We have been witnessing cataclysmic destruction by drought and fire in the West and wind and water in the Southeast and Northeast. Many in those regions are suffering multiple losses. Lives have been disrupted and some are grieving the loss of loved ones. What we are witnessing directs us to prayer and action.
Compassion for suffering individuals, however, must be coupled with care for the larger global reality of life on this planet. The warming of our globe that produces one disaster after another reveals something about our relationship to the home we share with other creatures. Our relationship to our natural environment has not been a healthy one. Global warming is a symptom of our sickness. We need to get on a path of healing.
The twelve steps for recovery from addiction can help us here. The first three will get us moving toward health:
- The first step is admitting that our life together on this planet has become unmanageable and we are powerless to help ourselves. (We certainly keep demonstrating our powerlessness.) We have treated nature as simply there for our personal benefit, operating with little regard for the life of other animals or for those coming after us. This dysfunctional relationship has made some of us very wealthy at the expense of others. We are stuck in this destructive orientation to our environment. The reality of the growing catastrophe has been unable to shake us from our lethargy. The first step is to admit this.
- The second step is to believe in reality greater than our own. Everything in the cosmos does not revolve around us. Coming to accept our finitude will help us.
- The third step is a spiritual step that is present in multiple religions across cultures. It has to do with relinquishing our lives to God, to the Higher Self, to Higher Power, to Incomprehensible Mystery. Where that happens, instigators for change arise—or in Jesus words, people, who are becoming light, begin to shine in the world.
It does not take many to instigate movements for change. It takes empowered people with vision who are committed to gain knowledge and act. Others will join. It has always been movements that have brought change, and they often have had a spiritual element to them—particularly movements that have had longevity. Substantial change in the way we address climate change will take massive non-violent global movements.
Where are Christians and churches in this movement for change? It depends on where they are on the road to recovery. If they have refused to recognize and respond to this global crisis, they must admit that their lives and the life of their congregations, as change agents in the world, have become unmanageable. Ultimately, the issue is where they have put their trust—no matter their religious talk. If they have been blinded by moralistic religiosity or prosperity religion or White nationalism or an anti-science attitude, they must admit to being ensnared by the typical idolatries of our society: self-righteousness, consumerism, racism, and arrogance. They need to be liberated by a power greater than their own.
The daily turn from idols to the “true and living God” frees us. We become open to the truth, including the truth of our global situation. In our turning to God, we receive vision and power to work for change, that is, to do justice, love mercy and live faithfully.