THIRD SUNDAY AFTER EASTER – “EARTH DAY” – 22 APRIL 2007

ST PAUL LUTHERAN CHURCH, ABQ NM – the Rev. P. L. Holman

Acts 9:1-20; Psalm 30; Revelation 5:11-14; John 21:1-19

“Living Mindfully”

Do you remember when you first learned about recycling or pollution control or living simply?  I wasn’t really aware of it then, but when as an adult my mind was opened to the possibility of solar power and living lower on the food chain, about conserving energy and natural resources, I realized that those lessons were first handed on to me as a child by my grandparents.  Especially my father’s mother, who was an expert at making something out of virtually nothing – a lesson that has been key to my spiritual journey ever since. 

On this Earth Day Sunday we gather to give praise to the God of all creation, and we pause to remember that we are connected intimately to the waters and winds, to the lands and peoples around the globe through the God who is giver of all life.  We are people of Easter Life – called to care for all creation in the name of Christ.  We are people of New Life – forgiven through Christ, and each day given another chance to learn to live mindful of our interconnectedness with God’s creation.  We are people of hope and conviction – trusting in God’s future, knowing hope for that future shapes our living now.

There are so many pieces that weave together on this day, so many aspects of our lives that demand attention when it comes to matters of ecology and justice.  In response to our dependence on fossil fuels and the resulting impact on air and water we are called to pursue alternative vehicle design and public transportation options. Overflowing neighborhood trash containers remind us of our highly disposable society, and call us to practice more faithfully the three R’s of ecological wisdom: renew, reuse and recycle.  In a culture highly dependent on prescription drugs and electronic appliances, we do well to learn how to dispose of them safely in order to protect the land and water so essential to the well being of our communities and our world.  Many resources are available – I encourage you to stop by the table our Environmental Stewardship folks have set up near the Welcome Center, and swap ideas and encourage one another on this journey.  We have much to learn to live faithfully – mindful of all God’s creation.

On this particular Earth Day we focus on food: the Word calls to the justice of food sufficiency.  Did you notice the role of food in Paul’s story?  On the Damascus road chasing after followers of the Way, Saul, blinded by the light, was led into Damascus, and for three days and nights neither ate nor drank.  It wasn’t until Ananias answered the call to speak the word of healing and hope to Brother Saul, that his sight was restored; he got up, was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength; and immediately he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogues.

The role of food in the post-resurrection appearance of Jesus to Peter and the others by the Sea of Tiberius is much more obvious.  Jesus serves them breakfast on the beach. Bread and fish.  And afterward, Jesus engages Peter in a sort of ordination dialog: Do you love me? Feed my sheep.  Not once but three times you notice – remind you of anything? [“Before the cock crows, Peter, you’ll deny me three times.”]  Jesus feeds Peter not just with fish and bread, but with the power of absolution -- forgiveness so tangible he can’t help but reply with emotion, You KNOW that I love you… Ah yes, my brother, then feed my sheep.  Follow me.

We come to worship this morning singing our praise, ready to proclaim, Lord you KNOW that we love you.  And Jesus turns the same eye to us and says, Feed my sheep.  A daunting task when a billion people are going hungry in the world.  Yet if we who follow Jesus don’t, who will?  Do you love me? Feed my sheep.

While we can serve locally in a variety of ways, the path for changing the world’s pattern of devastating hunger is to change our habits, to model mindful eating, consuming in a way that is aware of where our food comes from and the social and environmental justice issues that surround production of that food. 

We eat mindfully when we pay attention to our personal health and the choices we can make for wellness.  I have met many people over the years who had made the choice to become vegan or vegetarian; it was my doctor who finally convinced me I had to do that too.  It isn’t convenient, but the choice has benefited my soul as well as my body.  Eating has become a ritual celebration of preparing and enjoying, the time required a welcome interruption in a life otherwise lived at a pace too fast and too full.

Mindful eating involves being aware of our neighbors needs as well – advocating for nutritious school lunch or workplace cafeteria options, becoming informed about and advocating for Roundhouse or Washington policies that move the focus from greed to need.  A story in the recent issue of Sojourners magazine tells of a Ghanaian chocolate growers’ cooperative that has developed from simply selling cocoa to Britain to producing chocolate there and, as of February of this year, through Divine Chocolate USA.  Lutheran World Relief is involved in this fair trade development – a project they call Biblical and in line with Martin Luther’s theology: “[Trading companies] oppress like pike the little fish in the water, just as if they were lords over God’s creatures and immune from all the laws of faith and love”  [from Luther’s 1520 “Sermon on Trade and Usury” as quoted in SOJOURNERS Magazine, May 2007, p.33].

LWR is not only investing in Divine Chocolate USA – they plan to use the connection to help educate members like us about trade justice and generate word-of-mouth publicity for a company that hasn’t the means to support a huge marketing budget.

Mindfulness also involves becoming aware of how our EXAMPLE of rampant consumption is setting a standard for developing countries that leads more to death than to the life God has called us to choose. In the past two years the trips I’ve taken to Madagascar and Ghana have opened my eyes to matters of global ecological justice in ways I never expected.  Two images:

• When we traveled to our companion synods in Madagascar, our host families were most gracious in their hospitality.  Given a small per diem to help cover their additional expense they provided us with bottled water and pasteurized juices for breakfast.  It never occurred to me to consider these a treat until I realized that every bottle we discarded was quickly retrieved and reused to bottle food for market, and even the juice container was recycled by her older brother into a little doll’s car complete with cardboard wheels that became the prized possession of 7 year old Lianso.
• In Ghana, it seemed that streets were cleaner and plumbing more pervasive than in Madagascar.  Also, every time we bought something we received it in little black plastic bags, everything from the money we exchanged to the fruit and handcrafts we bought in the market.  I thought this was a sign of Ghana’s progress, until we traveled north.  All along the road I noticed landscape that looked like the high desert of New Mexico except that it appeared to be dotted with small dark rocks.  It came as a sobering shock when I finally realized those weren’t rocks – they were the black plastic bags I had considered signs of progress, stuck to the spiny brush, literally littering the countryside.

Christ extends to you and me this day an invitation to eat mindfully.  Come to the Holy Meal, to this ‘hungry feast’ hungry for a world released. Come to the meal Christ prepares for us – bread of heaven, cup of salvation.  In this central act of mindful eating, opening our hands to receive a morsel from the loaf and a sip from the cup, we are connected to the One in whom we have promise of forgiveness for all our shortsightedness and greed, and gift of strength to turn and live, mindful of the impact our choices have on others.

From the beginning of creation God has created us, and all creation, for good.  Breathing into us, inspiring us with the spirit that is life, God has given human beings dominion – stewardship responsibility, if you will, over all that good creation.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer put it simply: fidelity to God is lived as fidelity to the Earth.  In caring for creation, we honor Christ.  In caring about our neighbor, we honor the commandment Christ gave us.  Eat mindfully, choose mindfully, live mindfully – “live simply that others might simply live.” 

“Do you love me?” Jesus asks us today.

“Feed my sheep.”

“Follow me.”