Last week I took my dog, Wesley, for a walk on Shovel Point. I found a great bench surrounded by white pines and cedars looking out across azure water towards Palisades Head. “God is good,” I thought. But then another thought occurred to me. “What if all of this were gone? The lake, the trees, the cool breeze. What if instead I was staring across a barren wasteland?”
Something like that happened not too long ago a half a world away. The Aral Sea was at one time the fourth largest lake in the world. Its surface area rivaled all of the Great Lakes but Superior. It had one of the most productive inland fisheries on Earth – supplying fish to all of Central Asia. There were resort towns along its shores with beaches and bungalows. Pictures of the region in the 1930s could be easily mistaken for photos from the fishing museum in Tofte.
Then Soviet central planners decided to divert water flowing to the lake to irrigate cotton fields in what is today Kazahkstan and Uzbekistan. They reasoned that the Aral was just so massive that a little water diversion was incidental. At first the planners seemed to have been correct. Throughout the 1960s and into the ’70s the lake maintained its elevation. But in the late ’70s the lake started shrinking. Piers were extended. Everyone was assured that the farther shoreline was simply the new norm. But throughout the ’80s and ’90s the sea kept shrinking. By 2014 an entire lake nearly the size of Superior was simply gone. And the lush ecosystem that it had supported was gone as well. The lakebed became a sandy desert where ghost fishing fleets lie rusting.
It’s easy to think that such a fate for so great a lake is next to impossible and while I’m not suggesting that Superior is about to dry up, it certainly faces a host of threats. Southern California eyes Superior’s water greedily. As our climate warms evaporation increases, even in winter as a result of reduced ice cover. Invasive zebra mussel and spiny water flea threaten to kick the legs out from a food web recovering from the blow it suffered with the introduction of the sea lamprey 75 years ago. Contaminants like mercury from coal-fired power plants and persistent chemicals like toxaphene continue to threaten wildlife and humans alike. Meanwhile the growing human presence around the lake threatens to love it to death.
Lynn White Jr. wrote an influential essay nearly 50 years ago in which he blamed environmental degradation on Christianity. He said that “dominionism” based on the first chapter of Genesis has given Christian culture that idea that this planet is ours to do with as we please, to squander and destroy as we wish. Since his essay was published others have pointed out that in all human cultural traditions there is evidence of environmental degradation. The planners of the Aral Sea diversions certainly weren’t Christians.
Nonetheless, Mr. White’s assertion requires us to ask the question: Does the biblical command in Genesis to “rule” or “have dominion” promote wanton destruction and carelessness in the use of natural resources and the exploitation of other creatures?
Last Sunday at Zoar church we dug a little deeper into the Genesis text.
First, the Genesis account asserts over and over that creation is “good,” that God is pleased with the remarkable diversity of life on earth. Elsewhere in scripture God is described as having a continuing relationship with his creatures. Each has value apart from its usefulness to humankind. He upholds them and provides for them. In turn all of creation praises its creator, the heavens declare his glory, the mountains break into song, and the trees clap their hands! (Yep, it’s in there!)
The Genesis account continues with God creating human beings in God’s own image. Theologians have written tomes on what exactly this means. J.I. Packer said being made in God’s “image” means we are to “act as his direct representatives…” This is our role in creation.
Finally God gives humankind “rule” over creation. But wait, there’s more. This isn’t a warrant to wanton destruction. Just a few verses later we get a better picture of God’s concept of rule. Adam is given a garden to “tend and keep.” Some translations have to “cultivate and watch over.” Environmental biologist and Christian writer Calvin Dewitt suggests that the slogan found on many police vehicles best captures the essence of the Hebrew – “to serve and to protect.”
Taken together these passages in Genesis are the foundation for Christian environmental “stewardship” or “creation care.”
God reminds his people, “the land is mine and you are but aliens and tenants.” The psalmist says, “the Earth is the Lord’s and the fullness there of.” When God gives a ruler authority in the Bible, he expects them to be his representatives and to rule with justice and mercy. When the kings of Israel did not, God’s prophets spoke out against them. The prophet Amos speaks God’s words when he says, “let justice roll like a never ending stream.” Later Jesus warned in his parables that we are expected to be good stewards of the resources God has entrusted to our care.
God’s idea of rule or dominion isn’t despotism but just and benevolent care. This in fact is God’s first expectation of all of humanity.
I wonder if the prophet Isaiah had visions of the destruction of the Aral Sea when he wrote, “The Earth dries up and withers, the world languishes under its inhabitants for they have transgressed my statutes, and broken the everlasting covenant.” (My paraphrase)
Too often Christians have ignored the stewardship of creation even while basking in its beauty. For some, Christianity has become the antithesis of earth keeping. But it shouldn’t be that way. Sadly we find ourselves in a deeply polarized society. In this context politicians like to present choices such as the environment vs. jobs, or the environment vs. reliable energy. My reading of Genesis suggests that these are false dichotomies. God’s message is clear: “love what I love, care for what I care for, join the rest of creation in praising your creator, and tend the garden.”
Each month a member of the Cook County Ministerium will offer Spiritual Reflections. This week our contributor is Daren Blanck, pastor of Zoar Church in Tofte, a former Wilderness Canoe Base guide/counselor, and a student of Beyond the River Academy, a ministry program of Lutheran Congregations in Mission for Christ.
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