Creation care and Advent
Creation care involves much more than taking steps to reduce
or even attempt to reverse climate change. An autopsy of a dead whale that was recently
found on an Indonesian beach revealed the whale had more than 1000 pieces of
plastic in its belly. Creation care entails acting in ways that are good for
the welfare of other species and of the planet as a whole.
Advent, which begins on Sunday, December 2, is a season of
preparation for celebrating God’s incarnation, specifically in human form but
more generally in all of the cosmos.
For centuries, Christians mistakenly equated preparation
with penitence: clergy instructed their congregants to identify their sin and
then seeking forgiveness for it, seeking to make oneself spiritually pure in
order to be worthy of experiencing the incarnate God’s presence. This mistaken
emphasis is why in most churches the color for Advent is purple.
Thankfully, a growing number of Christians and churches now
recognize that spiritual preparation is not synonymous with penitence. In many
of these congregations, the color for Advent is blue, the color associated with
the House of David. Blue points to Jesus as David’s successor, Israel’s new
king.
From this broader perspective, preparations for celebrating
the incarnation are more consonant with the preparations that expectant parents
make for the birth of a new child. Expectant parents try to make room for the baby
in their home (presuming they are not houseless), ensure that they have baby
clothes, stock up on necessary supplies (diapers, wipes, etc.), and so forth.
Thus, to prepare for our annual celebration of the
incarnation, commit to one or more steps that will improve your stewardship of
creation, helping to prepare all of creation ready for the incarnation. Commit
only to one or at most a handful of steps. Practice them daily throughout
Advent. By Christmas these practices will have become habits.
The power of these small steps is two-fold. First, creation
care will have become a slightly more integral aspect of your life. Second, by
encouraging others to follow your example – actions being much more powerful
than words – you will multiply the effect of your actions/new habits.
Possible steps toward creation care that you might consider adopting
this Advent include:
·
Refuse proffered straws in
restaurants and elsewhere unless the straws are metal or paper
· Send ecards instead of paper Christmas cards
·
Walk or bike whenever
possible
·
Reduce your consumption of
meat and other non-vegetable proteins
·
Turn off the lights every
time you leave a room
·
Replace regular lightbulbs
with LED or CFL bulbs
·
Read the electronic version
of newspapers and magazines
·
Avoid, whenever feasible, buying
or using single use plastic beverage containers/bottles
·
Avoid, whenever feasible,
buying or using Styrofoam products
Of course, this list is only suggestive. Some of the best
ideas will be steps that may have been nagging your conscience but seem too
hard or problematic to adopt. Advent is the perfect time to take the plunge!
My hope and prayer are that Advent will become an annual season
for Christians around the world to join in emphasizing creation care as a basic element of a healthy spiritual life.
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