Question: Who is my Neighbor?

EARTHKEEPING NEWS
A NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN COALITION FOR CHRISTIANITY AND ECOLOGY

Volume Six, Number Two
January/February 1997

THE QUESTION IS: WHO IS MY NEIGHBOR?

Polluted streams are flowing into lakes and rivers. Ozone alerts signal respiratory problems. Nuclear power plants are storing plutonium waste in above-ground casks next to major water supplies. Cities spray pesticides in their parks.

Why are these happenings a matter for the concern of Christians and our churches? That is easy. When something is making children sick, Christians are concerned. We have verse and story after verse and story in the Gospels which summon us to loving action on behalf of our neighbor. The parable of the Good Samaritan is engraved on every Christian heart. And Jesus said, Inasmuch as you visit the sick and imprisoned, you visit me; inasmuch as you feed the hungry, you feed me.

If Jesus were here today, he might say something like this: Inasmuch as you protect the water supply and prevent poisoning people, you prevent poisoning me. Inasmuch as you clean the air and prevent asthma from attacking our little ones, you prevent asthma from attacking me.

No Christian would argue that clean air to breathe and pure water to baptize is not the church's business. We may disagree on solutions, but I think we would agree that poisoning the water and air are not loving our neighbor.

On the other hand, to the question: Is the health and well-being of wildlife a religious concern? Is the health and well-being of insects, or of dirt, or of a forest, a religious concern? ö the answer given by tradition is no. Christianity in action has rarely gone beyond the expression of love for human beings.

I challenge all Christians to reflect on the following passages about Christ and creation. John (John 1:3) wrote about Jesus: He was in the beginning with God. Every created thing came into being through him.

Paul elaborated on this act of creation by Christ (Colossians 1:15-17): Everything visible and invisible, thrones, ruling forces, authorities and powers ö all these things were created through him and for him.

Paul went on to write this remarkable statement which should be the cornerstone of Christian theology: Christ holds everything together. Everything in heaven and on earth, everything visible and invisible is connected and held together by Christ.

Now we can begin to understand what the phrase "Cosmic Christ" means. Christ is the Lord of the Cosmos. We tend to think of him simply as an earthling, a member of the human species, come from God to minister to us two-leggeds and to us alone. But we are wrong in that respect. The entire Creation is his home, and all creatures are held by him and are connected to us by him.

Jesus said, Consider the lilies of the field. They neither spin nor toil, yet Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. There is great love in the heart of the man who spoke those words ö not only for other human beings, but also for fields of wildflowers. After reading those words, are we not more connected to flowers? Christ who makes us one with flowers (and frogs and hairy spiders) also makes us one with the stars.

Another biblical argument for loving the whole world is one of Jesus' teachings recorded in Matthew 10:29. Sparrows are cheap. You could buy two of them for 75 cents, but not one falls to the ground without God knowing.

If we kill a bird for sport ö if we destroy the habitats of bears and wildcats and birds and fish ö if we kill elephants for ivoryö if we kill sharks and snakes because they frighten us ö if we kill wolves because they diminish our profits, God knows, God cares, and God judges.