The Diocesan Dialogue
Current Issue
November 2007
Bishop's Reflections
Dear Friends in Christ,
This morning when I sat down
to write my reflections, I heard the news that this years the Nobel
Peace Prize has been awarded to Al Gore and to the UN's Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change, for their work in alerting us to the disasters
(and to the trajectories of further disaster) as a result of vast climate
changes underway.
The news touches me deeply—more, even, than
the similar honor bestowed on a member of the University of Utah's
faculty—more, certainly, than all the preoccupations of my present
reading and writing, especially about divisions in the church.
In this
moment and in this season the whole world awakens to a new meaning
of the word ‘harvesting' and ‘reaping', for
the "Inconvenient Truth" to which Gore has called our attention
is that the damage to "this fragile earth, our island home," caused
by climate change, is indeed the harvest we are reaping from a manner
of life that is selfish and myopic; from our failure to heed the warnings
of naturalists and scientists over many decades; and from a political
system which leads us to select leaders who simply encourage our illusion
of security in the context of global danger.
In and of itself the honor
of a Nobel Prize will not change anything, nor will the public acknowledgment
of the realities leading to this choice. The changes called for here
will happen only when people consciously and intentionally decide to
make them happen—or, alternatively, when the further consequences
of our inaction visit themselves upon us.
Many of us say we don't
know what we can do as individuals, families, communities, and institutions,
but that is not so much because we haven't been told as because
we don't like the proposals put before us, because we think we
have other options, and probably most of all because we believe that
in the great scale of things, we can make no difference. In the Screwtape
Letters, C. S. Lewis calls this one of the "devil's tricks," and
the story of the boy tossing the starfish back into the sea neatly
counters that idea.
Still, it is the case that great changes are required
of us, and this means we need informed and courageous leaders; it means
sharing the sacrifices that must be made; and it means connecting environmental
issues with all the other issues we now consider unrelated. Perhaps
this is the time when all religious faiths, as well as sovereign states
will support the United Nations in finding its true mission in the
world.
Jesus once told the story of the Good Samaritan to help
people realize they had a toolimited image of their neighbor, an image
based location and likeness to themselves. The point of his parable
is that our neighbor is whoever is in need, and we prove ourselves
to be good neighbors in responding to their needs. People may chuckle
at the idea that birds and polar bears are our neighbors today, yet
as the crisis of global warming is vast, so also is the intricacy of
God's whole creation. All creatures are our neighbors.
As I think back to
the first time I watched Gore's documentary film "An Inconvenient
Truth," I remember the fear it struck in me. Later, however,
I came to the fuller realization that although fear is a powerful motivator,
especially in the short term, love is greater and more lasting. And
ultimately love is God's way. It is the way God incarnates himself
in the world and teaches us to love all our neighbors.
Faithfully,
The Rt. Rev. Carolyn Tanner Irish
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