Presbyterians for Earth Care webinar looks at real faith in a sinful world

Creation Justice Ministries’ ‘Plastic Jesus’ has a lot to teach us in the run-up to Earth Day

by Mike Ferguson | Presbyterian News Service

Photo by Dustan Woodhouse via Unsplash

LOUISVILLE — During the most recent webinar offered by Presbyterians for Earth Care, available here, Avery Davis Lamb introduced participants to Plastic Jesus.

Lamb is co-executive director of a partner of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Creation Justice Ministries, which developed “Plastic Jesus: Real Faith in a Sinful World,” a prayer, education and worship resource that churches can use in the lead-up to Earth Day on April 22. He called his March 14 talk to PEC “From Plastic Pollution to Environmental Justice.”

After explaining the dangers posed by too much plastic and the inadequacy of even dedicated recycling, Lamb turned to what all of this means for the church. “We’re going to think theologically about plastics for a minute,” he said. “Let’s talk about sin. Some of my communities [Creation Justice Ministries counts 39 denominational partners] get a little uncomfortable when we talk about sin. But with plastics, we can talk about sin on an individual and systemic level, and their interplay.”

Sin is individual, Lamb noted, but “it’s also the harm that communities and societies and economies do to other communities and society, and harm that is produced within an economy or because of an economy, and it affects the vulnerable and the ecosystems around us.”

He encouraged everyone to think about and act on their own plastic consumption, but at the same time to remember that “we swim in the water of plastic pollution.”

Avery Davis Lamb

Think of the sin of idolatry, Lamb suggested. Many people see plastic as “a solution to our problems, or we idolize technology as the solution to our plastics crisis,” he said. Rather than believing that’ll get us out of this problem, it’s more helpful to look inward “or toward our economies and the ways we have structured society and make the change there.”

Paul’s revelation in Philippians 4:11-13 about being content with little or plenty is “a superhuman skill Paul has developed that he’s sharing with us here. That’s something we can learn,” Lamb said, “to practice contentment, to get away from idolatry and the accumulation of stuff and be content with what we have — and certainly be content in our lives without single-use plastics.”

The free “Plastic Jesus” resource includes sermon starters and “helpful bits of scriptural wisdom” for use in Bible study or sermons, Lamb said. The look at Exodus 32:1-6 is called “The New Golden Calf.” While studying Psalm 23 — a lectionary text for April 21 — Lamb suggested a question can be, “What does it mean to be led beside still waters when the waters are filled with microplastics?”

“Pushing Our Limits” in “Plastic Jesus” is based on the Tower of Babel account found in Genesis 11:3-4. Lamb wondered: “Are we making a tower of plastics and trying to save ourselves?”

Plastic Jesus (Courtesy of Creation Justice Ministries)

“Plastic Jesus” also features three original songs with sheet music: “Plastic Jesus,” “Creation is Waiting for Us” and “Fall in Love with the Earth.”

“Plastic Jesus” also has possible action steps, including support for the proposed REDUCE Act, for Rewarding Efforts to Decrease Unrecycled Contaminants in Ecosystems Act.

Other possible actions include organizing community cleanups, donating to support communities impacted by pollution, advocating for divestment from fossil fuel and petroleum companies, and engaging local and state governments to seek a ban on plastic bags.

Lamb credited Jessica Maudlin, associate for Sustainable Living and Earth Care Concerns in the Presbyterian Hunger Program, for playing “a crucial role for bringing this resource to life.”

“Plastic Jesus: Real Faith in a Sinful World” can be downloaded for free at creationjustice.org. (Image courtesy of Creation Justice Ministries)

Maudlin called it “a joy and an honor” to work with Creation Justice Ministries staff “to bring this to life and to learn myself about some of the plastic pollution issues I wasn’t aware of.”

The Rev. Bruce Gillette, PEC’s moderator, introduced Dr. C. Mark Eakin, who discussed Overture 14, “On Becoming Free from Plastic Pollution,” for consideration this summer by the 226^th General Assembly. The overture, supported by PEC and sponsored by the Presbytery of Susquehanna Valley, reflects action taken “by our sisters and brothers in the United Church of Christ last year,” Eakin said. “This is a real act of solidarity.”

It’s “not a mandate, but there are things we should be doing,” Eakin said, and they’re included in the overture. Among them is educating congregations and mid councils, moving away from single-use plastic, “going to paper as much as we can, and advocating for actions at the state and federal levels,” Eakin said.

During a question-and-answer session following Lamb’s presentation, one participant asked about how to approach church leaders who are making purchasing decisions and choose plastic utensils, for example, for use during coffee fellowship and church potlucks.

The first thing to do, Lamb said, is “to start a conversation about why it matters. Start with Scripture and the theological framing,” he suggested. “If we come to a shared understanding there is a plastics crisis, we can engage one another in finding a solution.”

A lot of “green teams” in churches around the country “are prone to go straight for the action instead of doing education first,” Lamb said. It can be more helpful to see “if we can get the pastor to preach about it and then start introducing some solutions.”

“Jesus taught us to love our neighbors,” Gillette said, “and loving our neighbors means not polluting the world with these materials we will have with us forever.”

PEC’s next webinar, on Earth Day worship resources, will start at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time on April 10. It features the Rev. Dr. Janet Adair Hansen. Learn more about the webinar here.