I’m way ahead of things here, but I find myself thinking about how the Church needs , and BADLY, (meaning URGENTLY) to begin re-orienting itself to address the Climate Crisis. And within that, there is the issue of BEING THAT PLACE where the growing numbers of people who are ecologically aware* can come and be in community. Because if this (the Church) is NOT a PLACE, where these heart cries can be heard, where do we go? (based on a song by Ken Medema “If This is Not a Place” (a couple of bars:
So if this is not a place where my questions can be asked,
Then where shall I go to seek?And if this is not a place where my heart cry can be heard,
Where, tell me where, shall I go to speak?
* these growing numbers who are ecologically aware of the dangers and are deeply concerned about the direction our human societies and empires are taking (and dragging us all into that mire into which they are headed)
How do we come together and seek to discover together our MISSION (and the plural, MISSIONS, which are as plentiful as there are ecological “alternatives” and approaches to seeking to be a “City on a Hill” exemplifying a new way of living? The characteristics of this particular danger we all face is changing the way I think about what constitutes a “new way of life”. It has, and always shall, involve loving each other and our neighbor. But now, we have a task before us that really does pose the challenge of how we must begin to change how society works (because this isn’t working, this path that has built an infrastructure that is doomed to fail; destined for overshoot (indeed, it’s already “overshot” , such that ecological processes are increasingly out of whack).
You don’t see much real consciousness amongst Churches for really getting at “Saving the World” in this sense. And what will it take to get us there? I feel like I have some theological, technological, and ecological training that come together to make me asset for this task; for this ministry. But we have to awaken this sleeping theological edifice and ask the current questions. As long as we do not, and as long as the numbers of ecologically aware grow, the relevance we have to those who want to act will evaporate.
