Earth Day

April 20, 2015

Happy Earth Day.

I don’t know what you have planned for Wednesday, but don’t drive there. Unless you have a Tesla, your bike is your best bet. Avoid all GMO foods – breakfast, lunch and dinner – and go without lights, air conditioning and all-things-comfortable. Forget about flying; paddle a canoe, maybe… but unless you can grab an empty seat on Al Gore’s jet, you’re better off staying where you are and not leaving a carbon footprint.

I’m not “anti.” Whenever I run, I pick up trash along the way. We’re changing our cooling units at home next month to the high-efficiency versions, and we recycle. I’m not anti…

Wednesday marks the 45th re-enactment of Earth Day. I confess: I don’t plan to attend any rallies, or sing the Earth Anthem with a passionate choir:

Joyful joyful we adore our Earth in all its wonderment /  Simple gifts of nature that all join into a paradise / Now we must resolve to protect her / Show her our love throughout all time / With our gentle hand and touch / We make our home a newborn world (to the tune of Beethoven’s Ode to Joy).  

I can find no record of any Earth Day celebrations kicking-off with an invocation, directed toward the Creator of said planet. Somehow, His influence and perspective is absent the whole effort, now the collaboration of over 5000 environmental groups in 184 countries.

What – exactly – is God’s perspective on the Earth… and what does He project its future to be? Paul’s inspired answer, from his letter to the Romans: “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved.” (Romans 8:18-24)

The creation – Earth, and more – are “groaning,” and “waiting.” There is a future redemption – promised to those who have become children of God – that will have a direct effect on the Creation.

From Peter’s last epistle: “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.” (2 Peter 3:10-13)

Is the planet showing its age? Are we conscious of the Creation winding-down, and losing its capacity to support – in a healthy manner – the limitless future of our inhabitation?

To those questions, a resounding “Yes!” Sin has corrupted everything it touches; the antagonism toward God that began with Adam and Eve and continues today within a fallen race has directly affected everything, including the environment. Groaning and waiting… the solution will not be found in solar farms and farmer’s markets: it awaits a massive reset. God will eliminate the entire, corrupted system, and replace it with “a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells…”

The ultimate solution: in the meantime, “live holy and godly lives as you look forward…”

Bob Shank