|
|
|
The Lutheran World Federation
Lutheran World Information |
|
| 26.06.2008 |
|
| Humanity at a Crossroads |
| |
LWF President Says Global Climate Change Consequences Are Inescapable
ARUSHA, Tanzania/GENEVA, 26 June 2008 (LWI) – The exploitation and neglect of creation and the consequences of the resulting climate change have brought humanity to a crossroads, said the President of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Bishop Mark S. Hanson, at the LWF Council meeting in the northern town of Arusha, Tanzania.
In his address to the LWF governing body on 25 June, the president said humanity was not only faced with the question of where it would go in the future, but where it truly was at present and “who is with us at this crossroads.” Hanson is presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).
Referring to the meeting’s theme, “Melting Snow on Mount Kilimanjaro—A Witness of a Suffering Creation,” Hanson cautioned it was not only the mountain’s snows that were melting—its waters were diminishing as the glacier receded, the air was changing and God-created creatures were disappearing, and human families were dying of starvation. “Global climate change is an undeniable reality. The documentation is voluminous and the consequences are inescapable,” he remarked.
He pointed out that throughout human history, especially in recent centuries “the human race has acted as if its calling were to be more like God than like the rest of Creation.” In Christian tradition, those who have done so, Hanson stated, have appropriated language in Scripture such as the invitation to have “dominion” over the earth and to “subdue” it. (Gen 1:28)
The LWF president stressed the importance of recognizing humanity’s unique responsibility for the rest of creation, saying, “To disown our creaturely status and claim a relationship of mastery with our fellow creatures is a betrayal.”
Rebellion against God
The calling to “have dominion” or to “rule” and “subdue” was never an invitation to human beings to be their own gods, said Hanson. The claim to prerogatives of “co-creators” was an expression of humanity’s rebellion against God, against “our status as creatures and against our true calling in relation to creation,” he noted.
The problem was not just environmental, according to the LWF president. Humankind had treated the earth as if the human race were the guarantors of the creation’s continuation, and acted as if creation’s life was intended “to serve and glorify the human race.” The earth’s value and worth, he regretted, were measured by its “utility to human aspirations.”
Ultimately the problem was not simply about water and air pollution with the resulting global warming, but rather, about “the spiritual blasphemy of treating God’s good creation as something else, as an adversarial wilderness, a god-forsaken wasteland, a natural resources dump to be used for our own self-interest rather than cared for in obedience to God and for its own sake.”
Systematic Attack on Living Creatures
The LWF president noted that despite this abuse, the land, seas and skies would endure but the living creatures that inhabited the earth were more vulnerable. Environmental offenses such as the reckless pollution of air and water, voracious consumption of forests and farmland, diversion of food and fiber for wasteful consumerism and the consequent changes in the climate, constitute a “systematic assault on our fellow living creatures,” he said.
Speaking about “true witness of our stewardship of the creation,” Hanson warned the ecology of our own bodies was at stake: “In familiar ways we fail to care for our own created bodies, minds emotions and spirits.” By the manner in which humans live, they are saying, “We will be our own gods.” Faithful stewards of the earth, however, “can exercise self-control, which liberates them for the fulfillment of their creaturely calling.”
He added that focusing narrowly on the reality of climate change itself, while ignoring the spiritual crisis of blaspheming God and God’s creation, was as misguided as denying the changing climate and its consequences. Similarly, moving too readily to the role of the questioner evades responsibility “for ourselves and our accountability” to God and God’s creation.
Addressing the Crisis
The LWF president said a communion with a rich theological tradition had the resources to address this crisis. The Lutheran communion of churches recognizes that “a living and active faith that serves the neighbor comes from hearing the Word and responding to Christ’s call,” he stressed. It was “committed to the conversations and consultations, the proclamation and practical policies that call out a living faith, shaped in the mind of Christ,” he noted.
He said the current study program of the LWF Department for Theology and Studies (DTS) “Theological Responses to Climate Change” was only one example of the theological dialogue taking place throughout the LWF communion and challenged Lutheran churches to advocate for changes in both policy and practice in their own countries.
As illustrations he pointed to initiatives of the Lutheran churches in Denmark, Papua New Guinea and Sweden, in the Nordic and Baltic churches, in Tanzania and in the United States, as well as the LWF-initiated dialogue with Indigenous Peoples in Asia.
He noted that measures for the preservation of creation, such as LWF-sponsored conversations and dialogues, range from local initiatives to global partnerships, and cited examples of a number of member churches involved in reforestation projects as part of larger strategies to change environmental practices.
Hanson said the creation’s suffering was a sobering truth that humanity was forced to accept. “The burden of guilt, the shame of responsibility for such suffering and the fear of consequences easily could turn us against each other in recrimination and judgment,” he warned. But this was not compatible with the “communion that we are in Jesus Christ, for such a community could not be humbled because it had no hope,” he added. (977 words)
* * *
There are an estimated 170 participants in this year’s Council meeting including church leaders, officials from LWF partner organizations, invited guests, stewards, interpreters and translators, LWF staff and co-opted staff and accredited media. (985 words)
The Council is the LWF’s governing body meeting between Assemblies held every six years. The current Council was appointed at the July 2003 Tenth Assembly in Winnipeg, Canada. It comprises the President, Treasurer and 48 persons elected by the Assembly. Other members include advisors, lay and ordained persons, representing the different LWF regions.
|
If you want to edit this article yourself and adapt it to a given format, follow our editing information
|
|
|
|
|
|
