Honk Honk
October 25, 2004
Dear Friends
For the last 20 years Thursday has been ‘dustbin day’ but my life
is about to change! In the name of eco-friendliness: paper, garden waste,
recyclables and non recyclable waste will be collected in blue, green,
grey and orange bags on Fridays. Changing the day? The cheek of it!
Having started my career 30 years ago as an ecology conscious Biology teacher, and having more recently preached about ecology stewardship to creationist sabbatarians, this development ought to be embraced with fervour. But ‘thinking before binning’ comes as an irritating imposition. I find it convenient to indiscriminately dump my waste in a black bag at the foot of the garden, in the same way that I find it convenient to dump my sins in a ‘forgive all’ prayer at the foot of the cross. Maybe a process that required me to group and submit my sins into reusable, fixable, recyclable and non-recyclable behaviours might not be such a bad thing? Thinking before sinning! Now there is an imposition.
Whilst on the ‘eco’ theme, I came across the idea of eco-leadership this month in the book ‘The shaping of things to come – innovation and mission for the 21st Century Church’. The suggestion is that a pioneering church will behave as a responsive, dynamic, diverse living organism connected and interrelated in life rather than a series of machined cathedral clones. Churches will spawn new communities bearing the gospel and mission heritage of their parents with regenerated individuality. To use the other ‘eco’ word; the church will find a resource balance that makes it perpetually self sufficient with a surplus to project growth into new situations.
A key concept is that of being an incarnational ministry in contrast to an attractional ministry: Christian presence in every situation throughout society rather than drawing people away from society. Christianity cannot be practised in isolation, like ecology and economics everything happens in relationship to everything else.
It concludes with an illustration that describes the primal impact of wild geese flying over the heads of tame farmyard geese. The land lubbers honk, acknowledging the purpose of their natural being. The task of eco-leaders is to remind over-churched, grace-stuffed Christians that they were born again for a God given purpose. Our natural / kingdom environment is on a higher plane.
Thank you for the care that you take in sorting out the wastage in people’s lives, and the restoration offered through your specific gift in Christ Jesus. May God continue to bless.
Honk, honk
Victor Pilmoor
Treasurer