Hope in the Toxic Wilderness

Lectionary Reflections for the Third Sunday of Advent (A)

By David Selzer

Readings for Advent 3, Year A, Dec. 12, 2004

Isaiah 35:1-10

Psalm 146:4-9

James 5:7-10

Matthew 11:2-11

On the 20th anniversary of the Bhopal, India, chemical plant disaster (Dec. 3, 1984), CBC nightly news' “The National,” did an extensive report on the tragedy. 3,000 people had been killed almost instantaneously on the night that 40 tons of toxic chemical were accidentally released by Union Carbide (the plant is now owned by Dow Chemical). From that time on until today, many thousands more have died or permanently injured, and generations yet to come will still show the disaster through birth defects, stillbirths, and the unbelievable pollution of the land.

20 years later, the chemical plant sits in the middle of the crowded city, almost untouched, with toxic chemical waste still plentiful on its grounds. A guard with a shotgun tries to keep people out, such as the teens who love to challenge each other by sneaking in and scratching their names on the walls, unaware of the danger around them. There was a settlement a few years ago, and now Dow Chemical claims its hands are clean, and the Indian government claims it has done what it could, but the plant – toxic and deadly – is still there.

Bhopal, Chernobyl, Falluja, the Hanford nuclear reactor area, areas here in Western New York that are mounds with vent pipes in case there is a chemical reaction that no one could predict . . . we have created our own wilderness areas more dangerous and desolate than any described in scripture.

Bhopal, Chernobyl, Falluja, the Hanford nuclear reactor area, areas here in Western New York that are mounds with vent pipes in case there is a chemical reaction that no one could predict . . . we have created our own wilderness areas more dangerous and desolate than any described in scripture. The promise of the prophet Isaiah that God will come and make these wilderness areas highways for the people of God seems as fantastic as the people who first heard the prophet's words. Like Jonah, we have the temptation to want to find a high comfortable place and sit and wait for the destruction, wanting to get a view such as portrayed in “The Restaurant at the End of the Universe.”

Yet – there is the promise that what is waste will become what is possible for God. Scripture is relentless in claiming that what is skewed and distorted and deadly will not remain. The toxic wastes, the individual or society that claims that someone else – the other – is less, be they Native or African, or gay or lesbian or bisexual, or female, will not remain. God's power and passion will make the old new, restore what is corrupted, and prepare a highway, a clean highway, straight through the wilderness, artificial or humanly made.

When God comes, people are given back their lives, people are given hope. Violence is transformed into peacemaking, and the mighty and exalted are humbled. The alternative to grim despair is not vengeance but hope, a hope as the Letter of James says, that comes from waiting patiently in confidence for God to act. A more accurate translation of the Matthew text is not “the poor have the Gospel brought to them” but “the poor are made rich, made the Good News of God,” which speaks to the proud, the material rich, and those in power.

In the midst of the despair of Bhopal, there were people with hope. Yes, the chemical plant is still there. Yes, it is still toxic. Yes, there has been little done, and the company claims all is settled. Yet, hearing the people speak and witness to their hope gives the impetus for us to continue working for justice, for a clean environment, for peace. Death never has the last word, even in the midst of disasters.

As Christians we are asked to give our confidence to God who worked through Jesus Christ for a more just society and for healing and loving kindness. We know that ultimately nothing will keep us from God's love – not corporate environmental disasters, not a mad war in Iraq, not hatred of any of the people of God, not the divisions of family or nation or church or world – nothing. In this confidence, we have hope and the energy to continue to transform ourselves and the world.

In the wilderness there shall be springs of fresh water, with all the people of God, with rejoicing, with joy and gladness, with sorrow and sighing gone (Isaiah).

The Rev. David Selzer is the rector of the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd in Buffalo, N.Y. He is currently an adjunct faculty at Bexley Hall (an Episcopal seminary in Rochester, N.Y.), a trainer in the Congregational Development Institute , and a police chaplain for the Buffalo Police Department. David may be reached by email at dos403@aol.com .