A talk by Reverend Johannes Nobel, Green Ambassador for the Diocese of York and Priest in Charge at St Thomas Osbaldwick with St James Murton
Stewardship of Creation: The crisis, the cure and the command.
Ezekiel 37.1-10 (The valley of the dry bones)
John 2.1-12 (The Wedding at Cana)
“What do you mean, no more wine? Well, that’s embarrassing! Who was in charge of ordering drinks? How could this happen?”
We all know the story very well – it’s the famous miracle of Jesus turning water into wine. And you may well wonder what this story has to do with our theme of ‘stewardship’? And more specifically, ‘stewardship of our planet’ or ‘stewardship of creation’?
I hope all will become clear in the next few minutes.
This sermon has three points:
- The crisis
- The cure
- The command
And I shall tell you the conclusion straight away: The cure to the crisis is in following the command.
Point one: The crisis.
At the wedding in Cana, who is getting married? Do we know?
Jesus and his mother are there, so the bride or groom may well be family. Indeed, some scholars make much of the fact that Mary interferes with the catering and suggest that this must be the wedding of one of Jesus’s own brothers or sisters. We don’t know for sure. What matters more is that the party seems to be rather splendid. So much so, that the wine starts to run out.
In a culture which highly values hospitality, this is a matter of honour. Running out of wine would be an insufferable embarrassment.
Perhaps Mary has flashbacks of her own wedding, and those shameful rumours about a pregnancy. She knew full-well what her gossiping aunties whispered about. She had brought shame on her family.
So, “Not again – not this time!”, Mary thought.
She could fix this. Or rather, Jesus could fix this.
This crisis.
When we hear the word ‘crisis’ today, it is often in the context of the environment. We are in a ‘climate crisis’. A ‘loss of nature and biodiversity crisis’.
At the root of this crisis is another party. Our party: The way we live our lives today, as if there are no cares in the world and no limits needed to our consumption. We consume, and consume, and consume a bit more. The rate at which we devour the earth’s resources is such, that we are literally running out of planet.
It’s eye-opening to consider the amount of space – in terms of fertile land and sea – required to support a person’s lifestyle. We call this our ‘ecological footprint.’
To live our lives like we do as average UK citizens, we each need 5-6 hectares of space – to grow food, to turn raw materials into products we use, to dispose of our waste, etc. The problem is: space is finite. There is only so much space available on our planet: Like Gandhi said: ‘There is enough for everyone’s need, but not for everyone’s greed’. We share this earth with 8 billion other people and countless other creatures.
The shocking fact is that, if all our earth’s resources were shared equally among the 8 billion humans, we could each lay claim on an ecological footprint of only 2 hectares. Remember, the average UK citizen takes up 5-6 hectares. If all 8 billion humans would live like you and me, we would need 2- 3 planets to sustain humanity.
But there is no planet B.
The only way we manage to maintain our over-consumption, is by forcing others into under-consumption. That is, poverty.
The facts are clear: We are consuming more than is fair, more than is sustainable for this planet, more than is good for us and our souls.
Point one: The crisis.
Point two: The cure.
Is there a cure?
At the wedding at Cana, Mary seems to think so. Not that she exactly knows the solution – but she knows where to look for the solution.
Jesus.
But what has Jesus to do with it? Is he a wine-merchant? Does he own shares in the local vineyard? Has he a wine cellar? What could he possibly do to solve this crisis?
Perhaps Mary is the only one who could confidently answer that question: Everything. He could do anything and everything to solve the crisis.
Mothers know. Mary already knew what the disciples learned only years later: That Jesus was Lord over all the earth. That even the wind and the seas obeyed his voice. That he was the Creator incarnate in his creation. He could do everything. So why not turn water into wine?
We will come back to that in a second, but I’d like to make a quick de-tour to our Old Testament reading.
The prophet Ezekiel finds himself in a valley of dry bones. Talk about a crisis. Everything is dead and beyond saving.
Or is it?
That is, literally, what God asks Ezekiel: “Son of man, can these bones live?”
Is everything beyond saving? Or is there a cure? Is there a solution?
“Sovereign God, only you know”, Ezekiel replies.
“Of course not!”, he thinks, secretly.
“Only you know”, he says, piously.
What do you think: Is there a cure for death and destruction? Is there hope for a world in climate crisis?
Point two: The cure.
Point three: The command
Mary, his mother, said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”
I hear them think: “Ok then... Strange, but ok... If you say so...”
And when Jesus asks the servants to fill the purification jars to the brim, I hear them think: “Why? Is he a wine expert? What a waste of time. What’s with the water? This is never going to work!”
“Do whatever he tells you.”
And off they go, carrying heavy jar after heavy jar, from the village water well to the wedding hall. It takes forever. And what for? What difference is it going to make?
Do you ever get that feeling? What difference does it make? The recycling, the lightbulbs, the small choices in life? “That’s not going to solve out crisis.”
Again, let’s take a detour and see Ezekiel in his valley of the dry bones.
Just like the servants at the wedding received a command from Jesus, Ezekiel receives a command from God. And again, it is one that doesn’t seem to make much sense at first.
God tells the prophet to preach a sermon in a graveyard. Son of Man, prophesy to these bones and say to them, 'Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!'
Well, that’s not going to work, is it? What a waste of time.
And yet, that is the command.
“Do whatever he tells you.”
“Fill these jars”
“Prophesy to these bones.”
And of course, we know how these stories end: Miraculously. ‘For he can do more than we ask or imagine.’
Our tiny contributions, our seemingly insignificant life choices, our carrying of water jars, our putting out the recycling...
The thing is, we don’t just do those things for no reason, we do them because our Creator commands us to do them.
The cure to the crisis is in following the command.
Beyond all expectation, our tiny contributions are transformed by a greater power and become part of a God’s unstoppable plan of salvation and restoration. Life returns to the dead, and water is turned into wine, and perhaps, God willing, an unsolvable climate crisis is somehow, slowly, reversed. Mind you, not while we sit back and wait, but miraculously, when we join actively, with Jesus in his mission to care for creation. The water jars aren’t going to carry themselves. God isn’t preaching the sermon in the graveyard for Ezekiel. No, we all have a role to play. An active role. The cure to the crisis is in following the command.
So, really, the question is what the command is – for us, here today?
The command, I believe, is simple: consume less. Cut your carbon emissions and motivate others to do the same. Make room for other creatures.
You see, it is not too late. Our world is not a valley of dry bones - not yet. Creation has an incredible – God-given – power to heal and recover.
The miracle we need is not an extra two or three planets to satisfy our greed. No the miracle we need is a willingness to share the one planet we have got. We need a chance of hearts, of industry, of politics. A worldwide ecological conversion. The way of Jesus leads to simplicity, to gratitude, to joy in enough, to sacrifice. Jesus teaches us a greater awareness of other people and of other creatures.
‘The love of Jesus is a love which disrupts the status quo and inconveniences itself to bring restoration.’
That is nice definition of what is asked of us in terms of environmental stewardship: Simply to love this planet and all its creatures with a love that disrupts the status quo when needed (stop using fossil fuels), and chooses the path of inconvenience (even is its expensive), to bring restoration.
May the God the Creator draw us, Christ the Redeemer command us, and the Sustaining Spirit enable us to be good stewards of this earth.
Amen.
