“Give us this day our daily bread.” – Jesus of Nazareth

“But let justice roll down like water and righteousness from an ever-flowing stream.” The prophet Amos

Creation care is a theological imperative because we can not love our neighbors, either next door or across the globe, by polluting the biosphere. Jesus’ prayer for enough bread for today and the next cannot be answered if the soil is degraded, droughts are prolonged due to climate change, or if it erodes due to flooding. There is no justice when that which gives life (water) is too polluted to give that life. The creation account in Genesis 1 states that the Earthly paradise created by God was seen as good by God and the psalmist in psalm 24 says that the Earth and all that is in it is the Lord’s, and yet human beings have fouled our own nest in incomprehensibly stupid ways.

Pope Francis understood this and made his understanding quite plain in his encyclical letter Laudato Si’ : Care for Our Common Home, which was published in 2015. As a protestant, it is the only encyclical letter I have ever read having read it in a directed study on eco-theology that I took in seminary. Though I disagree in many respects with the theological assertions of Catholicism, I certainly agree with the overall message of the papal letter: the Earth and its inhabitants must be taken care of; the abuses of capitalism must be addressed and redressed; the poor bear the brunt of the harm created by ecological collapse; peace, justice, and creation care are interconnected issues; Christians must do what they can to protect and restore the Earth.

Unfortunately, far too many politicians and corporations have decided that corporate profits are more important than ensuring human beings have habitable ecosystems. I often wonder why capitalists and the politicians who enable them seem to think that they will be immune to systemic ecological collapse. What water will they safely drink once their companies have polluted all the clean water? What food will they eat when arable land is no longer productive due to abusing the soil? What air will they breathe when deregulation takes us back to pre-Clean Air Act days? Money won’t save them unless money saves us all…in other words, the planet is in need of major environmental remediation and that will require the wealthy companies, nations, and individuals to pay up to do the job. A rising tide lifts all boats, but a sinking ship takes almost everyone down with it.

On this Earth Day, I pray that Catholics, Protestants, and Orthodox Christians would all honor Pope Francis’ memory by committing to ecological restoration and environmental sustainability as Christian practice. We can turn lawns into gardens and habitat for pollinators. We can regenerate soil, clean the waters, replant forests, reestablish grasslands and prairies, and engage in regenerative sustainable agriculture. We can vote out any politician who actively colludes with corporations in ecologically destructive ways. We can and must love our neighbors by enacting creation care each day which in turn shows neighbor care and ensures care for future generations.

With those things in mind, here are direct quotes from Laudato Si’ :

“Disregard for the duty to cultivate and maintain a proper relationship with my neighbor, for whose care and custody I am responsible, ruins my relationship with my own self, with others, with God, and with the earth.” (p.51)

“Creation is the order of love. God’s love is the fundamental moving force in all created things: “For you love all things that exist, and detest none of the things that you have made; for you would not have made anything if you hated it. (Wis 11:24)” (p.55)

“Jesus lived in perfect harmony with creation, and others were amazed: ‘What sort of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?’ (Mt 8:27) His appearance was not of an ascetic set apart from the world, nor an enemy of pleasant things of life.” (p. 67)

“When human beings fail to find their true and proper place in this world, the misunderstand themselves and end up acting against themselves: ‘Not only has god given the earth to man, who must use it with respect for the original good purpose for which it was given, but, man too is God’s gift to man. He must therefore respect the natural and moral structure with which he has been endowed.'” (pp.78-79)

“When we speak of the ‘environment,’ what we really mean is a relationship existing between nature and the society which lives in it. Nature cannot be regarded as something separate from ourselves or as a mere setting in which we live. We are part of nature, included in it and thus in constant interaction with it….Although we are often not aware of it, we depend on these larger systems for our own existence. We need only recall how ecosystems interact in dispersing carbon dioxide, purifying water, controlling illnesses, and epidemics, forming soil, breaking down waste, and in many other ways which we overlook or simply do not know about.” (pp. 94-95)

“In the present condition of global society, where injustices abound and growing numbers of people are deprived basic human rights and considered expendable, the principle of the common good immediately becomes, logically and inevitably, a summons to solidarity and a preferential option for the poorest of our brothers and sisters.” (p. 105)

“Reducing greenhouse gases requires honesty, courage and responsibility, above all on the part of those countries which are more powerful and pollute the most.” (p.112)

“Where profits alone count, there can be no thinking about the rhythms of nature, its phases of decay and regeneration, or the complexity of ecosystems which may be gravely upset by human intervention. Moreover, biodiversity is considered at most a deposit of economic resources available for exploitation, with no serious thought for the real value of things, their significance for persons and cultures, of the concerns and needs of the poor.” (p. 125)