Don’t Just Recycle, Do Something!
"As faith leaders, it is time to organize and mobilize. We have the largest networks of people trying to do what is right of any organizations in the world," says, Rev. Dr. Nancy Wilson (a member of the Blessed Tomorrow Executive Committee and moderator of the Metropolitan Community Church) in a recent op-ed about faith and climate for The Huffington Post.
Rev. Dr. Wilson not only discusses the ways that climate change is impacting her community in Florida, but how each of us can be part of the solution through programs like Blessed Tomorrow.
Don't Just Recycle, Do Something!
Two feet of rain fell in twenty-four hours in the panhandle of Florida a few days ago, sending many fleeing to the rafters and roofs of their homes. The storm system moved from Oklahoma to the East coast, scooping up humidity from the Gulf and dumping historic amounts of rain from Pensacola to Pennsylvania. Over four days, 65 tornadoes wreaked havoc, and 37 people died. It was the first big storm of the season — and it was early.
In the West, drought is consuming a growing swath of territory, and fires are worse than ever. Almost half the country is in mild to severe drought.
This is not an accident, nor a freak of nature — it is human nature.
I almost never preach sermons that emphasize sin and judgment. I serve as the head of Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC), a global denomination founded to affirm all God's children, including lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) people. My faith world is about love and acceptance. I avoid the approach of "sinners in the hands of an angry God."
Yet, I do believe it is time that we look at our own hands and see what we hold. We need to look at our actions and see what we are doing. God's love will never change, but we have an eternal mandate to be in relationship to our natural environment. Human sin has everything to do with our alienation from the garden of Eden — this paradise we call Earth.