Page 4 - Presbyterian Connection

Connection
CARING FOR CREATION
Joining God as Global Covenant-Partners
4 SUMMER 2021
PRESBYTERIAN
presbyterian.ca
Enifa Masambelo and her grandmother sit on rubble of grandmother’s home that was destroyed by the flooding from Cyclone Idai in Malawi. PHOTO CREDIT: CFGB/SHAYLYN MC- MAHON
ter villages or backyards.
I wonder whether another image
from Genesis 1-3 might help. God joins humans as covenant-partners. In turn, humans relate to each other as covenant-partners. There is a constant refrain running through the Old Testament that finds full ar- ticulation in the New when Jesus says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” and “Love your neighbour as yourself” (Mat- thew 22:36–40). Loving God and loving your neighbour intertwine. We sometimes call this the double love ethic, but I prefer the term covenant- partner ethic.
Environmentalists have asked us to love the earth by being stewards. The assumption is that if we steward our small part, act locally, then the whole will be better off, think globally. This has not happened in relation to climate change and, in fact, this focus on our local part might actu- ally distract us from the larger global problem. I wonder if we need to fo- cus on loving one another?
If I love Thom, then I will change my actions. But love only happens when I see and hear and serve another per- son. Love needs a partner. If I never meet another person, like Thom, then my love stays abstract. It is easier to love the idea of another human than to actually love a person. The image of covenant-par tner is something that Christians offer to the environmental cause. We claim to be brothers and sisters, covenant-par tners, with peo- ple all around the world. We seek soli- darity with others in a relationship or in a covenant-par tnership with God, not in a problem like climate change. The key question becomes, “How are we, as individuals and as a church, forging real covenant-par tnerships with God and our people worldwide?” Once we answer that, we move to- ward solutions for our common envi- ronmental problems.
Extensive flooding to a home after Cyclone Idai.
By the Rev. Dr. Blair Bertrand, PCC International Ministries staff serving in theological education in Malawi
When I moved to Malawi (along with my family) as International Ministries staff with The Presbyterian Church in Canada to serve the Church of Cen- tral Africa Presbyterian (CCAP), we lived in a house the PCC owns that is built on land owned by the CCAP. This arrangement of owning the house but not the land is common in Malawi. The long-time gardener at the house, Thom, once came to me with a real-estate problem. He had
inherited a property but wanted to sell it so he could buy one closer to his home. Lots of difficulties ensued. My solution was to confirm who held title to the property, an idea foreign to Thom. Resolution came when the Vil- lage Headman, the leader designated for that area, stepped in. The village held title because, in Malawi, land is owned collectively but stewarded in- dividually.
The opposite is true in Canada. I hold title to a property with a house on it. I can do what I want with the house and land provided I don’t break the agreed upon restrictions. I
can sell it, mortgage it, live in it, rent it, or do whatever I want provided I don’t break the covenant that I signed when purchasing it. That means no bright pink garage doors for me till 20 years after the initial sale. Not really a loss, I’m not a big fan of pink, for the benefit of owning my very own garage. Land is owned individually but stewarded collectively.
Neither of these arrangements combats climate change well be- cause the climate is global not local. A village in Malawi can steward its land but that doesn’t mean they can change the rain patterns or stop cy- clones. Thom can tell you when the rainy seasons changed. It is subtle but significant and more and more unpredictable. By themselves, col- lective action by a village, even a country like Malawi, cannot change weather patterns. No matter how good they are as stewards, they are still powerless against climate change.
Here in Canada, I can make my lo- cal situation liveable but still continue to contribute to climate change. In my town, a petition went around to stop a new warehouse going in next to a residential area. One thousand transport trucks a day! Too much! Not in my backyard! Yet, the delivery trucks that circle my neighbourhood, bringing goods purchased online and produced in far-flung places need to get loaded somewhere. We can’t
connect the 1000 transport trucks with our online shopping patterns be- cause we focus on our little piece of land and what is good for it. When I am a good steward of my land, I un- intentionally harm yours.
For the past few decades, Chris- tians have used the image of a “stew- ard” to help think about environmen- tal ethics. Based on Genesis 1–3, where God gives humans responsi- bility to tend to the earth, this ethic has focused on the human-creation relationship. I steward this place that God gives me. The shortcoming to this image though is that I can be a good steward of my place and still not be able to stop climate change. “Think globally, act locally” doesn’t lead to a better world. It leads to bet-
While international mission staff returned home at the start of the pandemic, Presbyterians Sharing continues to support Blair Bertrand as he carries on with his work from Canada in his role as Malawi Liaison with the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian in Blantyre Synod.