2008. 4. 20 Rev. Kim, Young Bong

“Festival of God’s Creation” week designated by UMC
"Butterfly Effect of Faith”
Genesis 1:26-31

1.

We are going to view a documentary before I begin my sermon today. This is a Preview of the documentary made by Al Gore who was the failed Democratic Presidential Candidate in the year 2000. It is entitled, “An Inconvenient Truth.” Al Gore received Nobel Peace Prize for this documentary.

In the year 2000, Al Gore could have fought to the end with George Bush as the outcome of the presidential election was undecided. But he chose to accept the defeat for the interest of the nation. His decision was quite different from the two current democratic candidates who are fiercely attacking each other to get the party nomination. After his decision, Al Gore dedicated himself for the environment using his clout and experience as Vice President. When viewed in historical terms, Al Gore probably contributed much more to the world than he would have had he become the president of the United States.

The truth about the world environment uncovered by many experts is indeed inconvenient. We feel frustrated and uncomfortable when we view this documentary as if having a nightmare. Because the world environment has been destroyed beyond repair and it seems inevitable that the world be destroyed within a few decades. Some use analogy that the world environment at present time is like a terminal cancer patient. Many experts predict we could only slow the process but not able to reverse current deterioration toward the terrible end.

2.

What can we do about this? It is a very serious matter to believers like us. For we are entrusted with the responsibility to manage the world, the great creation of our God. We have the responsibility to care, manage, and preserve this beautiful world, God’s creation for now and to hand over to generations to come. Therefore, we must face the inconvenient truth and try to find ways we can do to deal with this problem.

We can find the responsibility in today’s scripture in the book of Genesis. God creates man at the end after creating all living creatures. Then, He said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” (verse 28). It means that God will entrust every living creatures to man. The real problem is that the humans misunderstood God’s command.

We humans have not been prudent or diligent in developing, managing, and preserving the world our God created. The world’s environment has been steadily destroyed since the Industrial Revolution and the process has been much more rapid during the last 50 years. The United States and Western nations have to bear larger share of responsibility for the problem. These countries were developed and progressed on Christian religion and its value. They misunderstood God’s commandment, “Rule over the land and every living creatures.” as if they had a license to destroy and pillage the environment.

Water Brueggemann, one of the most renowned theologians in the study of the Old Testament, explains that the commandment to “Rule over the land and every living creature” is like a good shepherd who cares for his flock of sheep. He explains it is our responsibility, God’s commandment to care and help all living creatures live in harmony, develop its fullest potential rather than exploit and abuse the plants and animals. It is our responsibility as God’s steward. The dire situation we are in now is due to the fact that many people including those with faith, destroyed, exploited, and pillaged the environment for many years in order to satisfy one’s own greed.

Today is the Sunday for “Festival of God’s Creation” as designated by The United Methodist Church. On this day, I would like to renew our responsibility as good steward for His creation. It is a special commission God entrusted to believers of Him. It is an honorable task. God, the creator expects all his followers pay attention to, care for, and do one’s best effort. It is for the sake of us and for the sake of our children. Just imagine when our descendants will have to fight for clean water and clean air with tooth and nail. It is not a trivial matter.

3.

What must we do then? There are things a Nation must do, a society or a community must do as well as an individual must do in his every day life. We will be able to overcome the dark future when the efforts from all sides come together. I won’t touch on things that should be done by each country. We can leave those tasks to leaders like Al Gore and support what they do. I’d like to share things we can do as a church and as an individual.

You have two brochures along with today’s church bulletin. I am introducing the brochures as an example for what a church can do to preserve our environment. One has a title as Soomokjang (Burial with a tree) in Korean and the other is written in English as, “EcoEternity Forest.” The EcoEternity is a new project, started by ‘Camp Highroad” which is jointly managed by VA UMC Arlington and Alexandria Districts. The Camp Highroad is a training center located in a large forest in Middleburg area, 40 miles west of here. The EcoEternity project utilizes trees and forest which belong to the training center and it is to provide financial support for the Camp Highroad project and at the same time, it introduces environment friendly burial option to the people in the US.

Soomokjang (burial with trees) started in Germany. It was introduced in Korea and became quite popular. Soomokjang refers to the burial of a deceased under a tree after being cremated. The container for the ashes made of dextrin, and it is slowly biodegraded and provides nutrition for the tree in due time. The loved ones feel the love and tenderness for the tree as if they are meeting the deceased. The deceased depart from this world, leave nothing, but give everything to the tree.

The Soomokjang (Burial with tree) concept can be a great solution for Germany or Korea with small territory. It is not a serious issue yet to a large country like the United States but it is a worthwhile idea for those who have keen interest in preserving the environment. The EcoEternity in the Camp Highroad is the first of its kind in the United States. A family or a whole community buries its members under a tree leased for 99 years. Burying this way reduces burial expenses and good for the environment.

4.

The Christians feel uncomfortable of cremation due to their belief in resurrection. They probably think that we have to have our remains in tact for our resurrection in time of Christ’s Second Coming. For this reason, the Christians insist upon their own cemetery and an underground burial. This reminds me of the words Jesus said to Sadducees who did not believe in the Resurrection. He replied, “You are in error because you do not know the scriptures or the power of God.” (Matthew 22:29) We can be free from this obsessive thinking when we fully understand the scriptures, understand the power of the Almighty and have a basic knowledge in science.

I have a few items to share with you on this subject. First of all, the essential elements in our body from the time of birth and the time of death are not the same according to my basic knowledge of science. The cell in our body is being recycled continuously, therefore, every few years, the old disappears and new cell develops in our body. It is a misunderstanding that the body cells at the time of our death are the same essential cells we were born with.

Second, a deceased body can not be preserved forever under the ground. It is impossible unless one knows and uses mummery of ancient Egypt. An entombed corpse disintegrates into dust within 100 years to maximum 200 years. What would have happened to St. Peter and St. Paul who died two thousand years ago if the resurrection is possible only to those with preserved body?

Third. The resurrection does not mean we come back in our original body form. We know the body of Christ disappeared before the resurrection. But we must not conclude, from this example, that we can not be raised from death without a body. You will understand this point in the scripture that the resurrected Christ was biologically quite different from the body of Christ on the Cross. St. Paul called it, “It is raised a spiritual body.” (1 Corinthian 15:44) The raised body contains some common substance but it contained more than the common substance. The raised body changed into something we can not comprehend within our knowledge. The substance in ‘the spiritual body’ is not intrinsic elements but incidental elements.

Fourth, we must believe that God created the heaven and earth from nothing. Are we not underestimating God’s power when we are concerned about God not able to raise us because we did not have our bodily elements? He, the almighty God, will get anything He needs from trees, animals, grass and flowers in order to raise our body, if He needed. God’s creation will continue its cycle till the end of the world.

5.

Someone might ask, “Are you talking about Transmigrationism?” It is not so. The Transmigrationism in Buddhism and Hinduism speaks of a person circulating in various forms of life into eternity. When freed from this circulation, it is called deliverance or salvation. We don’t believe the same in Christianity. In Christianity, when one is born on this earth, one transforms into a lofty being but never regresses to a lowly. What I mentioned earlier, it refers not to one’s intrinsic element but one’s flesh. Our flesh consisted of numerous cells continuously changes through recycling and it is absorbed to tress, grass, animals, flowers, etc after we die. It is not a theology but truth based on science.

Therefore, we don’t have to feel uncomfortable or hesitant for cremation. We can gladly provide nutrition to trees if we indeed believe in the creator and believe in the resurrection. In Korea, people scatter the ashes in rivers and in the air. We heard that the ashes pollutes the rivers and pollutes the air. On the other hand, the ashes placed under the ground become good fertilizers for the trees. I heard the following story from one of our elders. He had his beloved dog cremated at an animal hospital and buried the urn by rose bushes. He was able to enjoy abundant blossoms next 2-3 years and realized the ashes were a good source of nutrition for the rose bushes.

A few years ago, our church purchased cemetery plots for our members. It was a good thing and we have about 30 plots remaining. Inquries can be made to the church if anyone is interested. Along with the church cemetery, I also have a wish to have “KUMC garden” in the Camp Highroad. I have been wishing that a family, or close friends or cell group members could lease a tree, build a place for prayer and share facilities. The KUMC garden will be our testament to become His true steward of the world He created. I am going to ask your opinion in the future, so, please read and give some thoughts.

I pray that we, the KUMC, will pay a close attention to the environment issues. I sincerely hope that our church will fulfill the holy and glorious responsibility in managing God’s creation. It is not an easy or simple matter. It asks a lot of sacrifices but we have to face it head on, not a matter to turn our heads away. Who will take the lead if our church neglects the problems?

6.

Now let’s consider what we can do as individuals. It is not only inconvenient to live a life of a good steward but it also requires sacrifices. Sometimes it will cost money. I believe many who runs own business face with this problem. It costs money and it can be quite expensive when you need to get rid of waste or remediate industrial waste. You may wrestle whether you should just throw away disregarding the environment or choose to take environmentally friendly measures.

I know this can be a difficult decision to make. I know how difficult it is to make a living during this time of recession. It is hard to be concerned of what God expects us to do or be concerned of future generations when faced with financial stress. We are pressured to pay mounting bills. Therefore, I can not request without hesitation. At the same time I have responsibility to tell you that our God expects us to wrestle with the problems as believers of God.

Last week, I had a special worship for one of our church members opened a car wash business. I was happy and proud of him after seeing the way he set up his business. His business was set up to recycle 80% of the water and chose to use chemicals friendly to the environment although it costs a lot more money for him. It was evident that he was concerned about the environment and wants to be a good steward for the God’s world. As result, it uses less detergent and water at his car wash than washing your car at home.

God would expect us, from the believers, to be consciousness and go forward with our efforts. We are the steward entrusted with the responsibility to care, keep and manage the God’s world. It is a grave responsibility and especially those of us living in the 21st century. Our God expects us to bear holy responsibility to preserve our environment as much as we care for our Sunday worship service.

We have a responsibility for everything we do, starting with disposal of trash at home. We must ask ourselves, “Is there anything else we can do to save our environment?” When we keep on asking and searching, we can think about a tree and forest that a piece of paper comes from, and the precious water that brings life to the forest when we care for a bottle of water. We should think about a beautiful garden where our children will play as to how we bundle our trash to discard. We will feel an overflowing joy when we bear our responsibility by overcoming inconveniences as good steward.

7.

We will feel powerless from time to time when we try to do small efforts as individuals. We will have doubts how much difference can I make as one person when the whole world is rushing to destruction. At times like this, our faith will be challenged. We should have the power of our faith to walk to the right path with hope although we may feel powerless at times.

I read an obituary of Edward Lorenz, a 90 year old meteorologist on April 17th. I wonder whether you ever heard of ‘Butterfly effect?’ I bet there are many who heard or understand about ‘Chaos Theory.’ It was Edward Lorenz who discovered the Butterfly effect and provided the base for the Chaos Theory.

The Butterfly effect is a theory that a flapping wing of a butterfly in Brazil could bring about a tornado in Texas by influencing the atmospheric current. Edward Lorenz proved that it is possible as a meteorologist. I don’t fully understand the Chaos Theory but I think the Butterfly effect has a great meaning in the world of believers.

The butterfly effect occurs everyday in the world of believers because our God designed that way. There is no difference between a few things or many or big things in spiritual world. When one is faithful with a few things, it can bear fruits abundantly. It is a true believer’s attitude to go forward with sincerity believing in the butterfly effect even though there may not be any positive results right away. Therefore, the God praised faithful servant who has been faithful with a few things. (Matthew 25:21, 23)

My beloved fellow Christians, I would like to share St. Paul’s letter to churches in Galatia. He tells them in Chapter 6, verse 9 as ”Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” It is so true. Let’s go forward with all our hearts to do our responsibility entrusted by our God, although it may be a few things but go forward, not becoming weary, not giving up. Let’s believe that we can generate an enormous power by so many of us who are in one mind. Let’s believe in the future, and let’s go forward to preserve the world God created with our little wings. Our God will bless us in what we do.