Tenth Anniversary Musings
by Carla Valentine Pryne

1992 was a year of a great many beginnings — beginnings of great hope and promise. The year that marked the birth of the Earth Summit also was the year that other efforts of concern and hope were born.

People of faith, in the Episcopal tribe and beyond, had for a long time been making the connection between their practice of the faith and their love of creation. 1992 was the year that the institutional Church committed to add institutional resources to help network and grow that work.

The Episcopal Church, USA created a national "Environmental Stewardship Team," which was born as a handful of folk from 15 dioceses came together and, with almost a sense of ecstasy, found company in a ministry in which they were passionate. In most cases, this ministry had been carried out alone in their respective regions, "isolated" in a way that we find unimaginable only ten years later. Now the Internet and email routinely connect us to people of like interests all over the world; but then, doing this work in the Church indeed felt like a voice crying out in the wilderness.

The Earth Summit was many things, but one was: it was a handy tool in justifying to the churches that God’s creation was worthy of more mention than in the first words of the Nicene Creed.

The Origins of Earth Ministry

1992 was also the birth of Earth Ministry, a Seattle-based Christian environmental ministry. What began as a glimmer in the heart of three friends walking on a beach (Jim and Ruth Mulligan and myself) is now very much a reality, and, in some sense, a dream come true.

Perhaps the most remarkable thing about the early days of what became Earth Ministry was that in the beginning, a handful of us believed we could do it, even though we had no idea yet of what "it" was. In a sense, we had faith in some things that were as yet unseen, and we were obedient to that faith. The faith itself was grounded not so much in specific ideas, as in our personal experience of God in the created order. We had a deep conviction that it was important to connect the work and prayer of the church to the environmental realities of our time, and a passionate desire to connect people of like mind to one another. We wanted to do so in a way that was joyful, hopeful, even fun–in short, through a community that might be an antidote to despair, denial, or the inevitably short-lived saving-the-world strategies.

Thus, for these ten years, we have been on an adventure, a pilgrimage, but one not of individuals as much as of a community. In our earliest brochure (the infamous draft brochure that had many printings) we called the work "Earth Ministry: connecting people with the creation." And indeed, how people came, and connected! Within weeks, some extraordinary people came forward, happy to know we existed. A word often heard in those days was finally. Finally, the church was going to lead us in prayer about these matters…. Finally the church was going to begin to exercise the theological, moral, and spiritual leadership that only it could provide…. Finally the church might visibly recognize that experiencing God in creation did not make one a pantheist. And so we became, one by one, a community, reflected in the very language we used–"connecting" people with creation, hosting "gatherings," recruiting and supporting church "Colleagues"–as we discerned God’s purposes for us.

And the pilgrims have not just been Christian. Back in the days when many of the first Earth Ministry board members participated in an Ecology/Spirituality group at St. Mark’s Cathedral, we learned very quickly that some of the most eager attendees of our meetings included writers, activists, environmental professionals, and volunteers, who also were saying finally. Finally they could validate their work as truly a vocation, a calling from God that simply needed naming, blessing, and encouragement.

One woman who had worked with me in other areas over many years said to me "Carla, you haven’t become a fundamentalist, have you?" Oh, the irony, that the very word creation had been so underused in mainstream Christianity that the mention of it conjured up images of fundamentalism!

Unbelievably, ten years have passed. Creation no longer is such a stranger to the language of mainstream denominations, and no longer a foreign concept on the agenda of national judicatories. People can consult many excellent books on theology and spirituality focused on creation. And, perhaps most important, the themes of ecojustice–the inseparability of the needs of nature and the needs of humans, especially those on the economic margins of the nation and the world–are now more a part of mainstream church work.

In congregations it is no longer considered radical or risky to hold St. Francis Day blessings of animals or Earth Day celebrations. Going further, many congregations have successfully incorporated stewardship of creation dimensions within their mission statements. Others brought "‘living lightly on the earth" standards to their parish’s land use, waste stream, and energy flow. And over and over again, we have seen such inspiration, creativity, and continuing vigilance brought to congregations by individuals and committees passionate for the Earth.

All this is good, and to be celebrated. But what also needs to be said is this: the work is often still a struggle and demands a certain vigilance. Keeping this vision before the average congregation has not become any easier over the last decade. And having returned to full-time parish work over the last two years, I have a few observations and some guesses as to why the struggle is still difficult.

Difficulties

A Quarrelsome Church. A recent news clip noted the upcoming retirement of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. George Carey. "The Anglican family is a broad but quarrelsome church that ranges from England to Canada, from Australia to Africa," he observed. Quarrelsomeness describes in part the life of most denominations. Church people expend much energy on internal church issues and disagreements and have inevitably less to give for looking beyond the church. This particularly impacts an area such as the environment, perceived as large and complex.

Survival and Growth. Within the typical congregation–and this was true before the economic downturn of recent months–survival and growth continue to dominate the agenda. For most congregations I know at all well–and none of these are in poor communities–the central efforts of the staff and leadership focus on simply keep things going and maintaining central programs. Typically, churches are chronically understaffed at a support and administrative level. Contributing to this has also been, in recent years, a smaller number of volunteer hours coming from the congregation than was typical ten or twenty years ago. Consequently, ministry for creation efforts often seem like an "extra," likely to happen and keep happening only by the extraordinary efforts of individuals. In the current economic climate, with many parishes struggling to meet bare-bones budgets, mere visibility for this work is likely to be a challenge.

Lifestyle Change. It’s much easier to identify the need for change than to do it. Parishes find it just as hard as individuals, perhaps harder. Turn down the heat? People complain the church is too cold. Cut down on mailings in order to save paper? You worry that’s the reason for the poor turnout at an event. And it’s just easier to get volunteers to clean up after an event if paper and plastic have been used. Over the last two years, I have cringed in making every one of these decisions, myself.

In the ten years since Earth Ministry’s official birth, the country’s self-image has changed enormously… When my older son turned 11, someone asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up. "A millionaire," he replied in a nanosecond. Gee, way to go to embarrass your enviro-priest mom!

It’s hard to remember that only thirty or so years ago, mansions were associated with the comedy show "The Beverly Hillbillies." Now, what with humongous SUV’s, mansions on postage stamp lots, homes jammed with electronics that not long ago could have run a small business, the culture of consumerism has become the norm. Although we are capsizing the Earth’s life systems by our very lives, it has become more countercultural than ever to try to live differently.

Nevertheless, to my way of thinking, here precisely is the opportunity and the invitation to the church as a whole, and in particular to efforts such as Earth Ministry. I was speaking the other day to the Ministry Resource Coordinator of the Diocese of Olympia’s resource center. She makes available hundreds of books, videos, and curricula on every aspect of church life and ministry. Without a doubt, she told me, the most popular resources in her collection in recent months pertain to simplifying lifestyle! What an encouragement for this work! It’s as if, choking on our own lifestyle, people are searching for another way. Although we might hope lifestyle and vision might spontaneously change for love of creation, none of us are in fact pure. A shift of this kind is a beginning, and a good one.

Love Abides

"So faith, hope, love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love." In its beginnings, what would become Earth Ministry was a handful of people who loved. We made a journey we were later to understand as a pilgrimage to Ocean Shores, Washington. There had been an oil spill. Marine life was covered with oil. Volunteers were needed to clean grebes. In a way we barely understood while we were doing it, we went because we loved the animals. And our love for the Earth’s animals connected to our love of God, and we understood, God’s love for us.

I continue to personally find that "think globally, act locally" is a powerful dictum and guideline. South theologically, it invites us to hold in love the concerns of the whole world AND to offer our small mustard seed of work, knowing that the larger work is in God’s hands…

When in doubt, head for what you love. Is there a stream in your neighborhood that you treasure that could use some attention from you and your neighbors? Does starting a farmer’s market get your juices going? Do you feel passionate about songbirds and want to learn about shade-grown coffee? How about an "Earth Tip for the Week" for your parish newsletter? No beginning, however small, is small at all, if offered to the honor and glory of God, and for the love of God.

The work of Christian environmental stewardship is finally about love. It is being struck dumb by the beauty of this good planet, our hearts stirred to a kind of concern that comes only when the impetus is love. We feel weary or discouraged at times, yes, but does a parent ever stop loving a child, even when that love is costly? Most of all, the work is about feeling moved by God’s passionate love for us, surrounding us in all the good gifts of creation about us, and pressing us toward the best work we can muster.

The Rev. Carla V. Pryne is associate rector of Emmanuel Episcopal Church on Mercer Island, Washington. She is also the founding director of Earth Ministry, a 3,000-member organization. Carla’s work with Earth Ministry through the years has been recognized with awards from the National Wildlife Federation and the Seattle Audubon Society, among others. She may be reached by email at carla@emmanuelmi.org