Sermon Preached by The Revd Neil Fernyhough, 2nd Sunday of Easter (April 19, 2009).
Readings: Acts 4: 32-35; Psalm 133; 1 John 1: 1 – 2: 2; John 20: 19-31
“No one claimed private ownership of any possessions.” – Acts 4:32
“Most people are on the world, not in it. They have no conscious sympathy or relationship to anything about them – undiffused, separate, and rigidly alone like marbles of polished stone, touching but separate.” Those words, written by the environmentalist John Muir in his journal over one hundred years ago, resonate with us today perhaps more than they ever have before. This is Earth Day, an observance dating back to 1970 – almost forty years ago. And while this day does not appear on the Christian calendar, we happily observe it here at St. Hilda’s; convinced as I know we are that, for people of faith, every day should be Earth Day.
We observe it this year with pride in the example this parish sets in promoting sustainability, under the direction of our environmental steward, David Moul. We have taken steps to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions; including energy efficient lighting, weather-stripping doors, insulating pipes, and the imminent replacement of the oil furnace in the hall with electric heat. We practice recycling and have taken steps to conserve water. We have planted many native species and have removed ivy. Our outdoor lighting is “dark skies” friendly. We have a green purchasing policy. We are a signatory to the Earth Charter and maintain membership in the Sunshine Coast Conservation Association. Just in the past couple of months, we have undertaken a promise to support preservation of the glass sponge reefs off the coast of Sechelt; have been active in getting support of local councils for the World Water Day resolution; and have resolved to focus on improving access to clean water for everyone as part of our commitment to the UN Millennium Development Goals. And we have just learned, in the past week, that we are to be the first green accredited parish in the Diocese of New Westminster.
We do these things not because we are a community of environmental activists, although many of us are – but because we are a community of spiritual activists. We are followers of a man who trod lightly on the earth, and invited us to live simply. Our ancestors in the faith were those whom, we heard today, “were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common.” And we take seriously the commandment of Jesus to anchor our personal and common identity in the rule of love, which finds voice in our shared ministry of reconciliation.
The sense of communalism conveyed in the brief account from the Acts of the Apostles appears today, the second Sunday in Easter, because it articulates what the world should look like in light of the resurrection of Jesus. Life triumphing over death is love triumphing over despair, and goodness triumphing over evil. It is, in other words, an active demonstration of God’s principles – an underlying ethic of unity which reflects the reality that the Holy Spirit is the common possession which makes everything else possible.
Another environmentalist, Aldo Leopold, put it well when he wrote, “We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.” It is part of the common witness of Christians and all people of faith that we are part of this larger community, on which no individual claims ultimate right. The wind, water, earth, and all the life sustained by these and other elements is the possession of the One who brought them into being; God, who united the building blocks of creation in a wondrously complex way.
It is the height of idolatry and arrogance for human beings to supplant God and seize the gift for our own, acting as if creation and Holy Spirit weren’t gifts held in common possession, but resources to be exploited for gain. What a constrained and shrivelled view of existence that is! It is at the root of the culture of death dealt by the false god of consumerism, with its cardinal virtues of greed, selfishness, and isolation.
In today’s gospel reading, we see Jesus meet with the disciples to commission them. He stands at the threshold between the physical and eternal worlds; and in Thomas’ confession of him as “My Lord and my God,” we see Jesus recede from the physical world behind the curtain of faith. It is fitting, therefore, that Jesus gives the disciples – and us – a final instruction. That instruction is to exercise our power of moral discernment; not for the condemnation of the world; but, as Jesus says earlier in this same gospel, in order that the world might be saved.
My invitation to you today is to use this Paschal season, from now until Pentecost at the end of May, to consider the ethical consequences of Jesus’ commission. When it comes to sustaining the planet, making sure mouths are fed, the homeless housed, the war-ravaged places are peaceful – how can you save the world through reconciliation and the forgiveness of sin?
We have made a good start at St. Hilda’s. My hope is that we will continue on the fundamental commission we have to heal what threatens to tear life apart. We do this through prayer, sacrament, and action. We do this by building relationships, and making responsible decisions to live our lives in ways consistent with what we profess to believe. We do this by ensuring that the Jesus of faith is as real for us as the physical Jesus was for Thomas.
Fragility can be both beautiful, and frightening – and it is made all the more so by its intricate complexity. In this sense, creation resembles the nature of God herself. Let us play our part as fragile, beautiful, and – yes – sometimes frightening beloved creatures of God; and take seriously our commission to build bridges of reconciliation and forgiveness; and so save the world God made. Amen.
© Richard Neil Fernyhough, 2009.
