Humans and Environmental Destruction

I feel like the last few weeks as we have talked about the sky, water, and animals, we have already tiptoed into the conversation of environmental destruction. But it is important to talk about more concisely about the ways in which advances in our world has brought about changes to our environment that are not healthy. Growing up in California it was easy to see the ways that the sky was unhealthy whenever we traveled near Los Angeles. There’s a reason why so many people joke about calling the L.A. Dodgers the Smoggers. We know the ways that the pollution in the air not only creates a cloud of discoloration but it also creates an unhealthy atmosphere for us to breathe. Even here in the valley we get air quality alerts due to pollution.

I have been paying attention to the mass deforestation that has been happening in the Amazon and was grateful to see that Brazil, with their somewhat newly elected president has promised and is working to create a zero deforestation goal according to a BBC article written at the beginning of this year. 60% of the Amazon is within the territory of Brazil so it is good to see the efforts they are taking to stop deforestation. Even though deforestation was down majorly last year compared to 2022, the BBC article still said that the amount still equated to at least the area 6 New York City’s put together. The Amazon alone is home to about 45,000 plant and animals species and the more that is destroyed by deforestation the greater chance both the plants and animals will disappear forever.

Another biodiverse part of the planet is the Great Barrier Reef and we are seeing ways that human interaction through boating and many other activities have caused a huge die off for many years. I learned a lot about this when I had a saltwater aquarium and I only bought coral that was from other hobbyists so that there was no need to harvest any from the oceans. The problem with coral is that they are highly sensitive to changes in water temperature and many of them are slow growing, so they take a long time to grow back.

Now I don’t want to paint a picture that makes it seem like there is no hope, but I do think it’s important to know the impact that the decisions that are made have a major impact. What we do affects the entire ecosystem. Last week we talked about the beautiful cycle of the way in which God created the animal kingdom. When that cycle is altered because of air quality or habitat loss, then the ecosystems go out of balance. Let me tell you from experience, it’s a whole lot easier to punch some holes in the wall in your house than it is to then patch them up again.

With the help of scientists the world has come to understand the affects of what we do to our sky, water, and land has a lasting affect on both us and the world around us. It’s not just from formal science but also from the work and efforts of people like farmers who would rotate farming on land because the land needed time for nutrients to return to the ground in order to produce healthy crops. If we look at our own history all we have to do is to look back and what our nation and farmers learned during the Dust Bowl.

What I always find fascinating is that issues like what was encountered during the Dust Bowl and other events where we have experienced the ways that we have overused the land are laid out as plain as day in the Bible, like in today’s text. In verse 34 we see the phrase that the land will enjoy it’s sabbaths when the people are in enemy territory. In Leviticus 25:4, just one chapter before the one we’re in, we see that God declares that every 7 years there needs to be a land sabbath. Isn’t it incredible that right here, admittedly in one of the Bible’s least read books, that God knew that the land needed rest from constant harvest; that our constant use of the land without letting it heal was bad for it? God already knew the science of what overworking the land would do. And that instead of producing a plentiful harvest the land and sky would be like iron and bronze, which were the hardest metals known the people at that time.

The reason that God gives for this change in the natural world is our prideful power. One commentary I was reading points out that both self pride and national pride are the key barriers that cause us to see ourselves individually and collectively as the center of what we should do and what we can achieve. We place our own ambitions and goals above everything else. We forget that God in the one in charge. We forget that God is the one who created this world and all the resources we have in it. We forget that God created these vast and intricate ecosystems. When we do that we place the emphasis on ourselves and what we want out of this planet instead of remembering that we are co-creators with God. We again, need to remember, that God placed us here to take care of the earth and everything in it, not to abuse it until it can’t handle the abuse and longer.

We need to find ways to work with the land, with the sky, with the water, and with the animals so that we can continue to enjoy this world and all it’s beauty in the way that God wants for us to enjoy it. And I really feel like this sermon is only one half of a sermon, because next week we’ll talk about how we restore the environment and live with it in the ways that God intended for us to live with it. But know that there is restoration and know that here are small and bigs ways that people and organizations, and entire countries like Brazil working to restore creation so that it is the beautiful and healthy world that God intended it to be.

Before we close though, I do want to draw our attention to the closing of the text today. Because despite all the bad things we see talked about in this text we do see a promise from God. God promises to never let go of the covenant that God made with God’s people. The covenant that God made with Jacob, Isaac, and Abraham. God says that even thought the people may be scattered and the land won’t produce it’s yield, God will always be with them and the covenant will always hold firm. God’s promise to be our God and for us to be God’s people will never go away. So while we work to bring balance to our world by providing for the people in it and caring for creation, we must know that God is working in and through it all to bring that balance as well and that God’s love will never leave us. Amen.