No, really…it isn’t easy being green
January 22, 2009
In his inaugural address on Tuesday, President Barack Obama warned Americans that the road out of economic crisis, war, and environmental degradation would be an arduous one to travel. As Christians, we who are told to take up our cross daily should understand best the sacrifice and struggle of living justly and compassionately, just as well as we should understand the sacred reward of doing so.
Unfortunately, we often fail at taking up our crosses, and we require God’s forgiveness, grace, and guidance to persevere. Let Tri Robinson’s timely post on the sacrifice of caring for creation bless you with some of that grace and guidance as we are called upon, once again, to persevere.
Saving God’s Green Earth – Part 1
June 9, 2008
This post originally appeared in Creation Care Magazine.
This book excerpt is used with permission from the author and is taken from the book Saving God’s Green Earth by Tri Robinson, the founding pastor of the Vineyard BoiseChurch. The book was published in 2006 by Ampelon Publishing (Atlanta, GA).
As our church began to wade into uncharted waters with our new environmental ministry, I was excited to see what would happen for a couple of reasons. For one, I wanted to see how the community would react to what we were doing. Would they ignore us? Question us? Make fun of us? Embrace us? The potential reactions were almost endless. The other reason I was excited about launching our new ministry was because I was curious to see how this new value in our church might open the door for members to share their faith with others. Would people question our motives? Inquire about our faith? Dismiss us as a gimmick church? Only time would tell if this was going to be an effective way to share the Gospel while we fulfilled the biblical mandate to care for God’s creation.
It wasn’t long before I received my answer. Stories began pouring into our staff about how leading our community in this value opened doors to conversations about Christ that never would have happened otherwise. One of my favorite stories happened when my administrative assistant, Lori, fielded a call from an environmental activist named Sam.
Sam had heard about our ministry to care for the environment and visited our website. Not knowing that we were a church, he called in to report his good environmental deed of the day—he was on his way to protest what some corporation was doing to the environment. After sharing this information with Lori, Sam awaited for some type of approval for what he was doing. But Lori didn’t give it to him. Instead, she challenged him to move from protest to action.
“Sam, that’s not the kind of thing we do here,” Lori told him. “Instead of telling people what they’re doing wrong all the time, we want to demonstrate how to do things right more than anything. We think we should care for the environment by being good stewards of it. If we do our part and help others understand how to care for the environment, then we can actually begin to change things.” After a moment of contemplation, Sam replied, “That’s what I believe, too.” And the unsuspecting Sam was issued an invitation to church, which he warmly accepted.
People in the mainstream media often misinterpret many Christians’ actions. And if truth be told, they paint an accurate picture sometimes, too—and the truth is hard to swallow. However, no matter how Christians are depicted in the media, the one thing that will change people’s perceptions about Christians is knowing one personally who is living out a faith that saturates every part of that person’s life. There are always areas that we can improve upon, but when God begins prompting wholesale change, we cannot ignore Him. The environment is one such issue that for too long has gone largely ignored by many Christians—and this hasn’t been misinterpreted by anyone.
Reversing those perceptions is as simple—and yet, as complicated—as applying true repentance to our lives: we stop moving in one direction and begin moving in the opposite direction. Instead of ignoring the environment, we become the leaders in caring for God’s creation. It will earn you a puzzled look highlighted by a furrowed brow. “But you’re a Christian,” they might protest. “You don’t care about the environment.” However, they’re only half right, and you must readjust their perception—”No, I am a Christian; therefore, I do care about the environment.”
