Approaching Burn-out Ten Years after the Earth Summit
by Elizabeth Sedlins

If the vision of the Earth Summit in Rio a decade ago was to ignite a flame of compassion in the human heart for the earth and its people, linked to informed action that would lead to a sustainable future, I can report that a spark from the flame caught fire in the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia. It kindled enthusiastic discussions at our first-ever diocesan conference on the environment in July 1992 and inspired the mission of our newly-appointed Diocesan Committee on the Stewardship of Creation formed that August, 1992.

We were a small, but dedicated group of Episcopalians — lay people, clergy and a bishop — who came together ten years ago for the five-day conference entitled, "Seeking God’s Face in Creation: A Theology for the Ecological Crisis." We gathered at Shrine Mont, our diocesan conference center in the Appalachian foothills, referred to as "the jewel in the crown of the Diocese of Virginia." The person who would become the first chair of our diocesan committee, Mr. Charles Allen, carried the Rio Summit’s blueprint for action, Agenda 21, under his arm wherever he went, vowing to read all 800 pages of it.

Fanning the flames of our curiosity about faith and the environment (a new concept to most of us) were brilliant theologians and teachers like Dr. Joan Martin-Brown, the Rt. Rev. Robert Atkinson, the late Rev. Dr. Charles Price, and Rev. Dr. Frederick Quinn. We studied scripture "with new glasses" and discovered it full of teachings about the inextricable link between humanity and nature. We probed our Anglican tradition and Celtic roots for ancient wisdom that could speak to our modern ecological crisis. We sang hymns full of the joy of God’s creation and prayed for strength and knowledge that would help us preserve it. The sense that this was an opportune moment for us and our church — that we stood on the threshold of something profoundly significant — was pervasive.

The Rio Summit and the Shrine Mont conference gave us the spark of inspiration we needed in the early years of our diocesan committee. We wanted to spread the word about our role as stewards of God’s creation and the urgent need for our church to lead in this effort. (The image of Olympic torch-bearers comes to mind… passing the torch from parish to parish.) We successfully identified a person in nearly every parish to serve as liaison to the committee. We produced newsletters and provided resources to assist them in forming stewardship of creation ministries in their parishes. In 1996, our Diocesan Executive Board listed as one of the Diocese of Virginia’s priorities: "educating the Diocese about the stewardship of creation."

By then we had a respectable track record of sponsoring annual conferences around the theme of theology, science and the environment, and continued to organize them through the 1990s. They were generally held at Virginia Theological Seminary (one was at the University of Virginia) and brought together many of the best presenters in the field of science/religion: Biblical scholars, theologians, climate change scientists, energy experts, a "green" architect, an astronaut and a delegate to the Rio Summit, to name but a few. Each conference served as fuel for that original "spark" of inspiration. Words such as those of Joan Martin-Brown reminded us of our special role in this unique time: "What better time for you than to be part of a renaissance that re-connects people, scientific knowledge and survival — within an ethical, moral and spiritual framework?" She also left us with a haunting thought: "The demise of creation allows no exit."

Our diocesan bishop, Peter Lee, spoke at our second annual conference in April 1995. He challenged us to rediscover the "priestly role of human beings in serving the Creator by caring for the creation," and asked that we "search deeply and prayerfully for what is already present in our tradition; a deep and lasting affirmation of God’s sovereignty over all that is and a powerful understanding of cosmic salvation as the sovereign God’s redemption of the entire creation wrought through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord."

At our conference in 1998, the dean of the School of Architecture at the University of Virginia at that time, William McDonough, delivered one of our conferences’ most thought-provoking speeches regarding a sustainable future. As an internationally recognized architect, he brought the perspective of a designer to the discussion of sustainability. He, too, noted the critical role of the faith community: that of "imagining a new way of being."

He suggested that instead of trying to live our lives with less guilt, trying each day to be "less bad," "…we have to imagine what 100% good looks like. It means we have to accept the world for what it is — as a joyous, abundant place, rather than a world of destitute limits."

"What has to happen now, and why your work is so critical to us, is that we have to imagine a new way of being. We have to imagine what a sustainable world might look like, in order for us to move toward it," McDonough said. He suggested that instead of trying to live our lives with less guilt, trying each day to be "less bad," what we should be thinking "is that we’re only 10% sustainable, tomorrow, let’s try to be 11. That means we have to imagine what 100% good looks like. It means we have to accept the world for what it is — as a joyous, abundant place, rather than a world of destitute limits. We have to celebrate the abundance of good things… the abundance of solar energy… the abundance of species… the abundance of songbirds. We have to celebrate the abundance, instead of limits, so we can celebrate — in a spiritual way — this great drive that lets us keep getting up in the morning and keep moving forward and having hope and optimism — a strategy of hope." This is a man who designs furniture that can safely decompose in a forest and buildings with gardens on their roofs.

Looking back over the decade since our diocesan committee was formed (I have been its chair for the last six years), I see much that we have accomplished. There is growing acceptance and interest in stewardship of creation as an integral part of our faith, and less encountering of the view that this is somehow suspicious and possibly pagan! More parishes are getting involved: recycling and energy-efficiency programs are increasing. (One of our committee members owns a solar-powered home. It was "on display" on the Mall in Washington, DC on Earth Day last year, and re-located to western Loudoun County, Virginia.) We have initiated a "revolving fund" of money through the diocese to assist parishes in their energy efficiency efforts. We are conducting energy audits of church buildings. We participate in more adult education forums and parish retreats, exploring the connection between caring for the earth and our faith. Committee members are regularly invited to speak to parishes about the committee and share resources available to assist their ministries. We know this is a slow, on-going process and are committed to helping parishes in whatever way they request.

Our most difficult — and in my opinion, most important — challenge is how to engage and support clergy in preaching about the growing threats to God's creation and the need for people of faith to understand what is at stake and what their options are.

I have, however, the sense that we are reaching a limit. Our most difficult — and in my opinion, most important — challenge is how to engage and support clergy in preaching about the growing threats to God's creation and the need for people of faith to understand what is at stake and what their options are. I am concerned that parishes actively working on this ministry will not be able to sustain it without the prophetic words of their priest encouraging and supporting them. I know of a few ministries that are approaching burn-out, and some have difficulty getting off the ground at all. Although more and more clergy seem to appreciate what this ministry is about — and even the urgency of it — there continues to be silence from our pulpits in this regard.

So the challenge seems to me at this point, how to bring the "spark" of inspiration to clergy. The committee is considering ideas such as: requesting that the theme of Christian earth stewardship be included in the agenda of clergy retreats; identifying interested clergy and inviting more of them to serve on the Committee; providing clergy with a packet of sample sermons and theological papers; and encouraging our bishops to regularly include the importance of this ministry in their communications with clergy. We will actively pursue these avenues.

For the Episcopal Church — or simply a diocese within it — to take a leadership role in building a sustainable future, it needs to help others see that belief in our Creator God is not compatible with a disrespect for creation. It must help forge a "new way of being" and recognize that "the demise of creation allows no exit." A growing number of us in the Diocese of Virginia are committed to this task (with or without clergy support). We are believers in the wisdom of Margaret Mead who said, "Never doubt that a group of people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." And we look to the UN World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg to provide another spark of inspiration to sustain in our faith communities a passionate desire to love and preserve "this fragile earth, our island home."

Elizabeth Sedlins has been active in the stewardship of creation ministry since the Rio Summit in 1992. In addition to her work with the diocesan committee, she is a member of the national Episcopal Ecological Network (EEN), assisting with the EEN website which is currently under construction and is expected to be launched this Fall.