Be open to what His creation offers

Rev. Peter E. Bauer

United Church of Christ Minister

Years ago, I served a church in another denomination as a guest preacher. I would usually lead worship this church once a month. There was a very dignified, bright elderly woman who was a member of this congregation. She was terrific, very progressive and always full of ideas and perspectives. She also wanted to have the last say in anything that she did. This was fine and it worked for her in life.

One day I was talking with her, and she observed:

 “You know Pastor I don’t think I’m going to live until I’m 89 years old. I need a lot of dental work done but I’m not going to have it done, after all I won’t be alive.”

I tried to have her reconsider the decision regarding dental work, but she wouldn’t hear of it. This conversation went on for about another two years.

Finally, the church decided to host a big birthday party for her when she turned 89. She was surprised and pleased that the church noted this important milestone. I then asked her.

 “Well, now that you are 89, what are you going to do?”

She looked amused, if not a bit shocked that she had reached this age. Finally, she said, “Well, I better go see the dentist and get all this dental work done.”

Obviously, this prediction regarding the longevity of her life did not come true.

The same thing was operative for another person I knew. They had said that they were not going to live beyond 75. Again, necessities regarding health, relationships, other decisions were deferred. The attitude was “it doesn’t matter, I won’t be alive. “

When this person turned 75, I asked them how they felt.

“I’m mad. I’m angry that I’m alive. I thought for sure that I was going to be dead.”

Now you may wonder why were these two people holding on to these cognitions when there was not any evidence to suggest that their lives would come to an end soon? Was this just a need to have control over one’s life?

Yes, control is something that humans want for their lives. We want to know that we will have a livelihood, a place to live in, access to food and water and be connected to family and friends. We want to have assurance regarding finances, and we want to have faith that the planet we live on can be sustained for us and future generations.

A former President was asked his opinion regarding global warming now referenced as climate change. This individual’s response was:

“Don’t worry about it. We’ll all be dead by then.”

This was hardly a “profiles in courage” moment for this individual.

I’m reminded when a church friend and I were on a tour of the UN in New York. We got disconnected from our tour group. After taking an escalator up to another level we found ourselves in a fancy reception in a room overlooking the East River. The next thing I knew was that I was being introduced to then UN Secretary General Kurt Waldheim.

Yes, Peter Bauer Seminarian from Princeton with a Greenpeace Save The Whales button on my jacket.

A diplomat came over to me, saw my button and said:

“Oh, you’re concerned about the whales. Here in New York, we don’t care about the whales.”

I was shocked by his remark, but at least he was honest.

Jeff Goodell, in his terrific book “The Heat Will Kill You First” (2023), describes with alarming concern the fallout of rising temperatures that are being recorded on Earth.

Goodell writes: “In July 2021 in a 24-hour period the temperature in downtown Portland, Oregon went from 76 degrees to 114 degrees. This was due to a massive heat dome that rested over the Pacific Northwest. No one knows for sure how many people died during the 72 hours of extreme heat in the Pacific Northwest. The official count was 1,000, but heat is a subtle killer and doesn’t always make it on to death certificates” (Pages 7 and 10).

He also notes similar catastrophe that occurred in France during 2003. Here, 15,000 deaths occurred due to extreme heat. Unfortunately, quite a few people, including elderly died in top floor apartments in Paris buildings with tin roofs. They just broiled to death as if they were in an oven.   

Goodell does cite remedies that are being taken to combat extreme heat i.e., pumping chilled water in underground pipes to keep buildings cool, to replace asphalt covering with white surfaces that will deflect heat, pursue aggressively planting more trees in cities and in rural areas throughout the world. These efforts are working to open other possibilities for humans and animals and all of life to deal with dangerous temperature rise.

Yet, Goodell also notes:

“But the unfortunate truth is that right now, the industrialized nations of the world are still dumping thirty-six billion tons or so of CO2 into the atmosphere every year, which is roughly ten times faster than has ever happened in Earth’s known history, even during the mass extinction events.

 “Hurricanes are wiping out cities on the Gulf Coast with ever more muscle, crops are failing, delivery drivers are dropping dead on the job during hot summer days and yet Matthew McConaughey is still doing television commercials for gas-guzzling SUVs. As one social critic describes it: ‘We are confronted simultaneously with our vulnerability to catastrophe and our profound unseriousness in the face of it. It’s as if the fires are starting to spread through Rome and all we can do is argue about the fiddling.’ (Pages 298 and 313).

The closed system mentality would echo the words of our former President.

“Don’t worry about it, we’ll all be dead by then! “

However, as people of faith we are not content to accept the dying despair of closed systems. Our Biblical faith as Christians tells us that there are always openings, opportunities to move out of the traps of despondency into the open fields of hope and renewal.

So where are you now? Where am I now? Are we to be content living within systems that are closed, unwilling to incorporate new information, new insight, new wisdom or do we want to be a part of co-creating open systems where new energy, new life and new transformation can be realized?

It’s our choice.

May we be open to all that God’s creation can give to us.

May it be so.

Rev. Peter E. Bauer is a United Church of Christ minister. He has been a regular contributor to the Huffington Post and Medium.Com. He currently serves as the Intentional Interim Minister of Touchstone Community Church (United Church of Christ) in Boerne.