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Gospel of Green

I’ve talked about this before–my confusion as to why being green and being a Christian is incompatible.  For so it seems.

There is a wonderful article by Meredith Bryan in O Magazine’s July 2010 issue.

It’s called “A Greener Calling.”  It begins, “Windsor Castle, the bucolic weekend retreat of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II and her pack of corgis, has witnessed the plague, beheadings, and centuries of state dinners, but it’s surely never seen this: a procession of bearded Sikhs in orange turbans, bald Buddhist monks in habits, Jews in top hats and prayer shawls, Japanese Shintos in white jôes–even a Greek Orthodox archbishop in a black kamilafki hat and floor-length cassock.  On an unseasonably warm day last November, a group of British schoolchildren led this diverse troop from the small town of Windsor through the castle’s Hogwart’s-worthy gate for a vegan feast of stuffed mushrooms and parsnips.  It was all part of “Many Heavens, One Earth,” an event organized by the united Nations and the Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC), designed to promote environmental evangelism among people of faith–the largest international gathering of its kind.”

Can you picture it?  Wouldn’t you have loved to be a part of this fabulous gathering?

I would have.

The article goes on to give lovely examples of people who are changing the world, one act at a time.  Bishop Walter Thomas and his church in Baltimore have taken on water pollution in Africa.  Animal activist and Buddhist, Dekila Chungyalpa defends the Earth’s last tigers.  A devout Jew, Nigel Savage, founded Hazon, a Jewish nonprofit that runs the largest faith-based, community-sustained agriculture program (CSA).

Can I just say that I’m not sure about heaven?  There.  I’ve said it.  I’m not sure it exists, at least in the way we’ve all thought it does.  I think it’s simpler than that.  I’m leaning toward the belief that we’ve been given a new earth and a new heaven right now, and we’re supposed to be keeping it up.  Except we’re doing a miserable job of it.

That’s why I love it that there are people out there, equally as concerned about our environment.  And guess what?  They’re believers!  Who knew?

Yes, I know.  Can you believe it?  I’ve lumped all those people, coming from different religious affiliations, under the title of “believers.”

That’s what I believe.

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