“The odds of you being alive are basically zero.”

Dina Spector, reporting the work of Dr. Ali Binazir, Business Insider, June 11, 2022

It’s like this: the sun itself
is constantly moving through space,
and yet it never leaves us.
Add this to the list of marvels –
like how a glass of water
was once a cloud,
like how love can grow in us
despite despair, fear.
Given such gifts,
one must wonder how it is
our arms aren’t constantly raised
in spontaneous praise for life.
I know and you know
Why sometimes our hands stay down.
But now, standing still together,
even as we’re spinning
and racing through space,
even if it’s only a whisper,
when faced with the truth
that great forces hold
our lives in place,
it feels right to say
thank you, thank you,
eyes lifting, heart trembling,
the improbable earth
so solid beneath our feet.

Let’s begin today with a check-in on our “word” project, the effort to collect words which describe what we think life should be like, how we should work together toward a good, god-sized vision for the world. We’ve collected quite a few so far. I suspect the supply is endless, but our attention isn’t endless. So the current list will take us through the first Sunday in June, and then we’ll try something new for a while.

Today our word is steward, or stewardship, which is too long for the index cards we’re using. I put that word on the Sunday closest to Earth Day, because one of the important ways we are stewards for God is in the ways we care for the earth. When I served rural parishes, we celebrated this day as Soil Stewardship Sunday with resources from the state soil conservation folks, and acknowledged that the agricultural enterprise depends on our being caretakers of the soil. We know from the history of settlement on these plains that we love that there have been times when the soil and its fertility have been in danger, and then scientists and earth-lovers stepped up, learned better ways of care, and saved a way of life. I’m not an expert on climate science or soil science, but we don’t have to be experts to realize how important it is for us to care for the planet we call home. Recently the Artemis astronauts reminded us of Earth’s beauty and her fragility in the vastness of space.

Rather than make the case for conservation, let’s just admit that we like it when our water and air are clean, and we remember when they weren’t protected. We’d like to continue to thrive as people, creatures and plants on Earth, and we bear responsibility to be sure that’s possible. Maybe more responsibility when some of our leaders dismiss the need to be careful. All the mainline denominations have done studies and issued statements calling people of faith to recognize the need to minimize humans’ impact on the future of Earth.

Those statements come from our understanding of what it means to be stewards of the earth; from the ancient story of God creating humanity and placing the gardens of earth in their care. Let’s spend some time thinking about what it means to be stewards of life as we know it. There’s a long American tradition that this biblical story means God created earth and her resources for our benefit, and humans are meant to take advantage of any good thing Earth provides – for profit, or for entertainment. Early colonists enjoyed abundant harvests of seafood and wildlife, never thinking that over-fishing or over-hunting might diminish that abundance. Southern states grew rich on tobacco and cotton, which over time wore out the fertility of soils and caused farmers to move west, never realizing that there might be a limit to how far west one could go. I remember when fracking returned to western North Dakota I was in a conversation with a friend about how new drilling techniques would be hard on the land and exhaust the oil. His reply was, “That will take 50 years, so we don’t have to worry about it.” Fifty years isn’t a very long time, especially when it takes a billion years or so to press plants into oil. The argument goes that humans are the pinnacle of creation, so everything good must be for our benefit. If we’re smart enough to develop technology and industry which uses resources to make life more comfortable, good for us. That’s God’s blessing.

But there are other ways of thinking about humans’ role on Earth. We are all descended from hunter-gatherer groups which understood Earth’s bounty as gifts for survival, practiced good harvest practices so that species weren’t depleted, took what was needed and left some for another time. We encountered this knowledge among the indigenous folk on this continent and unfortunately didn’t learn from them. It’s not too late to learn to respect our place as one creature among many, not the rulers or abusers of all. People today are trying to re-learn how to grow healthy food in ways that do less harm to the land, how to be grateful for what Earth produces rather than entitled to it. Think of the difference between those who used all parts of a few bison to sustain a village and those who slaughtered the herds for fun. We have all paid the price of their excess.

The more I learn about other religions, the more I see that the best of each turns out to be what most hold in common. The great themes of good (like our words) run through all the highest religions over time. When a religious thought turns out to be harmful, it may well have been misunderstood. A common theme among religions is connection. Humans are meant to be part of all the diverse creatures of earth, not masters over all others. We are meant to be careful of resources, using our knowledge to help plants and all creatures thrive. We are also meant to be connected with each other. To share gladly so that everyone eats, works, learns – not taking advantage of some for the benefit of others. Jesus shared this wisdom: love your neighbor; welcome the stranger; share your bread.

The idea that stewardship of resources is meant to be a human privilege, may be a distortion of God’s intent. Maybe the emphasis isn’t meant to be on what we can use, but on how we can care for what’s provided. When we care for the earth, make sure resources are shared by all with need, and preserve abundance for future generations, we come closer to God’s vision for how creation functions to support all life. When we respect other people, creatures, gardens – all life – and see the ways we are interconnected, our lives become blessed far beyond when we grab what’s good for ourselves and let others fend for themselves. Stewardship is about interbeing – a wonderful Buddhist word which describes how life flows among us, connecting us, overcoming division for the good of all. Learning to be stewards of the Earth leads us to be stewards of all civilization. It lifts up mutuality and belonging. It focuses on the good of the whole, and celebrates that together we are whole.

All of our “words” are reflected in the concept that we are one creation. Seeing ourselves as caretakers of the complex systems of life helps us clarify what it means to support and encourage one another. To make life good for ourselves by making life good for all. To be a steward is to hold life in trust for our neighbors and for the future. That is a high calling.