Methodist Brothers and Sisters in Christ

The churchwide teaching process of the United Methodist Church provides an interesting comparison with that of the ELCA.  The UMC’s 2009 Pastoral Letter, “God’s Renewed Creation:  Call to Hope and Action,” was issued by the church’s Council of Bishops, a process more similar to the Roman Catholic church than to that of the ELCA.  [http://www.umc.org/site/c.lwL4KnN1LtH/b.5613639/k.47A9/Gods_Renewed_Creation_Call_to_Hope_and_Action.htm] The current pastoral letter is an update of another letter issued in 1986, “In Defense of Creation: The Nuclear Crisis and a Just Peace.” 

That earlier letter was much more focused on the particular issue of nuclear proliferation in the world as a threat to creation than on general creation care.  Still, the framework it presented would be familiar and compatible with the ELCA’s:  “…this world is God’s creation, a sacred gift to be received and nurtured with respect…”.  The bishops characterized the world’s nuclear peril as “part of a complex web of brokenness” that must be confronted.  In that moment, toward the end of the Soviet Union, this nuclear weapons threat was at the forefront of people’s fears. 

In 2009, the bishops expanded their set of concerns to what they called three interrelated threats:  “pandemic poverty and disease, environmental degradation and climate change, and a world awash with weapons and violence.”  While conceding that they were not experts on these matters, the bishops did assert their expertise on “the moral and ethical life that strengthens and supports God’s intentions for Creation.”  They also helpfully tied these broad environmental concerns to the central purpose of the church:  “to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.”  Their statement is explicitly missional, as they cite God as the actor and the church as seeking to “cooperate with God’s renewing Spirit.” 

The letter frames quite broadly the several dimensions that in interrelated ways make for a toxic environment for human thriving.  They also show wisdom in recognizing that the experience of these problems is different in different parts of the world, and so prioritizing and remedying the problems will play out differently as well.  The letter is distinctive in its constant efforts to tie the intentional expressions of human failing with environmental degradation.  War and weapons of war, deadly small arms and nuclear conflict, and conflicts over resources are cited as actions to end, if environmental damage is to end. Humans are called to heed the prophecy of Isaiah:  “Behold, I am doing a new thing; / now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” (Is 43:19), and to “envision new futures and to invent the tools necessary to make them a reality.” 

While there is no particular need to compare the ELCA’s social statement with that of any other denomination, I can’t help but hear some differences.  The UMC bishops attend more directly to the interrelationships among human activities that degrade the environment, and seem to issue a stronger and more direct call to action, tying that to the call of Christians to be caretakers and participants in God’s mission.  Their acknowledgment of human complicity also is more direct, recognizing that it comes from brokenness, but also that we are empowered to participate in God’s purposes anyway.  “We cannot help the world until we change our own way of being in it,” they say.  Well said. 

In another interesting clause, the bishops acknowledge that “no nation or culture is absolutely just and right in its treatment of its own people.”  They go on to say that those (bishops and churches) in the Global South must acknowledge corruption there, and open their hearts to forgiveness and renewal.  Most notable of all, perhaps, is their assertion that “Ours is not solely a private faith, but one that also orients us toward God and the needs of our neighbor and world.”  We Lutherans believe that too, but probably don’t say it often enough within our congregations.

The letter ends with several imperatives:

Let Us Practice Social and Environmental Holiness 

Let Us Learn from One Another

Let Us Live and Act in Hope

I am heartened to learn that we have brothers and sisters in common cause for our earth, God’s good creation.  Let us indeed learn from one another, and live and act in hope.