Readings 1-22-11

In the midst of a polemic against idols, this beautiful passage from Isaiah juxtaposes the sad fate of beasts of burden who carry the people’s “gods” into captivity, and the God who carries Israel throughout history.

The Ephesian passage encourages us to resist evil and to stand firm in the truth. Our struggles are the more difficult for not being against specific people(s), but rather against subtler (and therefore perhaps all the more insidious) influences. How do we identify and protect ourselves against this evil? We are told only to root ourselves in God, for (I suspect) that is the basis on which we can discern what is true.

The passage from Mark offers us a number of things. First, there is clear resistance to the healing that Jesus’ power of exorcism brings. It is not the vulnerable man who is afraid, but the very powers that possess him. It is even more interesting that the society itself, though threatened by the man possessed, has not only made a space for him on the margins, but wants to maintain that arrangement. Society has found its balance with this structure, a status quo in which that which is uncomfortable or threatening is marginalized, and the society resents interference in that arrangement. In addition to his natural desire to follow the one who heals, we can see good reason that he would want to leave. Yet Jesus sends him back into the community in an uncomfortable prophetic role. For him, that is to follow Jesus.

Can we find anything here that directly addresses our concern for the integrity of Creation? I think we can find it under the umbrella of idolatry. We see in Isaiah that we trust in the wrong things to save us, when God is at hand—and always has been. We carry the weight of the things in which we seek healing and salvation, but quietly and unperceived, God carries us.

I can see in the “rulers,” “authorities,” “cosmic powers,” and “spiritual authorities” the uneasy peace we have bought with practices destructive of our environment and concomitantly, our physical and mental health. Among many others, such practices include the degradation of land and water through the practices of agribusiness, our inhumane (and dehumanizing) treatment of livestock, our high level of energy consumption, the reliance of the health of our economy on a heavily consumerist lifestyle, and the destruction of native ecologies and the species that inhabit and maintain them. Like the community that kept the demoniac on the margins of their society, we maintain the status quo (comfort and convenience) of our society only so far as we keep the consequences of our economic/environmental assumptions and practices on the “margins” of our awareness.

Isa. 44:6-8,21-23 Eph. 4:1-16 Mark 3:7-19a

The reading from Isaiah evokes our tendency to idolatry: our needs, our ambitions, our comforts, our worldviews. Isaiah reminds us that we are created to serve God, and that we have been redeemed by God. Nature itself bears witness: the heavens, the depths of the earth, mountains and trees. In other words, the universe is not a stage, but a participant, an element not only of the story of creation itself, but of our story.

The Letter to the Ephesians calls us to live into our calling. It emphasizes forbearance, love, and the unity that transcends our differences. Our differences are real, but they are not divisive or exclusive; rather, they are sanctified to our common life, to our growth into the full maturity of Christ himself. The vision of the Body as difference-in-unity grounds us to stand firm against trends (from as superficial as fashions to as profound as philosophical and political ideologies) that divert us from our ultimate purpose and meaning, which is Christ.

This passage is one more among a succession of readings that challenges my self-righteous condemnation of those who dismiss those of use who warn of imminent environmental threats of global extent. I am called to see and to value voices that, however they may intend merely to protect the status quo, highlight the importance of economic and political stability.

I find it interesting that Jesus apostles are not merely a selection of people just-like-himself, but includes those of widely varying personality and character. What do we learn from this? Perhaps that the mission of Christ requires us all, not walling each other out of our discussions and our journey of discover, but through mutual interaction and love. Where do we fail? When we, like Judas, decide that ultimately we alone know what is right. And even Judas repented his choice. Nevertheless, let us take comfort in the fact that God can be served in the disaster we cause or allow.

Let us Christian environmentalists, then, persevere in our prophetic calling with a heart open to the voices of those who radically disagree, with the knowledge that those who would disown us are yet one with us in Christ. This is no promise that we will arrive at the destination we hope for, but that all together we are making the journey. This is a cause for me of both hope and grief.

Readings 1-8-11

I find the Isaiah reading consoling, but dubious. God recognizes that there is no one to stand up for the oppressed: consoling. But God’s vengeance I question, and least in the sense of historical events. The fact is, and the bible never really comes to terms with this, bad people succeed and don’t always come to a bad end even though there is a clear belief that God is on the side of the faithful oppressed.

I read Revelations as addressing the circumstances of the times, which the prophet identifies and warns against. But again we see the themes of encouragement under oppression and of the appearance of God, who sets people straight.

In the Fourth Gospel we see the rewards of those who are trusting and faithful, assurance that God’s power to heal is not dependent on proximity of a healer, but on divine intent.

The three readings give us assurance and encourage us to persevere despite great odds, but they also indicate that God will swoop in and fix things. Sometimes that is the only hope for personal healing—remembering, of course, that healing may look like what we picture it to be. But how do these themes translate to environmental concerns? Indeed, do they? Do they encourage us to continue to fight for environmental integrity despite great forces aligned against it? Do they promise the final, triumphant intervention of an angry God who will bring vengeance and set things right again? Could we believe that? Should we?