Living “Green”
Type the word “recycle” into your Google search engine, and it will bring up 38 million results. It’s an indication of the popularity of the “green movement” that has been sweeping our country, and in fact the world, for a number of years now. Already as a young child, I can remember looking forward to receiving a green and white “ecology” sticker in the mail as part of a magazine subscription I had been given. With good reason, people in recent years are becoming more and more aware of the importance of being good stewards of the creation that surrounds us. We want to pass on an earth to our children and grandchildren that is “cleaner and greener” than we found it.
Step into the Garden of Eden and you will really be “going green.” There is no need for pesticides; no need for fertilizer; not even any need for irrigation. All you need is there…and so are the colors: bright red beets; golden yellow bananas; vibrantly orange oranges; and sprouts, beans, and artichokes that are greener than the greenest green you have ever seen.
That is, until Eve is tempted to take that organically grown fruit off of the tree. It is the tree for which God says, “Is it your way or my way?” The tree of which God says: “Eat of it and you will surely die.” And that’s what she does. And Adam does it right along with her. Suddenly the beets aren’t quite as red; the bananas turn a little brown; the oranges fade a bit; and the sprouts, beans, and artichokes start to wilt.
“Green” turns to “black” as wilderness encroaches on paradise. Sin infects human beings. Death has entered the world; and along with it the need for pesticide, fertilizer, and irrigation. Suddenly, a “green” movement is required.
I bet you could give me numerous examples from your classroom or congregation where you wish the “darkness” of sin and sorrow could be turned into the “green” of life, light, and joy. In fact, I’d like for you to stop reading this article for a moment and write down on a piece of paper any examples of this that you remember from this past week…
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Now that you have written down these examples from your very own life, be reminded that these are concrete examples of the preponderance of sin in the world. Sin brings the darkness of sorrow and trouble. It was never meant to be that way. God created this world intending it to be green with His life, and light, and love.
If you’re looking for some good news after creating that list, here it is: God is making the world “green” again through you! He is renewing, repurposing, and recycling through all those who preach and teach His Word, through all those who have been given new life in Christ, through all those who make it their life’s vocation “to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ.” Ephesians 1:10 He is using you to bring the light of His love and forgiveness to bear on every item that you have written down.
Here’s some news that’s even better: You never do it alone. God is the one who uses His creative and creating Word to renew, repurpose, and recycle through you. It is at times like those which you have just listed that you are encouraged to look back to the cross. At the cross of Christ there is “green” life right smack in the midst of incredibly great darkness and death. The Savior of the world dying on a cross is as dark an event as the world has ever seen. But because of that sacrifice and death, you are given the complete and total joy of sins forgiven, faith for the path, and hope for the future…not just for you, but for every child or person you have written about on your list. By the grace of God you are renewed, repurposed, and recycled.
God renews you as He points you to the joy of the past. That joy begins at the cross. But it is made complete for you in the waters of baptism where you are buried with Christ and raised with Him from the dead. If the Lord rescued you there, through water and the Word, He will rescue you anywhere. The same is true of those to whom and for whom you minister. As each day begins in the remembrance of your baptism, God renews the joy He gave you on that day through water and the Word, so that you look forward with true and certain hope today.
The psalmist prayed, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” Psalm 51:10 How often has that been your prayer? The Lord answers that prayer with incredible spiritual revitalization. Look at what His Word says: “When you send Your Spirit, they are created, and You renew the face of the earth.” Psalm 104:30 “but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” Isaiah 40:31 “Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.” 2 Corinthians 4:16 And, finally, “He saved us by the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.” Titus 3:5
Once renewed, you are “repurposed.” Take another look at the list you made. I bet you can formulate the scenario which would bring a perfect resolution to each of those items. The problem is that life doesn’t always work that way. The way we wish and hope things will work out is not always the way they do. That can be incredibly frustrating: “If only that parent would show up”; “If only that child would leave the others alone”; “If only I received more support from my principal or pastor”; “If only….”
That’s exactly where life gets “repurposed.” Remember what St. Paul said? “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28 If the parent doesn’t show up, the child doesn’t leave others alone, the support from the principal never comes, God has a purpose for it. He really does!
Not too long ago one of the members of our congregation came home to her central city house that had been completely ransacked from top to bottom by burglars who were looking for, but never found, a stash of money. I spoke to the victim of this horrendous crime after it happened, and she couldn’t see how anything good could ever come of it. That horrific event left her in complete and utter despair.
Not more than a month or two later, she had sold that house, moved into a suburban apartment in the neighborhood of one of her sons, and a somewhat distant relationship with that son and his family was completely renewed. Later, she sheepishly told me that she never would have believed it, but out of such a terrible tragedy, the Lord worked “good” according to His “purpose.”
Be reminded that the Lord is working through you in each of the situations you have written down, to “repurpose” something that may seem far from the purposes of God, into something that will lead straight through the center of His perfect will. As the book of Philippians says, “…for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose.” Philippians 2:13
My wife happens to be a Lutheran educator, so I know that recycling is a major theme of the life of a teacher. Teachers have to recycle the attitudes of students; they have to recycle lesson plans and materials from year to year; they have to recycle and renew relationships with fellow staff members from year to year; they sometimes even have to recycle students as they retain them for another year before they can be promoted to another grade.
The very idea of recycling is that you get to take old stuff and make it into something new. Potentially the process can take place over and over again. Old newspapers become brand new paper, or cereal boxes, or egg cartons, or grocery bags, or tissue paper. And all of those things can be recycled as well.
As Christians, one of the oldest things we know is the grace of God. Grace is older than the universe, and hope has been around as long as humanity has found itself plagued by sin and death. In Psalm 126 the psalmist asks that the Lord would “restore our fortunes.” What he is really asking is that the Lord would work a total change in the situation. He is asking that God renew their sorrow and make it joy, repurpose the situation and make it into something good, and that the Lord would recycle His grace once again and bring hope for the future.
It is in and through God’s perfect Word and His living, loving Sacraments that He recycles our sin-induced sorrows, trials, and troubles, and turns them into true joy. Please remember that God’s joy isn’t superficial “happiness.” It is a peace and confidence that the Lord renews, repurposes, and recycles us into His children, His heirs, His sheep, and His saints. It flows out of deep faith and complete trust. It comes from a Savior who has paid the ultimate price. It is a gift of God’s grace that we cannot work up inside of ourselves.
Teaching or administrating day in and day out is a demanding, difficult, exhausting vocation. Sometimes it can sap your faith and fill you with sorrow, or despair, or guilt. It is at those times that the only place to turn is to the Lord who brings His “green” life to bear on a dark and bleak situation. It is He who completely changes your status with His love and forgiveness. It is He who fills you with faith, takes away sorrow and turns it to joy, takes away guilt and despair and turns it to trust. It is He, and He alone, who renews you, repurposes you, and recycles you for His good purpose.
When was the last time you stood somewhere really special and thought to yourself, “This is too wonderful to be real; it feels like a dream.” In a sense, that’s what it was like when you were crucified and resurrected with Christ in your baptism. It was a new beginning and the start of an eternal journey. Now you are traversing the path that has been laid out for you back toward a newly renewed and completely “green” Garden of Eden. Your life is lived in anticipation of that glorious day when finally you will see the vivid colors and eat the delicious fruit. All around you will hear the thundering shouts of joy. God willing, and according to His good purpose, there will be that one “difficult” student standing next to you in paradise with her or his mouth wide open in praise…along with all the other students for whom you had an eternal impact.
Renewal will be complete. Repurposing will be finished. Recycling will no longer be needed. You will be standing on the green, green grass of home.
Rev. Thomas Eggebrecht is Pastor at Mount Calvary Lutheran Church and School, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He invites you to visit his blog.
Illustrations by Benjamin Chandler, Junior Kindergarten teacher at Grace Lutheran School, River Forest, Illinois.
ShapingtheFuture is published quarterly by Lutheran Education Association and distributed to members of LEA.