Those who are generous are blessed, for they share their bread with the poor. Proverbs 22: 9
One of the most beautifully written narratives in all of American literature is a scene that comes about halfway through Ole Rolvaag’s novel Giants in the EarthEarth. As the story goes, Per Hansa has left his life as a Norwegian fisherman; and even though he can’t speak a word of English, he’s brought his family to America. They’ve made the long journey across the vast grasslands in a broken-down wagon to their homestead in South Dakota. And now, finally, he finds himself standing at the edge of his newly plowed field with a sack bursting with wheat seed on his hip, ready to plant his first crop. His small patch of black EarthEarth is more than a field; it’s his family’s future. As he stands there, looking out across the treeless prairie, he envisions the bountiful life that lies ahead of them.
As we head to the grocery store this weekend to prepare for Thanksgiving, we are mindful that much has changed since Per Hansa stood at the edge of his field, envisioning his family’s future. The economic pressure to produce crops with the highest rate of return on investment is silently making family farms obsolete. This has both environmental and human consequences. Losing a family farm to foreclosure is a tragedy that few of us can imagine. Minnesotans who farm for a living die from suicide at more than twice the rate of the rest of us. Singer John Mellencamp personified this human tragedy back in 1985 when he wrote, ‘Rain on the scarecrow, blood on the plow. This land fed a nation. This land made me proud. And son I’m just sorry there are only memories for you now. Rain on the scarecrow, blood on the plow.’
These are complicated social issues for people of faith. Is it our responsibility to support healthier practices like organic farming, or should we simply accept that the free market is the only decider of how our food is grown? Should we be part of the conversation when it comes to things like genetically modified food, or is this too political for us as a church? God gives us the tools to analyze, explore, harvest, and re-shape the world we inhabit. But we are compelled to do these things for the benefit of all people, not just to enrich ourselves as shareholders. We are to act wisely and in accordance with God’s love for creation. We are to be mindful of how we treat the EarthEarth so that we will leave it for the next generation in better shape than we found it.
The creation account we read in Genesis reminds us that God places us in creation as a reflection of God’s own likeness. And yet, because we are human, deep within each of us is a brokenness centered in our desire to step beyond living in the image of God, and to instead be our own god. Everyday, things like our politics, our economic systems, the technologies we fashion, and the weapons of destruction we fund all reflect this desperate sense of brokenness.
An undeniable fact about our role in debasing God’s creation is this. When we misuse the Earth’sEarth’s resources; by draining wetlands that filter surface water, by allowing toxins to run off into our rivers, or by poisoning the groundwater beneath us, the poor are always disproportionately affected. The poorest among us are always the first to suffer the consequences of a degraded environment. Caring for the soil is about loving our neighbor as ourselves. It’s as simple as that, really. That’s where the gospel, the good news of Jesus, fits into all of this. Our care of creation is centered in seeing the image of The Christ in others. It’s about caring enough about our neighbors to heal the EarthEarth where it is most broken so that they can live healthy and abundant lives.
Jesus invites us to live into his kingdom by making wise, compassionate, and bold decisions about the land and its people. Following in his footsteps requires making choices that are responsible to the very least among us, especially the hungry, the displaced, and the working poor. Living the gospel also means being supportive of farm families, the very people who are at ground zero when it comes to healing the EarthEarth. They can’t push back against the web of human sin that demands profits over people unless we’re willing to change our way of living in order to support them.
As you prepare for the coming week, I invite you to share in Per Hansa’s prophetic imagination as he stood at the edge of his field ready to sow his first planting of wheat; a vision of God’s good creation and the bountiful life that awaits us when we are willing to place God first in everything we do. I invite you to become involved in caring for the gift of this good EarthEarth so that all of creation will cry out with joy.
Each month a member of the Cook County Ministerium will offer Spiritual Reflections. This month’s contributor is Tom Murray of the Lutsen Lutheran Church and Baptism River Community Church of Finland.
Leave a Reply