The Good Shepherd and Climate Change

The past several days have been a sad time for Boston, West Texas, and for all of us.  The horrendous evil act of the two explosions at the Boston Marathon, the explosion and fire at the fertilizer plant in West, Texas, and the failure of our U.S. Senate to enact even the most modest gun safety regulation combine as a travesty of justice and an affront to respect and dignity for human life.  We value a free and open society, but with events like these, what are we to do?

In times of grief and loss people of faith often turn to the psalms.  We read one of those psalms today: ‘The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not be in want…. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

The 23^rd Psalm is one that almost everyone knows.  It is read at funerals and it is used every year on this Fourth Sunday of the Easter season.  We refer to Jesus as the Good Shepherd, and the Bible often uses the imagery of shepherd and sheep.  It is a very common image.

In the wake of last week’s tragedies with the deaths of three people at the Boston marathon, several more in Texas, and many others with horrendous injuries, we pray to the Good Shepherd to care for everyone who has lost arms or legs, hearing, or sustained internal injuries.  We remember their families, all the runners in the Boston marathon, the city and everyone shaken by this evil deed.  It was a tragic and a malicious act.  We also grieve with the victims of the fertilizer plant explosion in Texas. One of the media reports stated, “The blast shook the ground with the strength of a small earthquake and leveled homes, apartments, a school and a nursing home.”

We need to remember that the Shepherd cares for his sheep.  If the sheep are lost he searches them out and brings them back.  The Good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.  Jesus’ disciples were commissioned to feed and tend the sheep.  All baptized Christians are called to follow Christ, who is the Shepherd, and to care for one another.

In the current issue of the Christian Century magazine, Robert Rimbo, the Lutheran Bishop of Metropolitan New York, writes about the Shepherd.  He asks, “What is the main characteristic of the Good Shepherd?  Care.  Thank God, he cares.  He could have left us to ourselves, but he took on our flesh, grew in it, faced temptation in it and died in the most extraordinary act of love in human history – not only for sheep like us who behaved, but for each solitary one who wandered (and wanders) off.  He doesn’t beat that wanderer with his crosier.  He lays him or her on his shoulder, brings the person home and throws a party.”

As I read and reflect on the 23^rd Psalm the image of the Good Shepherd who leads the sheep and cares for them, continues: “He makes me lie down in green pastures and leads me beside still waters.”  This verse is an invitation to think of our spring season and the exquisite sight of blossoms and flowers, and clear flowing water in our streams and rivers. It is in stark contrast to the tragedy of the moment, and it serves to give us hope in the midst of suffering and loss.

Alongside all of this, there is another event that commands our attention and action.  Tomorrow marks the 43^rd anniversary of Earth Day, a day founded on April 22^nd in 1970.  It was the beginning of the environmental movement.  This year the theme for Earth Day is “The Face of Climate Change.”  For many people, climate change is little more than a vague and remote reality, a problem far into the future that our grandchildren may have to solve.  It is too easy to think of a lazy Spring or summer day and enjoy all the surrounding beauty.  We can easily be swayed into thinking that climate change is some far-off reality that we don’t need to think about.  We feel removed from its accumulating effects.  

However, changes in our climate have a very real impact on people, animals, ecosystems and natural resources.  We are interdependent beings and these things are all necessary.  When it comes to climate change all one has to do is look at the rapidly melting icebergs in the northern Arctic region, or observe the erosion of our beaches along the Atlantic seacoast.

Forty three years ago 20 million Americans took to the streets, parks, and auditoriums around the country to demonstrate for a healthy, sustainable environment in massive rallies.  Thousands of colleges and universities organized protests against the deterioration of the environment.  Groups that had been fighting against oil spills, polluting factories and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, freeways, the loss of wilderness, and the extinction of wildlife suddenly realized they shared common values.  The first Earth Day led to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts.

The struggle for a clean environment of energy sources, fresh air, clean water, safe produce, and fish and livestock that are free of chemical or genetic modification, continues with increasing urgency.  The damage of climate change is becoming more observable almost daily.  The observance of Earth Day has led to remarkable development in our knowledge and understanding of the consequences we face if we do not take care of our environment and natural resources.  It has led to more action to protect our planet’s land, water, air, wildlife, and us as human beings.

In today’s gospel the Good Shepherd says, “My sheep hear my voice.  I know them, and they follow me.  I give them eternal life, and they will never perish.”  We follow the Good Shepherd by caring for all who have lost friends and relatives in the events of the past week; and we care for all of creation just as God cares for us.  As we shall say in our Eucharistic Prayer this morning, “At your command all things came to be: the vast expanse of interstellar space, galaxies, suns, the planets in their courses, and this fragile earth, our island home.”  It is up to us to care for God’s creation, to rebuild our nation of peace, justice and grace, and to support everyone who works to bring about positive change.  Amen.