“The Pear of Great Price” 20 April 2008

Pastor Shelley Cunningham Deuteronomy 8:6-18

Thursday was a typical breakfast at our house – juice, bagels, bananas with peanut butter. As the kids got things ready, I offered this helpful reminder: Make sure you don’t use too much peanut butter. Groceries are getting really expensive. We have to find a way to make this peanut butter last a little longer. Why does everything cost so much? one kid complained. I decided that was an excellent invitation to a little lesson in economics. Let’s see where our food comes from, I said, and opened the fridge and took out their favorite fruits. Apple: the sticker says Washington State. Strawberries: from California. And pear: all the way from Argentina! How do you suppose the pear gets all the way from Argentina to our house? Boat – plane – train – truck. The cheapest way, by boat, takes the longest, so if the pear is going to get here before it gets mushy and rotten, it’s got to go in the air or on the road. But that uses more gas, and that costs more money. So if we want to eat the stuff we like, we’re going to have to pay for it. Which means making what we have last as long as we can.

Well, with that, our little economics lesson was over. The kids got back to their breakfast. I don’t know if anything I said sunk in … but maybe, just maybe, they’ll think a little the next time they take a swipe at the peanut butter.

It’s interesting to think about, the concept of where things come from. Head down to the local Lunds or Cub Foods and everything seems to have a pedigree … grapes from Chile and Kobe beef from Japan and salmon from the Copper River. A generation or two ago, it wasn’t as complicated. Society was more agrarian. The butcher who sold the meat probably knew the farmer who raised the cows personally. Backyard gardens were for feeding one’s family, not a form of relaxation. But times have changed. For instance – how many of you grew up on a farm, or spent significant time on one visiting a farming relative? (hands) – now – keep your hands up – how many of you are under the age of 50?

It seems that increasingly we’ve lost the sense of where things come from. Food comes from the grocery store; clothes come from the mall (wait a few years … they’ll all come from the internet). While there’s something to be said for progress, convenience, and expanded selection – there’s also something missing. We’re so far removed from the process that we think less like creators and more like consumers. Think about it: When your toaster breaks, it’s easier to go to the store and buy a new one than to go to the trouble of fixing it. The shiny new toaster ends up on the counter; the old one goes in the trash.

Is that what life on this planet is supposed to be about? Taking advantage of the world around us so that we can eat seasonal fruit anytime of year, drive our SUVs in rain or shine, and neglect the long-term consequence on the earth? Or is there another way of looking at the world – seeing it as an intricately connected web of creation, with God as the master webweaver.

The Israelites has lost that perspective. After 40 long years in the desert, they’re finally on the cusp of entering the promised land. They can see the green fields and flowing streams over on the horizon. They can practically taste the milk and honey, the juicy figs and succulent olives and tender roast lamb. All this will be yours, Moses said. But be careful: after awhile you’re going to believe it’s all for you to consume. You’re going to feel entitled to it. And you’re going to think it’s all because of what you did. But it’s not. Everything you see, everything you have comes from one place: God’s gracious hand. Forget that, and you’re in trouble.

The scientific term for this connection is called the butterfly effect. It was developed by a scientist at MIT named Edward Lorenz. The butterfly effect states that small actions can lead to big changes: something as miniscule as a butterfly flapping its wings in Brazil affects the atmosphere in ways that could later trigger tornadoes in Texas. Our actions affect others in ways we don’t always see. The health of our planet depends on our working together to care for each other.

There’s a word for this kind of relationship: symbiosis. Symbiosis means that two beings are interlinked, interdependent; that the actions of one affect the life of another, and vice versa, even if at first they don’t seem related. For example, take the funny connection between the bee and the flower. The bee takes the flower’s nectar to make honey, and in so doing, it carries pollen from one flower to the next so the flowers can reproduce and make more pollen. Without the flowers, the bees would starve; without the bees, the flowers would bloom and die.

Our lives on earth are connected like that. We need each other – people to people, people to planet, plants and animals working together to coexist now and preserve for the future. The trouble is, we don’t always think of how our actions are going to affect the rest of the world. We think like consumers, not creators. And we feel entitled to take what we want to satisfy our needs now without much thought of the long-term effects.

The good news is, people are starting to take notice of what’s happening in the world around us. Scientists like Will Steger and Ann Bancroft have offered first-hand testimony on changes they see in the Arctic. The government has passed legislation making it easier to recycle electronics. Twenty years ago, the bald eagle was on the verge of extinction. Today, it’s come off the endangered species list. Little changes can and will have big effects on our planet … but we have to be willing to make them.

There’s more good news: the church is stepping to the forefront of advocating for better care of creation. I think that’s because as God’s people we have a unique understanding that the world around us doesn’t exist by accident, but by God’s grand plan. Psalm 24 says, “The earth is the Lord’s, and all that is in it …”, and Psalm 104 proclaims a grand litany of how everything works together to provide sustenance and habitat for all of God’s creatures. (v. 5, 10-18). If we love God, we must love God’s creation. And if we love God’s creation, we must do what we can to preserve and keep it whole and holy.

I’m not here to tell you how to save the earth. There are more resources than ever about going green and recycling and preserving the environment. But I am saying that the choices you make do make a difference in the world – for the butterflies and eagles, the bees and flowers, the sea and all that is in it. Because God loves the world he made. It all belongs to him, and he has charged us with being his hands and heart as we care for it. What can you do to remind yourself of that? The next time you open the fridge and take out a pear, take a minute. Think of where it came from. Say a prayer of thanks for the farmer who grew it, the driver who transported it, the God who created it. Because it is from God’s land. It is good. It is very good. Now, what can you do to keep it that way? Amen.

GUIDED BY THE GOSPEL: GATHERING • GROWING • GIVING