture.

Because trees, and all of creation, really are great teachers. 

This week, I want you to let creation teach you. And for that to happen, you need to spend some time noticing creation…. And noticing God in creation.

If you don’t know where to start, here are some things to find out through observation. Don’t look it up on google; find these things out by spending some time in creation:

1.     What is the current phase of the moon?  Approximately what time did it rise or set yesterday?

2.     What constellations – and what planets – can you see in the night sky this week?

3.     When was the last time you listened to the song of a mourning dove? (I heard one the other day… I love the song of a mourning dove!)

4.     What trees grow on your street? What do the leaves look like? What does the bark look like? What does the tree smell like? 

If you notice any of these things, then you are well on your way to receiving the wisdom of creation.

Two weeks ago, I planted two serviceberry trees in my front yard. 

I don’t know how long I’ll have to wait for berries to appear on those trees. Probably several years.

And when the berries do appear, I don’t know that I’ll eat any. I feel like I should at least try one.

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 On Catalina Island, there is a plant called “lemonadeberry,” and so naturally when I worked at a camp there, I, and the students I taught, tasted those berries… and they really were sour and sweet and tart—and sticky—just like lemonade…

Robin Wall Kimmerer says that The Potawatomi called serviceberries Bozakmin, which means “the best berry.” So maybe, when the berries appear on my trees, I’ll at least give them a try. 

But even if I don’t eat them, when I see them, I will learn from them.

I will be reminded of the things I do eat, and where those foods came from. I will ask myself if the food I eat is made from real, natural ingredients, or artificial ingredients created in a lab.

I will be reminded of the miracle that is present in every bite I take, and to offer up gratitude for the blessing of nourishment and raiment.

I will remember that the berries and all real foods are dependent on good soil and clean water. Everything I eat is dependent on good soil and clean water. 

I will remember that, since it all comes from the land, the earth, everything I eat is a gift of God. It is all precious and sacred. To take or use anything thoughtlessly is a great sin. And to buy something that is used only for a moment, and then thrown away, is an insult to God the creator.

When I see the serviceberries, I will remember how interconnected I am with all of creation, that I myself am a part of God’s creation, and that my wellbeing is dependent on the wellbeing of creation itself.

The trees have so much to teach us. Creation has so much to teach us.

And I will be reminded, as Clayton—our Camp Walter Scott caretaker always says—to “care gently for God’s creation… and that includes you.”

"A New Vision" (Job 12:7-12; Genesis 1:26-28)

Last week, I was talking with someone who had just made the difficult decision to change careers. His new career is in a field that interests him more. It will allow him to use more of the creativity with which he has been blessed. It will be more fulfilling and less stressful. And, it will allow him to grow personally and professionally.
Sounds great, doesn’t it?

So what made the decision difficult? Well, he told me that he was worried what people would think, because the switch is causing him to take a salary cut. He said that he was worried, because society doesn’t value his new career as much as his old career.

Notice that he himself wasn’t worried so much about the money. He was quite willing to take a salary cut in order to have a more fulfilling career. But he was worried about what others would think of him, about how society would judge him. Society has a certain image, a certain vision, of what is good and successful, and moving from a higher-paying job to a lower-paying job is not a part of that vision. According to society’s vision, there must be something wrong with a person who makes such a move.

Which is why even his mother is now worried about him.

It’s something to which we can all relate, isn’t it? Society has a vision of the way things should be. And we want to appear good in society’s eyes, so we do what we can to fit in.

It’s not always a bad thing. Most people, I’m sure, would still follow most traffic laws, even if there were no penalty for breaking those laws. We know, for example, that there can be consequences even worse than a ticket or a fine for running a red light. Most people agree that traffic signals are good, and that it is good to stop at a red light. It delays your journey, but it is for the good of everyone involved.

And I’m all too willing to wear what society says I should wear. Just in case you are wondering, I don’t particularly like wearing ties, but to make a good impression, I wear a tie when I preach. The tie doesn’t make me a better preacher, but it’s what society expects of me. And because I want to make a good impression when I preach, and because I know that ties look nice and help make that good impression, I’m willing to wear one. And I don’t think that’s a bad thing.

Some of society’s expectations are much more significant than the type of clothing one wears. Society’s vision plays out in so many ways, and many of them far more significant than even the rules society has set up to govern traffic flow. The vision cast by society influences people to be and do things that are not good for them … or for society as a whole.

A part of society’s vision is that we must consume. Along with earning as much money as we can, society tells us that we must spend that money. Influenced by society’s vision, we feel the need to have certain things, even though a year ago we didn’t even know those things existed … even though a year ago, we were perfectly happy without them.

A part of society’s vision is that, if you can afford it, then you deserve it. If the price of gas goes up, well, you can still buy that gas guzzler if you can afford it. If the price of water goes up, well, you can still overwater your lawn if you can afford it.

Unfortunately, in such cases, society’s vision is not good for us, and it’s not good for our planet. What we need is a new vision, a new way of living, one that is good for us and our planet.

We know that God’s concern is for all people. Most of us know that God’s concern is for the entire planet. We see this in our scriptures for today. We see it in the covenant God made after the flood, a covenant with Noah, his descendants, and even the earth itself. We see it in the psalms, where we are told that the earth belongs to God; everything in it is God’s, as well as all that lives upon it.

We are called to be stewards of the earth, to care for it; but we’ve been doing a lousy job. Rather than caring for what God has created, we’ve been destroying it. The list of how humans are negatively affecting the planet is endless, and I could talk about species lost, habitats destroyed, and ecosystems thrown out of whack. I could talk about what we’ve seen happening right here in California: pollution, drought, lengthening fire seasons, a snowpack that melts faster than it used to, and rainstorms that come less often, but which are more intense when they do come.

Instead, I’d like to talk about the vision. We need a new vision, a new way of living, and I think I’ve found one that might work. It’s not exactly a “new” vision; it’s been around a while. But like my friend who found it difficult to switch careers, many people find it hard to switch to this new vision, because it is so drastically different, and because it goes against the all-encompassing vision of our society which surrounds us and fills us like the air we breathe.

This new vision, this new way of living, is: to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God.

Taking care of the earth is an issue of justice. It is an issue of justice, because those who have the hardest time adjusting to a polluted world, a world with a changing climate, are almost always the most impoverished people of the earth. In Africa, water is becoming harder and harder to find, due to climate change. The Sahara Desert is expanding. In recent years, many thousands of refugees have fled to Lake Chad, a historically large lake that provides drinking water to 20 million people in four African nations. However, lake Chad has all but disappeared. Overgrazing, increased water use, and climate change have shrunk it down to nearly nothing. The UN Food and Agriculture Commission has labeled it an “ecological catastrophe.” One wonders what will happen to those 20 million people when the water runs out completely, as it is expected to do very soon.

Meanwhile, the entire island nation of Kiribati is preparing to move. The island is threatened by rising seas, and the government is making plans to relocate the entire population. They’ve brought in a marine contingent from New Orleans, a city that knows something about rising water levels, to help plan the relocation.

The biblical prophets have harsh words for those who use water from a stream, then trample their feet in it so that those further downstream have only muddy water. When we overuse and waste resources simply because we can, we deprive others of what they need to survive. That is not the way of people who seek justice.

Taking care of the earth is also an issue of loving our neighbors with kindness.

The loving-kindness referred to here comes from the ancient Hebrew word hesed. It is a love that is steadfast, a love that does what is right for others, even if it involves a personal sacrifice, even if it involves making, in some way, a sacred offering of your life.

Of course, it would be easier to do the right thing for our neighbors – not to mention actually loving our neighbors – if we actually knew our neighbors.

Have you been to a local farmer’s market lately? If not, there are so many reasons to go. The produce tastes better. It’s grown locally, which means a lot less carbon is thrown into the atmosphere to transport it. It is sold by the farmer, who gets up to 95 percent of what you pay; that keeps your money in or close to your community. Supermarket produce, on the other hand, passes through a lot of middlemen on it’s way to the store. Over half of what you pay goes to giant corporations, including the oil companies whose oil shipped that produce from across the continent or globe to the store.

But if that isn’t reason enough to buy your produce at a farmers market, consider this: sociologists did a study in which they followed shoppers who went to giant supermarkets, and shoppers who went to a local farmers’ market. I read about this in a new book by Bill McKibben. The sociologists discovered that farmers’ market shoppers engaged in ten times as many conversations with people as did the supermarket shoppers. So attending a farmer’s market really does help us know our neighbors better, and in knowing them, we find that it is easier to love them as well.

I think the same principle applies to caring for and loving nature. We can’t love creation if we aren’t even in touch with creation. That’s why I’m thankful for our church camp program, and our scouting program, and other programs as well that get our youth to give up their video games and iPods every once in a while, and discover for themselves the beauty of the earth and the glory of the skies, and the variety and diversity that exists in nature, and the difference between a Jeffrey pine, say, and a lodgepole pine, or a Douglas fir and a red fir; and to notice when the buds come on the trees and when the flowers appear in the hills.

Taking care of the earth is also an issue of walking humbly with God. When farmers don’t have enough water for their crops and endangered fish don’t have enough water to live and the centuries-old levees and canals in the delta from which we get half our water is just one earthquake away from collapse, it is nothing short of arrogance for people who live in a semi-arid climate to overwater their lawns to a point of lushness.

And when wars are being fought over oil, with many thousands of lives caught in the crossfire and global security at risk, it is nothing short of irresponsible arrogance for people to be satisfied with lower fuel mileage, to buy that bigger car just because they can, or to thumb their nose at cleaner ways of getting around. Our economy is based to a large degree on fossil fuels, and we’ve been piling up wealth while ignoring the finite nature of this resource. That, too, is arrogance.

And I haven’t even mentioned yet the pollution caused by the consumption of those fuels.

Well, who would take a bus or walk when they could drive? What kind of a person would bother to rip out their sprinklers and lawn and plant native, drought-tolerant plants instead? Who in their right mind would actually consume less in order to produce less waste and lower their negative impact on the earth?

Only a person who is living according to a new vision.

When I was in boy scouts and went backpacking, one of the first things I was taught was to leave a campsite in better shape than I found it. In the years since, I have realized that it’s also to important to leave the world in better shape than I found it. That involves a different way of living. But it’s what I feel I’ve been called to do.