Should Lutheran Christians celebrate Earth Day?  Can Christians think about "environmental issues" from a theological perspective?  In this timely article, Dr. Arand answers these questions as he discusses the environment in the light of the 1st article, and current scholarly thinking about the environment from a Lutheran perspective.

Observe Earth Day?
Charles P. Arand

I wonder how many Lutherans (especially pastors) pay attention to Earth Day (April 22) let alone observe it through some action that may be of benefit to the planet. And perhaps if we do notice the day on the calendar or watch news coverage of it, we may end up rolling our eyes as an expression of incredulity at what we see or hear about it. There might be three reasons for not taking it too seriously.

First, it may be that what we do know very much about Earth Day or what we have seen of it tends to focus on the more radical and fringe elements of the environmental movement including those who have forsaken Christianity for more “earth friendly spiritualities” of a neo-pagan kind.  In other words, critics of Christianity may hope that by re-deifying nature people will adopt an attitude of reverence for it rather than developing attitudes that lead to the commodification of nature. This in turn would prompt societies to deal with the planet differently. And so attempts are made to recover Druidism or other mother earth spiritualities. So, who wants to observe a neo-pagan holiday that occurs around Easter time (and perhaps as a competitor to Easter)? And yet, rather than complain about its timing, Easter provides a time to focus on both creation and the renewal of creation. It also occurs to me that Earth day would not be the first non-Christian day that eventually became Christianized (the date of Christmas comes to mind). Moreover, sharing this common cause (grounded in the first article) may well open doors for speaking of the one who has created and is re-creating this world.

Second, perhaps some of us snicker at Earth Day because it is seen as a part of the liberal political agenda. In some ways, that’s a shame. It is true, that Earth Day in America was started on April 22, 1970 by the Democratic senator from Wisconsin, Gaylord Nelson. It was intended to be a nationwide grassroots “teach-in” about the dangers threatening the environment. Some estimated that 20 million Americans took to the streets, parks, and college campuses in order to draw attention to the polluted waters, species extinction, air pollution, and loss of natural habitats. It brought to a culmination nearly a decade of growing environmental awareness in the wake of Rachel Carson’s book, Silent Spring (1961). She brought to the public’s attention the havoc wreaked by the widespread and unrestrained use pesticides, herbicides, insecticides, that had not only brought a number of species to the brink of extinction (most notably, salmon, Bald Eagles, Peregrine Falcons, etc.) but had worked its way through food chain and into the diets of many Americans with disastrous results for the health of many. In addition, a year prior to the first Earth Day, the world had received the first ever picture taken of our planet from outside our planet. On Christmas Eve, 1969 as Apollo 8 made its first trip around the moon, a picture was taken that has come to be known as Earthrise. I’m sure you’ve seen it. It’s stunning. It fired the imagination of many as nothing before. The earth not only looked beautiful hanging there in the frigid blackness of space, but it looked small and fragile as well. Earth Day 1970 helped spur congress to pass the Clean Air Act and create Environmental Protection Agency. And now there is Al Gore and global warming….

Perhaps that’s why we don’t care for it. Environmental issues are liberal issues and we are conservatives. Here I have two thoughts. Whether or not one believes that global warming is occurring (scientists can and should debate that) it is hard to deny that the exploding human population (2 billion in 1800 to 6 billion today to 9 billion by 2050) with its concomitant need for resources has a significant impact upon the earth with regard to issues of water, land use, finite resources, and natural habitats. Second, does being conservative theologically require that we line up and be “conservative” on every political issue as well? Lutherans value reason and wisdom and the value of debating such issues. Lutheran theology does not require us to walk lockstep on social and political policies and strategies. Be that as it may, Earth Day is not on the liturgical calendar, and so perhaps it should be ignored by the church. But then again, neither is Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, or Thanksgiving Day part of the traditional liturgical calendar. At the very least, nearly every Lutheran church observes Thanksgiving Day.

Then again, maybe again deep down attitudes toward Earth Day highlight a theological concern. Have we become exclusively second and third article people? In other words, is our exclusive (as distinct from central) focus on Christ as the one who rescues us from sin so that we can go to heaven when we die? In other words, if we do not have a healthy and operative theology of the first article of the creed, the second and third articles will be interpreted against a different background, more often than not a background that has neo-platonic characteristics. When that happens, salvation will be seen primarily as escape from the prison of our body and this decaying dungeon of an earth on which we live rather than the renewal of creation (see Jeff Gibbs’ Theological Observer on funeral sermons, or watch his SemCast interview on iTunes U here*) Do we see ourselves only as “resident aliens” in this world, because heaven is our home? I suspect Peter (1 Peter 2:11) meant that Christians were sojourners and exiles in a pagan Roman world rather than that Christians were “exiles” on this earth. Contrast those spiritualizing attitudes with Irenaeus who spoke more of being “at home” in our bodies and world (H. Paul Santmire). Our own liturgical calendar may not help us out here very much. The first half of the church year focuses on the Second Article of the Creed while the second half of the church year focuses on the Third Article of the Creed. Where does the First Article receive its due within the church? At one time, spring planting and fall harvest provided opportunities for asking God’s for good weather and for his blessings upon the upon the land. But most of us no longer live in an agricultural community and so I suspect that many of those prayers have fallen into disuse.

As my mother might put it, this is a crying shame. One of our gifts as Lutherans to the wider Christian community is the recovery of a first article theology and with it a robust theology of creation. As Luther unpacked the Gospel during the 1520s he came to an ever greater appreciation of the creation in all facets of his thought (this is especially seen in his interpretations of the Ten Commandments, Creed, and Lord’s Prayer).  Two things stand out.

First, physical creation is a theme or foundation for the entire creed. God made the earth and it was good. All that we have comes from the earth (more precisely from God through the earth). God remains present and active in this world working through the creatures of this earth as his masks (larvae Dei) and holding things together in spite of the human race’s best efforts to ruin his creation. The Son of God took on a creaturely body in which he shared the same DNA and chemicals and atoms as Mary and her ancestors going back to Adam and Eve. His body was ultimately made from the dust of earth. Through that physical body he destroyed death and renewed creation. His resurrected body was not made ex nihilo (out of nothing). It was the same body (same DNA) as the body that hung on the cross, only now it was gloriously transformed. And so he is the first-fruits of the resurrection. And in the third article, we extol the point that God conveys the blessings of Christ through the things of this earth, water, bread and wine. And we look forward to the resurrection even as creation groans awaiting that day.
 
Second, Luther’s Small Catechism stresses that God has made “me together with all creatures.” There is a rejoicing over our creatureliness there. There is also a recognition that everything on the earth is a fellow creature. We share a commonality of being created and we are interdependent upon each other. We depend on creation for life, creation depends upon us to take care of it and ultimately for its final redemption. Luther’s fortuitous phrase also recognizes a distinction (“me” — “all creatures”). Human beings were given the earth as a gift (Psalm 115:16) by which “we are blessed from every side” (Santmire). God also expects us to be his co-workers and his stewards for the well-being of each other and of the earth. In other words, God has also made his human creatures as gifts to the rest of creation. If we are fashioned in his image, and his image is the image of love and service (Mk 10:45), then we must care for other elements of creation with godly care and concern. But ultimately, he gave us the earth for doxology, that is to praise him. Here we may have an opportunity to provide some balance to the arguments for biocentricism and ecocentrism,  or to those who speak of humans as a "weed species" (humans don’t belong here, the earth would be better off without us), which belies and betrays God’s teaching in Genesis 1 and 2. We dare not support an unconstrained anthropocentric and consumeristic commodification of the earth and all that it lives on it.

We have opportunities for new conversations since new doors may be opening for us to give a Lutheran witness to the Gospel that we haven’t had since the divide over creation and evolution took place. Science and religion on this issue have been at odds for over a hundred years (especially for conservative Christians). Edward O. Wilson, the well-known Harvard entomologist has written a book called Creation. It is a series of letters to a hypothetical Baptist pastor (he grew up in the Baptist faith) in which he acknowledges the divide over the origin and nature of the universe. But he argues that we need to join in a common cause for the sake of the sustainability of the earth. He points out that science and religion are the two greatest forces shaping human thinking and values on this planet. In spite of their differences over evolution and materialism, both sides can work together on matters of importance to the earth and its inhabitants. Here we may have an opportunity. If people see that we have a strong creation theology that plays itself out in the way in which we live, they may be willing to hear about how Christ (who is both creator and creature) will renew creation.  Otherwise we may give the impression that the church lives in a twilight zone with little to no connection to this world.  

So what might we do? To begin with, read any of the great creation Psalms (8, 19:1-6, 95:1-7, 104, 115, 148 etc). Follow that up by reading Luther’s Large Catechism, especially, the First Commandment and First Article. If you want a little more, I highly recommend Christopher Wright’s book, An Eye for an Eye (Downer’s Grove: IVP, 1983), in which he explores the paradigmatic significance of the theology of the land and the sabbath in the Old Testament for our day. It has some great insights on creation and redemption. A  good historical treatment of Christian theology and creation can be found in H. Paul Santmire’s, The Travail of Nature (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1985).  For some practical things that we might do, check out the Earth Day Network established by the founders of the original earth day (http://ww2.earthday.net )  or the Nature Conservancy (http://www.nature.org). The great thing about Lutheran theology is that it does not require us to do everything the same way (for we are dealing with the realm in which we use our noggins, that is, our brains, imagination, and creativity). Happy Earth Day!

*Dr. Gibbs' SemCast interview with Dale Meyer is available on iTunes U.  Apple's iTunes is required to view this content, available free of charge at http://www.apple.com/itunes