TRUE RICHES

David and Betty Payne retired from Crosslinks in October last year, having been seconded to work with A Rocha International since 2000. A Rocha was founded in 1983 as a biblically based international nature conservation organisation. David and Betty’s article affirms the link between the Gospel and the environment.

We are living in turbulent times, but these are also times of great opportunity for the gospel. People are looking for a new purpose in life. Moral and spiritual concerns are converging with economic and environmental concerns. For decades economic growth has been top of the political agenda. The global credit crunch has changed things. How do we resolve the dilemma of being asked to consume more to boost our economy, while realising that our use of natural resources is unsustainable? Our profligate use of fossil fuels impacts most on the two-thirds poorer world. Climate change threatens the very survival of thousands of species of God's creatures. We are faced with ethical and moral choices, and we know we must change; yet how hard it is to change the way we live. The world says, through science we can know everything; through technology we can do everything; through the market we can possess everything.[Note 1]  God says, "This is what the Lord requires of you: to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with your God".

WHOLENESS

What is God saying to us? Jesus came to bring wholeness in three areas: healing our relationship with God our creator; healing society - our relationships with each other; and healing our relationship with the wider creation. Jesus' parable of the Rich Fool [Note 2]  helps us to understand the meaning of this as it challenges the selfish accumulation of wealth that often lies behind people’s abuse of the environment.

EASE

The rich man's land produced far more crops than he needed. So he built bigger barns to store his grain and his goods and looked forward to a life of ease and luxury. He said to himself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." But his life was cut short and he could not take his goods with him. Why did Jesus tell this story? Looking back to the beginning of the passage, we discover that Jesus was responding to a family dispute over a will. He said to the brothers who were arguing over their father's will, "Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in the abundance of possessions."
Jesus heals our relationship with God. The man was rich, but Jesus called him a fool - in God's sight, he was deluded, he was self-centred and unable to see beyond this world. There is no expression of gratefulness to God, the giver of everything, or prayer about what he should do with the exceptional harvest God had entrusted to him. His only thought was how he could store it all up for himself. He worshipped his possessions in place of God. He also forgot that God could demand his life at any time. In this parable, God in Jesus is calling us to recognise him as Lord, and not be ruled by our desire for wealth.

Jesus brings healing of society. The two brothers were squabbling over how to divide their inheritance. Christians believe that all we have and are is from God, yet we can easily want more than our fair share! In April 2007 Ugandan Bishop Zac Niringiye was invited to give the daily Bible studies to 80 A Rocha [Note 3] leaders from 22 countries meeting in Kenya. Bishop Zac is one of the founders of the A Rocha initiative in Uganda. He began by telling us his great sadness at what had happened the day before he left Kampala: he'd joined thousands of people marching through the city to protest against government plans to allocate land from the Mabira Forest to a sugar cane company. The Mabira Forest is the source of much of Kampala's water supplies and contains rare species of birds and hardwood trees. Was it really necessary to cut down this pristine forest to grow sugar cane? Bishop Zac suggested that the problem in our world today is not poverty, but the cause of poverty - greed: "When we say 'Make Poverty History' we can easily think it's someone else's problem. A more appropriate slogan would be 'Make Greed History', since greed is endemic in Africa as well as the West, and it causes so much damage to both the natural environment and human communities."

RENEWING

Through his death on the cross, Jesus heals our relationship with each other. Those who put their trust in him discover the basis for true restoration - God's renewing power overcomes greed with love and compassion. The good news in the Mabira Forest case was that the Ugandan government listened, and alternative land was found elsewhere for growing sugar cane, with less impact on biodiversity. Was this because God was at work through many people like Bishop Zac, who not only protested but also prayed? What would our life be like if we valued our relationships more than our bank accounts?

Jesus heals our relationship with creation. There is no suggestion that the greedy farmer recognised the source of all his blessings: and yet it was only because of God's gift of sun and earth, rain and plants that he had a harvest at all! A Rocha's Chiltern Gateway project at Lewknor, Oxfordshire, is an example of renewal in the context of God's creation. After many months of prayer and discussions, the vicar and PCC of St Margaret's Church established a partnership with A Rocha, the C of E Primary School and Natural England's Aston Rowant Nature Reserve. Recently the school won an eco-school award for integrating environmental awareness into the curriculum: the pupils meter the amount of energy used in the school each day; they've started a nature club and organic garden, and involved children and parents in village recycling initiatives. Aston Rowant Nature Reserve is perched high on the chalk escarpment either side of the M40 cutting. It has fantastic views over the Oxford plain and it's a great place to watch red kites soaring overhead. In the summer you can walk through acres of wildflowers, including pungent thyme and marjoram and delicate orchids, with butterflies flitting around the flowers. St Margaret's PCC has created a visitor centre at the back of the church with a special display to help visitors and school children to understand the value of the nearby conservation area. As a result, more people are visiting the church and hearing God's word; and more are visiting the nature reserve - to the delight of Natural England! Here is a wonderful example of a village church patiently building relationships in the community, helping people to appreciate God's love for his diverse creation around them, and involving the local community in caring for it.

HOPE

Was the rich fool's hoarding driven by fear of the future? The message about climate change often comes across as doom and gloom. But the message of the Bible is full of hope. The Psalmist said, The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it (24v1). This is God's world - not ours. Despite the damage we cause, God never gives up loving and sustaining his creation and he has promised that when Christ returns he will restore creation to its right glory. [Note 4] But in Christ we can choose to live differently now. God promises that our prayers and actions will be part of his Son's redemptive work. Our whole life becomes a sign of hope.

As we worship the risen Lord Jesus and put him first, he saves us to become "rich towards God", and to live by his Spirit in newness of life as we wait for the New Creation. God's mission includes the renewal of all creation in Christ. [Note 5]

Notes:

1. Dennis Lennon
2. Luke 12:13-21
3. A Rocha (the name is Portuguese for 'The Rock') was established in Portugal in 1983 by Peter and Miranda Harris, Crosslinks mission partners. Now active in 18 countries on five continents, it is an international nature conservation organisation working to show God's love for all creation through practical community-based projects. www.arocha.org
4. Romans 8:18-23
5. Colossians 1:20; Hebrews 1:1-3; Revelation 21:1-5