Can a New Civilization Emerge?

September 5, 2021 • 15th Sunday after Pentecost
Scripture Reading: Isaiah 24:4-6 and Revelation 22:1-4 (NRSV)
Pastor Jeff Wells

[You can view the worship video recording, including this message, at: Facebook.com/churchofthevillage/videos.]

Click HERE for a list of recommended resources about process theology and ecological civilization.

Several of my recent sermons have prepared for my message today, but I feel today’s sermon is one of the most momentous in my 16 years of preaching. Today, I am calling us to a new way of being in the world and of following Jesus.

Lately, I have been preoccupied with imagining dystopian scenarios involving climate catastrophe and the collapse of industrial civilization. That’s always accompanied by wonderings about how surviving human communities might be organized. I think this rises up in me from a combination of the extreme weather events we are witnessing along with my deepening awareness of the dire ecological crisis we are in. It’s pretty terrifying. 

Of course, this is not breaking news. As early as 1896, Swedish scientist, Svante Arrhenius, warned that increasing carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere could lead to global warming. Fourth century bishop-theologians, Ambrose and Augustine, both condemned the ways human beings – the rich in particular – violated and harmed the Earth. You can find a great exposition of that in Larry Rasmussen’s book, Earth-honoring Faith: Religious Ethics in a New Key. Scientists, environmental activists, and even theologians have warned of an impending ecological crisis since at least the 1960s.

Fifty-two years ago, John Cobb’s son persuaded him to read a book written by Paul and Anne Ehrlich titled, The Population Bomb, published in 1968. Their book focused on the rapidly growing human population, the strain it put on natural resources, and the damage being done to the environment by human action. In reaction to that book, John wrote: “I awoke to the importance of the environmental crisis in the summer of 1969…. For the first time, I saw the interconnection between the growth of population, dominant economic practices, the exhaustion of resources, and pollution.” Three years later, John published his sixth book titled, Is It Too Late?: A Theology of Ecology. That book is a seminal and still very relevant contribution to the development of  “eco-theology.” He recognized very early that humanity was on a path to extinction. That impelled him to make it a central part of his life’s work to promote the construction of an ecological civilization to replace modern industrial civilization. You can find links about eco-civ in the chat.

For anyone willing to see it, melting glaciers, massive raging fires, increasingly violent superstorms, and widespread flooding make clear we are living through a climate crisis. For far too long, those in power have refused to act or have taken half-measures and have wasted precious time that could have slowed or reversed some of these effects. In a 2018 interview, John Cobb was very blunt. He said, “I do not think there is any chance of avoiding a terrible disaster. We are now destined to undergo tremendous suffering. We have already passed the point at which we may have stopped the decline of this vast civilization, and the only remaining battle is how much we can prevent the situation from getting worse and leave a base for reconstruction.”

It is clear to me that we face much more than just a “climate crisis.” We face crises of air, soil, and water on which all life depends. We are witnessing a dramatic reduction in biodiversity. Drinkable water is drying up. Healthy soil is being depleted. Echoes of Isaiah, chapter 24: The Earth dries up and withers. It lies polluted by humans who have broken our covenant with the ecological community. We suffer for our guilt. It is uncanny how closely our first scripture reading today captures our current circumstances. Let’s not delude ourselves. The ecological and climate crises won’t be solved by electric vehicles and green energy. We need a paradigm shift.

Thankfully, there are signs of hope. While we can no longer avoid all of the devastating effects of what humanity has wrought, we are not yet past the point of no return. We can still act and we must act dramatically. It is painfully clear that if we are to avoid the destruction of most life on this planet, humans have to reorient our entire existence toward belonging to and collaborating with the Earth community. We will have to forge new human relations, new ways of being in community, new ethics, a new kind of human civilization – one that radically reshapes how we live and dismantles harmful human impacts on the ecosphere.

Thanks to God’s loving and leading, we are not starting from scratch. God succeeded in luring Rachel Carson, Paul and Anne Ehrlich, John Cobb, Bill McKibben, and so many others into a movement toward a just and sustainable eco-community that has been growing and gaining influence for decades. There are scholars, scientists, environmental activists, institutes, and even governments around the world that have embraced the ideas of both process theology and ecological civilization. 

Eco-civ, as it is sometimes called, has an ever widening reach and appeal. In July 2015, a conference called, “Seizing an Alternative: Toward an Ecological Civilization,” drew 2,000 participants and brought together environmental leaders from around the world. Out of that conference, the Institute for Ecological Civilization was founded.

Also in 2015, Pope Francis published an encyclical titled, Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home, in which he calls for an “integral ecology,” intended to bring humanity into communion with the rest of nature. The Pope’s vision aligns in many ways with the vision of ecological civilization. Both conceptions make clear that eliminating human inequality, exploitation, and all forms of oppression is crucial to creating this new civilization. In 2012, the Chinese Communist Party adopted the goal of creating ecological civilization. This has a huge and far-reaching potential. The results, so far, are complicated and very uneven, but it has provided a framework in which China has created the world’s largest carbon market, the most renewable energy installations, and largest forest restoration program of any nation. [1]

Yet, no nation has yet acted on a scale adequate to the growing crisis. That failure has extends to nearly all expressions of religion as well. In general, religions don’t remake economies and social policies, but they can have a huge impact on the ethical and moral foundations for governmental and institutional decision-making. The world’s religions ought to be playing a major role in the revolutionary reorientation of human society. Yet, as our friend Larry Rasmussen asserts, "the powers of the world’s faiths are not up to the present task in most of their present forms." 

Even faith communities like our own, as "progressive" as we strive to be, are not yet where we need to be in taking on this challenging role. But I know we can get there and we will have many allies in this effort. We can join with others in devising and promoting a new religious ethics for this dangerous and pivotal moment we are living through. We can help generate faith and ethics that recognize the inherent value of the rest of the natural world and reintegrate our species into the Earth community. Ecological theology is deeply connected with the principles of process thought and process theology, which are fundamentally relational, justice-oriented, collaborative, and earth centered. 

Much of what we are talking about and much of the experiential and experimental work will be done from the bottom up – in local communities and in “communities of communities.” Some activists are calling these “anticipatory communities.” They are and will be communities in which we dream, explore, experiment, create and embody eco-social ethics and practices. Already, there are many small to medium-sized communities and organizations trying to live out this vision.

While the Church of the Village cannot be an ecologically sustainable community in the middle of Manhattan or online, I do believe we can become an “anticipatory community” for ecological civilization. We can educate ourselves about what is needed to prepare for the new civilization. We can become “evangelists” for eco-civ and the process-relational theology that provides one basis for it. We can become one faith community among many in the movement for constructing the foundations of a healthy ecological future. We will need to advocate and educate for the kinds of new relations and social organization that might provide its foundations. This is a vision that can give us hope for the future.

Today we conclude our worship series on process theology and it is neatly tied to our next series called, “In the Way of Jesus: An Adventure of Imagination and Commitment.” In that series, we will explore what it means to be a follower of Jesus today. Last year, John Cobb published his most recent book titled, Salvation: Jesus’s Mission and Ours. In it he argues that to be a disciple of Jesus today means to respond to the Divine call to bring forth ecological civilization. We are so very fortunate that John will be preaching in our next series on September 12, 19, and 26. Please join us for all of that important series and please help spread the word about it. 

What can we – what must we do beginning now? We can learn, increasingly, to love all of the elements of the ecosphere and how to play a healthy, sustainable role within it. We can listen deeply for God’s leading and luring. I admit the size of the tasks and the obstacles we face are daunting. Yet, we should not allow fear or feelings of inadequacy keep us from taking them on. Friends, hold on to the beautiful vision in the Book of Revelation – and go beyond it. Imagine many rivers of the water of life running crystal clear. Envision vast forests of trees of life, bearing fruit and healing the nations, along with the whole ecosphere. Dream of all life thriving again, of increasing biodiversity restored. Remember, we are not alone. Not only is God with us in this work, but the Earth itself has amazing evolving and regenerative power.

Let’s walk together, dreaming dreams and seeing visions and working to realize them. Let’s imagine and practice a new ethics for a new creation. Let’s participate in laying the groundwork for a new ecological civilization. Let us love, advocate, spread the word, shine a light, and show the way. I am convinced this is the way of Jesus for today.

(c) 2021 Jeffry Wells
All rights reserved.

1.   Lila Buckley, “Engaging with China's ecological civilisation: A pathway to a green economy?”, Green Economy Coalition (February 2021).
https://www.greeneconomycoalition.org/assets/reports/GEC-Reports/GEC-IIED-China-EcoCivilisationPaper-A4-Feb21-V4b.pdf