green is go(o)d

I was on my way home last week and I saw a bumper sticker that read, “Green is Good”.  I had to do a double take on it though, because at first glance, I thought it read, “Green is God”.  And I immediately laughed at my mistake; partly because it was a silly mistake to make, but partly because I wouldn’t have been surprised if the bumper sticker actually did read, “Green is God”.  

Last month Nickelodeon was running this environmental challenge for kids to recycle and save energy.  All month long they interviewed kids from ages 4 to 14 talking about what they do to save energy.  One girl talked about how her family recycles and composts.  Another child spoke about how he doesn’t run the water when he brushes his teeth and takes 3 minute showers.  All good things.

Then, to follow it up, they had the “tween” stars of Nickelodeon trying to get others involved by taking a pledge and get online and play a video game to kill gas-guzzling cars and “hazardous CO2 emitting” vehicles.  They also ran an entire day of programming devoted to helping planet earth.  So, instead of encouraging me to turn off my television and my computer — both energy saving actions — Nickelodeon encourages me to help the earth by using more electricity.  Interesting that they decided to run an entire day of programming instead of shutting down for the day.

I went to a small Christian Liberal Arts College in Southern California for my undergrad.  We would have regular chapels during the week, and one of the only ones I remember was the president of the college stating in a sermon how recycling is pointless because when Jesus returns, he’s going to destroy the world anyway.

I find both perspectives ridiculous.  God tells us that he created the world and everything in it, and when he was done, he looked at it and said it was very good.  He tells us that he loves the world.  He tells us that all creation; every rock, tree, flower, bird, everything–is longing to be repaired.  And he tells us that in Jesus, God is restoring everything.

The bible speaks of those who follow the way of Jesus as stewards of this world, and co-laborers with Christ in the restoration process.  Being sensitive to environmental issues is part of the story.  ”Being Green” is just jargon; it’s just a bandwagon statement.  Being a steward means taking responsibility.  It means taking responsibility for possibly one day having to answer for your choices.  It is a means of a bigger picture — peace on Earth.

dandelions and a wii

 I had a bad day last week.  This spring season, I’ve been having a hard time winning the battle for my yard, and it seems as though the dandelions are winning.  So, last Tuesday, I race home from work to mow my lawn and spread around a bag of the weed-and-feed that I bought to kill these things.

About the time I was getting ready, my Father in Law was walking my two youngest boys home when he looks at me and starts laughing very loudly, exclaiming that I have so many dandelions in my yard a little bag of weed-and-feed will only take care of the front patch.

I wasn’t very amused.

Later in the evening, my middle son is putting some toys away, and he notices that one of our Wii games has gone missing.  So, he tells me that he thinks it’s in the actual Wii console.  Except that when he pushes the eject button, the gears don’t spit out a game, they just grind.  So, at this point I’m about to lose it.  I take the Wii apart only to discover that my 3 year old son had used it as a piggy bank.  Out poured 25 or 30 coins, most of which had destroyed the Wii’s insides.

I was not a happy camper.

At that moment I remembered the words of Jesus, “Be angry and do not sin.”  Have you ever tried to tell someone who’s angry, “be angry and do not sin” ?

There’s a passage in Mark 3 where Jesus is angry at the religious people who had gathered around him.  They were looking for a way to accuse him of disobeying their traditions by healing a man with a disfigured hand on the Sabbath.  The passage says that Jesus was angry with them.  And while he’s angry, he asks them what is the right thing to do?  He essentially says, “which would you rather me do on your Sabbath, good or evil?  Which is better?  Should I save a life or end one?”

Do you ever notice that low-level of anger just brewing around below the surface, that when something is out of the norm; you have to sit in traffic, your office coffee machine runs out right when you go to use it, the 10-items or less line has someone ahead of you with 25 items; you just get upset?  That’s one of the things I find myself guilty of.  

Jesus gets angry.  But he doesn’t redirect his anger on trivial things.  Instead, Jesus does something good with his anger.  He heals someone.

Do you remember in high school when your guidance counselor asked you, “If you had a million dollars, what would you do?”, and that’s what you’re supposed to do with your life?  What if the question was, “What makes you angry?  When you look at the world around you, what makes you angry?”  Maybe it’s children living in poverty or disease or injustice or the way Christians treat others…or whatever it is…maybe we operate with this low level of anger because we’re not using our anger to heal the world; we’re not using it where it counts.

It’s funny how something as simple as a weed in my yard and a video game system can be so significantly insignificant in my life…