Proper 4 – A

The Rev. Dorian McGlannan

In Kenya, before the land was settled by Christian missionaries, the Kikuyu tribes who lived near Mt. Kenya considered the Mugumo fig trees to be sacred.  Wangari Maathai, a Christian environmentalist from this part of Kenya tells the story of her mother saying to her:  “The Mugumo Fig tree is a tree of God.  We don’t cut it.  We don’t burn it. We don’t use it. They live for as long as they can, and they fall on their own when they are too old.”  When the Christian missionaries were active in this part of Kenya, between the time frame of 1920 – 1960, the missionaries were eager to get rid of these trees because they wanted the Kikuyu people to worship the Christian God and not be distracted by the fig trees.  The problem is that the huge Mugumo fig trees provided stabilization in these highlands and protected the Kikuyo people from landslides in this very steep area.  The fig trees also have roots that go very deep into the underground rock, breaking up the rock, allowing the subterranean water to come up to the surface which resulted in the many streams that dot the landscape.   

Over the past few weeks, we have been listening to some of the seminal stories from the book of Genesis.  Today’s reading is one of the most familiar and beloved of all Bible stories.  Many of you have known this story since you were children.  God tells Noah to build an ark for himself and his family and to bring into it every kind of animal.  God then causes the heavens to rain for 40 days and nights.  In our culture, this story has become a children’s adventure tale.  Small wooden arks filled with a cargo of tiny carved pairs of interesting animals – giraffes, elephants and zebras—are common holiday gifts.  Wall hangings and murals depict doves, rainbows and smiling people in a floating zoo are displayed on nursery walls and church school classrooms.  We sing playful tunes in which “floody floody” rhymes with “muddy muddy”.

The picture books and toys dealing with Noah and the ark portray the hopeful happy ending to this story.  They certainly don’t show multitudes of people gasping for breath as the relentless rising waters force them desperately to seek rooftops or high ground and then ultimately die.  That’s not a very pretty picture for a children’s story, and we collectively avert our mind’s eye from that particular image and its moral significance.

The fact that this is a very angry act by our loving God seems to float right past most children and perhaps even most adults.  The way we understand it, God got really mad at humanity; humans were misbehaving terribly and God decided He had had enough and that He wanted to start over.  So He brought this all encompassing flood and destroyed everyone except for Noah, Noah’s family and a whole slew of animals.

Now anyone who has been paying attention to weather related news as of late, might wonder if God is angry once again: cyclone Nargis in Myanmar, an earthquake, aftershock and flooding in China and even a couple of tornados in the mid-west…  Not to mention the increase in hurricanes over recent years including, of course, Katrina.  Weather reports, instead of being something we watch when we are preparing to travel, have leapt into the forefront of the daily news.  Only this time, unlike the flood of Noah’s day, innocent people are dying.  Perhaps this time, the weather disasters have more to do with human carelessness than with God.

Over the past few decades Christians and Jews have rethought the traditional interpretation of some of these stories from Genesis.  Books have been written about the word “dominion” as we move from a traditional understanding of dominance over creation to working in harmony with creation.  Today’s Christian missionaries do not ask the Kikuyu people to cut down the Mugumo fig trees; they understand the importance of such trees to the environment.  They understand the practical implications of keeping such trees and indeed join in planting more as Wangari Maathai has done.  A contemporary reading of the story of the flood lets us know that natural disasters will increase daily if we do not reverse what we humans are doing to the environment.  In fact, there are many who would attribute most of the current conflicts around the world to environmental crises. In the Philippines, uncontrolled deforestation has helped to provoke an uprising against authorities. In Mexico, soil erosion and deforestation have been factors in the revolt against the central government.  It all makes perfect sense; when soil erosion contributes to or even becomes the primary reason for the deterioration of living conditions, why wouldn’t people revolt?   From a Biblical perspective, the greed and crisis in moral behavior which caused the first flood in Noah’s day may well be the reasons weather disasters are springing onto the newspapers of our day.   

June 6 marks the 40^th anniversary of the assassination of Bobby Kennedy.  Anyone who knows the story of this presidential hopeful knows that he was very forward thinking on many issues, including the environment.  I know I am revealing my age when I talk in nostalgic terms about the times during which Kennedy was alive and running for president.  But I have to say that during the tumultuous times of the 60’s and early 70’s, lots of good things were happening in terms of concern for the environment and a whole host of other social justice issues. 

Sad to say the assault on God’s creation was simply not taken seriously by enough people for too many years.  It is not until very recently that some of these ideas have become more mainstream.  Some of us have been talking about caring for God’s creation for years.  Perhaps now there is hope, perhaps now there might be enough momentum to begin to reverse the incredible damage we have done to this earth our island home. 

I am so grateful for the emerging work of the St. John’s Green Team.  It is really, really exciting and encouraging.  Seeing the generations work together is wonderful.  Some in our congregation have been hanging their clothes on a clothesline for years; some have been raising much of their own food for years; many have been practicing water conservation and to see these practices passed onto those in the next generation is a beautiful thing indeed.

To see the story of the flood in light of contemporary environmental concerns gives it a light that can help us to move ahead in terms of healing God’s creation.  We are indeed the ones who have brought this environmental crisis on ourselves and we are the only ones who, with God’s help, can change the tide.   As the St. John’s Green Team has reminded us, it all starts at home.  It all begins with teaching our children about care for God’s creation and about living this care ourselves. As with so many things, it is far easier to do this when there are others to encourage us and support us.  The Green Team is giving us the practical support in terms of providing bins for recycling but they are also giving us the spiritual support by reminding us of the importance of this work every time we walk though the door into the church.   As the old adage goes, “think globally, act locally.” 

Remember the Kikuyu people and their fig trees and be thoughtful about how you live day to day. As Christians we know from the letter of James that faith without works is a dead faith.  As is true in all of the ways that we are trying to be people of faith, Christ will strengthen us and guide us as we strive to put our faith into practice every day of lives.