As faithful Christians, we have some powerful tools to help us find ways to bring this situation into balance: our tradition, including the Bible and the sacraments.

Let’s look at an example. Water is prized for its unique life-giving properties and its ability to cleanse. The physical and spiritual properties of water are closely related. The sacraments of baptism and communion both rely on water. Where does the water for these sacraments come from—some special pool of living water out behind the church? Or from the church’s tap or supply of bottled water?

We have reverence for the water we use in our sacraments. Do we have the same reverence for the water we use for drinking, bathing, watering the lawn, and other daily activities?

The human body needs one gallon of water a day to survive, so how is it that the average American uses one hundred gallons of water per day? That’s a mystery we can solve by accounting for the water use of our own households, workplaces, and congregations. We can be the change that we hope to see in our beloved country.

Would you like to help accomplish the Millennium Development Goals without leaving home or writing a check? Use less water than the average American. People and other living creatures all over the world will directly benefit from your judicious use of water.

Would you like to see more people in their twenties and thirties come to church? Offer spiritual leadership grounded in the living stream of our tradition and guided by the wisdom of science.

Our society is yearning for spiritual leadership that can help people appreciate the presence of God in the natural world and create a sustainable spirit in our use of natural resources, a spirit that expresses the great spiritual values of our tradition: hope, love, joy, and faithful action.

Love and joy are never far apart.

I’ve noticed in this election year that the presidential candidates on both sides have had little to say about the environment. Does anyone remember the presidential election of 1992, when President George H. W. Bush lost his bid for reelection in large part because of the “vision thing”?

My hope is that some day we will hear people in our society say that “so and so won the presidential election because of the Green Thing—s/he got it.” And people in our church will say that “so and so won the election as bishop because of the Green Thing—s/he got it.”

When will that day come? I don’t know. It’s a mystery. Sometimes the mystery is solved before our eyes, as it was for Simeon in Luke 2:25–35, and sometimes it is not.

But I believe that is where we are headed, and that is where God’s reconciling love is hard at work in today’s world.

--Excerpted from a Reflection by Phyllis Strupp, “The Green Thing” for a CREDO Faculty Convocation

Have you made a change towards conservation in your home? At your church? Have you helped convince someone else to take action to protect the earth (that’s advocacy you know!)? Tell us your story, include photos or web videos if you have them and we’ll share your ideas and experiences with the EPPN. Just email your idea, story, or experience to eppn@episcopalchurch.org.