Ecology: Protecting our Common Home in the Season of Creation

As we explored last week, the theme for this year’s international Season of Creation is “Oikos- a home for all”. Last week we explored the word “Oikos” which is Greek for the family or household, the family's property, and the house. And we looked at several words which come from oikos.

One of those words is ecology which comes from “oikos – logia”- the study of the household. Our theme this week is Ecology: Protecting our Common Home. In particular we are invited to pay attention to the integral web of relationships that sustain the wellbeing of the whole Earth. Each creature – not only animals, insects and plants, but also non sentient creatures and minerals form part of this web and contribute to the health of the Earth. The Creation story in Genesis 1 reminds us that as humans we were created on the same day as all the animals, we are not separate to this glorious, diverse earth community.

As we saw last week another of those oikos words in Economy – the rules of the household. But this word has been so narrowed in its use that it has become simply about profit, loss and the market. Even human communities have been lost in recent decades. As a result, our common home which provides food, shelter, medicine and fuel for the generations; has come to be seen only as a financial resource – to be utilized for our benefit. And the relationships that sustain the wellbeing of the whole earth are broken and lost. The current economic system which is based on unlimited growth is having a disastrous effect on this earth.

“Earth Overshoot Day” marks the tragic day each year when our demand for ecological resources exceeds what Mother Earth can regenerate in that year. Last year it fell on August 22nd, which means that for the last four months of the year we have been stealing resources from the generations to come. The relationships are broken and need repair.

In today’s reading from James we are warned about the way we speak. He warns us about blessing God and then cursing those made in the likeness of God (all our fellow humans). And I would add, cursing ALL that share our common home. Ludwig Wittgenstein reminds us that the words we use shape how we see the world and our place in it. So, when we speak of economics and the word we live in, what kind of words do we use? How do we speak of other people? Do we use words that make them less than us? Do we speak of trees as are our brother or sister, or as a resource to be cut down and used? Do we use words that acknowledge the integral web of relationships that sustain the wellbeing of the whole Earth? I invite you during this Season of Creation to pay attention to how you speak of this world and our place in it, and to consciously speak in a way that acknowledges our place as those created in the image of God the creator to care for this world.

There will be no sermon notes this week. I will be adapting the resource Appended Resource 2: Engage your local ecology through this Earth Examen: from the 2021 Celebration Guide A Home for All? Renewing the Oikos of God found here