An Inconvenient Faith
Rev. Mark Schaefer
A sermon in The Other Six Days series
Kay Spiritual Life Center
September 9, 2007
Jeremiah 18:1-11; Revelation 11:15-19

Jer. 18:1   The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD:   2 "Come, go down to the potter's house, and there I will let you hear my words."   3 So I went down to the potter's house, and there he was working at his wheel.   4 The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to him.
5   Then the word of the LORD came to me:   6 Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done? says the LORD. Just like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.   7 At one moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it,   8 but if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will change my mind about the disaster that I intended to bring on it.   9 And at another moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it,   10 but if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will change my mind about the good that I had intended to do to it.   11 Now, therefore, say to the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: Thus says the LORD: Look, I am a potter shaping evil against you and devising a plan against you. Turn now, all of you from your evil way, and amend your ways and your doings.

Rev. 11:15             Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, saying,
            "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord
                        and of his Messiah,
            and he will reign forever and ever."
16     Then the twenty-four elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God,   17 singing,
            "We give you thanks, Lord God Almighty,
                        who are and who were,
            for you have taken your great power
                        and begun to reign.
18             The nations raged,
                        but your wrath has come,
                        and the time for judging the dead,
            for rewarding your servants, the prophets
                        and saints and all who fear your name,
                        both small and great,
            and for destroying those who destroy the earth."
19   Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple; and there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.

I. BEGINNING

How angry do you think God's going to be about what we're doing to the Creation?  

I know how I feel when I find out that people have been messing with my things--I wonder.  

The reason I ask is that I know we talk a lot about God's love and I wonder if maybe we're missing something by not paying attention to God's anger.   I mean, if we're honest with our faith--and we're honest about the Scriptures we read and cherish, then we have to be honest and acknowledge that according to scripture God gets angry--even if those same scriptures counsel us that the "Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love."   Even if the Lord is slow to anger, we might wonder, exactly what will be the breaking point.   When will we have pushed God too far?

If we read the Scriptures carefully, we don't have to read far to see why God might be annoyed.   Genesis 1: God creates the world and the natural order and calls it good.   Genesis 2: God puts humanity in the Garden to tend the garden.   That was what we were made for--to be the gardeners of God's good planting and we couldn't even follow instructions on that job.   So, here we are--created to be the keepers of God's creation and we're not treating it very well.   How long will God's patience last, do you think?   How angry will God get?   How much of God's wrath will we encounter?

No, we don't like to talk about God's wrath.   That's so unpleasant.   That's so... Old Testament.

II. THE TEXT: JEREMIAH

But that kind of wrath is exactly the kind of thing we find in tonight's reading from the Old Testament.  

6 Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done? says the LORD. Just like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.   7 At one moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it,   8 but if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will change my mind about the disaster that I intended to bring on it....   11 Now, therefore, say to the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: Thus says the LORD: Look, I am a potter shaping evil against you and devising a plan against you. Turn now, all of you from your evil way, and amend your ways and your doings.

The image of God as the potter is meant to evoke images of creation and reshaping-- but it also evokes images of destruction, of tearing things down and replacing them with new things.   That's fine if you're one of the new things but not so good if you're one of the things being torn down.   No, the language here is much more akin to Bill Cosby's representation of the language of an angry father who says to a disobedient child : "I brought you into this world--I can take you out."  

There is language in this text that warns us that peoples and nations and even civilizations flourish at God's pleasure and that they can be removed for failing to be satisfactory, the way that a potter might discard a project and destroy it if it doesn't turn out as expected.

And we see similar language in the New Testament passage in Revelation: stark imagery promising the 'wrath' of God that will destroy 'those who destroy the earth.'

III. THE ENVIRONMENT

Should we be concerned?   I mean, we haven't done that much damage, have we?

A.  Damage to ground water

Well, I guess we have polluted the groundwater. Groundwater is generally a safe source of drinking water, however, there are concerns that contamination may increase as toxins dumped on the ground in the past make their way into groundwater supplies. [1] Pesticides, fertilizers, road salt, motor oil, and all kinds of chemicals can wind up in the ground water. And this can have dangerous consequences for us. [2]

B. Air Pollution

I guess we've polluted the air, too. The exhaust from burning fuels in automobiles, homes, and industries is a major source of pollution in the air. Some authorities believe that even the burning of wood and charcoal in fireplaces and barbeques can release significant quanitites of soot into the air. [3] Noxious gases, such as sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and chemical vapors can also pollute the atmosphere bringing about smog and acid-rain. [4] And then there's the problem of indoor pollution--given the number of chemicals we use in ordinary everyday life. [5]

C.  Melting Ice Caps

Oh, and then I guess there's the whole carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that are raising global temperatures and melting the ice caps (among other things) A new study by scientists for the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration shows that areal sea-ice coverage of the Arctic Ocean will decline by more than 40 percent before the summer of 2050, compared to a 1979-1999 base period. [6]  The report continues: "The authors note that loss of ice has major impacts on marine ecosystems, transportation, and feedbacks to the larger climate system. For example, the light-colored ice reflects the sun's warming rays; the dark water absorbs that heat. Less ice to reflect the heat means more water to absorb the warmth." [7]

IV. THE WRATH OF GOD

I titled this sermon "An Inconvenient Faith"--not only to make the obvious reference to the film that has been a wake-up call for many, but also to make another point.   Our faith is not a convenient faith.   State religions, civil religions are convenient because they completely mirror the surrounding culture.   But ours is a faith that calls us to be holy--personally and socially. All we need to do is ask those like Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Martin Luther King, Jr. who understood that commitment to Christian faith may even cost one's life.  Ours is a faith that not only promises grace freely from God but says that there is action that flows from that grace, there is a way of living that is the consequence of that grace.   And when we are not living in a way befitting the grace--there are consequences for us.

What do we have to expect from God, then?   Lightning bolts?   Fire and brimstone?

German theologian Jürgen Moltmann offers for us an interesting idea about the "wrath of God."   Rather than characterize God as an angry and vengeful God, Moltmann lays out another way of understanding God's wrath.   God's wrath is God's silence in the face of our sinfulness.   That is, the wrath of God is when God allows the consequences of our sins to come back upon us.

And can we not affirm that?   Do we not every day see more of the consequences of our sins coming back upon us?

Do we not see increases in hurricane strength?   More cases of childhood asthma because of pollutants in the air?   Increasing instances of allergies and illnesses?   Deforestation eliminating oxygen generating plants that clean the air?   The decimation of the rainforests and the eradication of animal and plant species--plant species that often hold the promise for medicines and other health remedies?

Can we not see how the consequences of our own sins against the Creation will be punishment enough?

A. The Consequences

If we needs help imagining them, The United Nations has detailed what some of these consequences will be: [8]

1.  Higher Temperatures, More Risk

In all regions of the world, the faster temperatures rise, the greater the risk of damage. There is a lag time between carbon emissions and surface temperatures. If it goes on too long, even eventual stabilization of carbon levels will still see an increase in surface temperature.

2.  Adverse Changes in the Hydrological Cycle

"Rising temperatures are affects the water cycle. Water evaporates more quickly, stays in the atmosphere longe, comes out in heavy rain bursts. The net effect of these changes in the cycling of water will be a decline in the quantity and quality of freshwater supplies in all major regions. Tropical [hurricanes] will increase in intensity."

3. Increased Health Risks

"Climate change will increasingly alter the distribution of malarial mosquitoes and other carriers of infectious diseases, affect the seasonal distribution of some allergy-causing pollen and increase the risks of heat waves. On the other hand there should be fewer deaths due to the cold."

4.  Threats to Biodiversity

"Wildlife and biological diversity -- already threatened by habitat destruction and other human-generated stresses -- will face new challenges from climate change. Many ecosystems are already responding to higher temperatures by advancing towards the poles and up mountainsides. Some species will not survive the transition, and 20-30 per cent of species are likely to face an increased risk of extinction. The most vulnerable ecosystems include coral reefs, boreal (sub-arctic) forests, mountain habitats and those dependent on a Mediterranean climate."

5. Rising Sea Level

"The best estimate for how much further the sea level will rise due to ocean expansion and glacier melt by the end of the 21 st century (compared to 1989-1999 levels) is 15-30 inches. This will worsen coastal flooding and erosion.

"The oceans will also experience higher temperatures, which have implications for sea life. Over the past four decades, for example, North Atlantic plankton have migrated pole-ward by 10 degrees of latitude. Similarly, the acidification of the oceans as they absorb more carbon dioxide will impair the ability of corals, marine snails and other species to form their shells or skeletons. "

And other environmental impacts can be seen as well:

6.  Dangers of Contaminated Groundwater  

Drinking contaminated groundwater can have serious health effects. Drinking contaminated water is akin to drinking poisoned water in some cases and the incidents of cancer increase. [9]

7.  Long-term health effects of air pollution

The pollution in the air can cause all kinds of respiratory diseases, lung cancer, heart disease and even brain damage and damage to the nervous system and other organs. Continual exposure to air pollution affects the lungs of growing children and may aggravate or complicate medical conditions in the elderly. [10]

V. THE POTTER AND THE CLAY

It is not a coincidence that the image given for God should be a potter molding clay.   It is an image not only of sovereignty for God, of God's ability to shape and re-shape the people.   It is also an image that is meant to remind us of something about ourselves.

For we, human beings, are clay. We are dust and ash. Soil.   As the old funeral prayer begins, "Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust..."   The Hebrew Bible refers to humanity by the term adam (where the name "Adam" comes from).   The word for soil is adamah.   We are connected to the soil in a very real and powerful way.   Our destiny and that of the earth are not separate.

But there is hope.  

Moltmann writes that when Jesus dies on the cross, he takes upon himself not only the death of the human being, but the 'wrath of God.'   That is, the crucifixion is the ultimate example of God's silence in the face of human evil.   Nothing is done to stop this violence, this miscarriage of justice--the consequences of humanity's self-glorification at the expense of Jesus.   But it is Jesus who bears this wrath, who takes upon himself not only our sins but the consequences of those sins.   In the greatest declaration of solidarity imaginable, the Eternal God suffers the consequences for finite, moral humanity. [11]

There is a power in that, for we know that God is not simmering with holy anger against us, but is suffering with us in the consequences of our faithlessness.   In Moltmann's words, we may have perverted our relationship with God, but we cannot change God's relationship with us. [12]   And that means that God is standing beside us still, in relationship with us still, offering us a chance to reclaim the image of God within us --in all our areas of brokenness, personally, iin our relationships with one another, and in our relationship with the earth.

Because there is something else about clay, too--it can be reshaped if it is pliable enough.   God can reshape us, remold us if we open ourselves to the reshaping.  

The theology of the Book of Genesis makes it clear that humanity's relationship with the earth was damaged by human sin.   Humanity would now have to toil to get the earth to yield its bounty.   Something, too, of the image of God was impacted--but it was not abrogated.   Not destroyed.

If we as a people open our hearts, God can reform us like clay.   We can be better as individuals. We can be better in our relationships with one another. We can be better stewards of the earth, better tenders of the garden of creation.   We can avert needless suffering and death.   This 'inconvenient' faith of ours--a faith that embraces the cost of discipleship as well as the blessings of God's love--this faith can help us to be remolded by God.   We can once again live in harmony with the creation, as children of God and of the earth from which we are made.

 

NOTES
[1] http://www.groundwater.org/gi/contaminationconcerns.html
[2] Id.
[3] http://www.lbl.gov/Education/ELSI/pollution-main.html
[4] Id.
[5] Id.
[6] http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2007/s2915.htm
[7] Id.
[8] http://www.un.org/climatechange/background/csqfuture.shtml
[9] http://www.groundwater.org/gi/contaminationconcerns.html
[10] http://www.lbl.gov/Education/ELSI/pollution-main.html
[11] Jürgen Moltmann, The Church in the Power of the Spirit, p. 94
[12] Jürgen Moltmann, God In Creation, p. 232, ff.