Ecological conversation: Repent and repair God’s creation
IN the Christian tradition, the six weeks preceding the Easter weekend are taken as a period of preparation for the great feast of the commemoration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Known as the period of Lent, these six weeks are spent or observed with intense prayer, fasting and almsgiving.
It is a period of reflection on one’s relationship with God, one’s neighbour and – in this era of climate crisis - with the rest of God’s creation.
Ideally, Christians take this time, through their Lenten observances to repent from their sinful ways and to endeavour to repair those broken relationships. Lenten talks, workshops and special prayer sessions are held during this time to help Christians experience profound spiritual growth, and a deeper understanding of their faith and consequently to live their faith prophetically.
Recently, some Christians from different Communities gathered on an online platform organised by a group called Faith Simplified to reflect on the damage inflicted on “Our Common Home” as Pope Francis refers to planet Earth or the environment.
The session entitled “Ecological Conversion: Repent and Repair God’s Creation!” was an attempt not only to raise awareness – from a faith perspective – on the continued damage happening to our environment, but to also help others realise the
▴ urgency of improving our relationship with the rest of God’s creation.
To help with the “composition of place” – a typical Ignatian phrase – a scripture passage from Genesis was used together with a very provocative quote of Pope Francis from his 2015 encyclical, Laudato Si’: On Care of Our Common Home.
In the story of creation as narrated at the beginning of the Old Testament in the book of Genesis, we are told that “…And God saw everything he had made, and indeed it was very good” Innumerable centuries and generations later, Pope Francis in Laudato Si’ (LS) bemoans the harm that human beings have done on “Our Common Home.” “The earth, our home, is beginning to look more and more like an immense pile of filth. In many parts of the planet, the elderly lament that once beautiful landscapes are now covered with rubbish.”
Contemplating the two contrasting extracts, one has no choice but to ask rhetorical questions: How did we get here? How did the transition from “…indeed it was very good” to “… an immense pile of filth” happen?
The answer may be obvious but multifarious:
Selfish and irresponsible
. . . And God saw everything he had made, and indeed it was very good
▴ “Anthropocentrism,” which is heavily criticized by Pope Francis in Laudato Si’, is at the heart of the problem. Together with what he refers to as the “Human Roots of the Ecological Crisis,”
humanity and the whole of creation have been propelled into an unbearable age of climate crisis where our common home is now an immense pile of filth.
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) reports that 7 billion of the 9.2 billion tonnes of plastic produced from 1950-2017 became plastic waste, ending up in landfills or dumped.
Our behaviour damaging the environment illustrates the lack of appreciation and understanding of the intrinsic relationship and connectedness of human beings and the environment.
UNEP reminds us that this behaviour doesn’t just have a huge effect on the environment but on human health as well. Microplastics have even been found within our lungs, livers, spleen, and kidneys, and one study recently found microplastics in the placentas of newborn babies.
Greenhouse gases and fossil fuel emissions – other injurious factors – have polluted the air to a point where 99% of the world’s population is now breathing polluted air. Pope Francis argues that “we are faced not with two separate crises, one environmental and the other social, but rather with one complex crisis which is both social and environmental”
Considering the challenges and many other human factors detrimental to our common home, one realises that “our relationship with the environment can never be isolated from our relationship with God, and with others” They are relationships that give life and are designed by God who is the author of life. Unfortunately, in the words of the Pontiff “…these three vital relationships have been broken, both outwardly and within us. This rupture is a sin. The harmony between the Creator, humanity and creation was disrupted by our presuming to take the place of God and refusing to acknowledge our creaturely limitations”
The invitation to an ecological conversion, especially during this time of lent, is an encouragement for a deeper examination of our lives and attitudes, particularly those connected with consumerism and a “throw-away culture,” and move toward “heartfelt repentance and desire to change” (LS 218). We are invited to atonement of our misguided anthropocentrism that has led to a misguided lifestyle and continues to turn our common home into an immense pile of filth. One hopes that many will heed the call to ecological conversion, and respect and restore the connectedness of God’s creation.