Sermon – Season of Creation, Energy – Sunday 22nd September
2013.
Energy is one of the marvels of
God’s creation.
At a vast cosmic level, there
are black holes.
Their extreme energy destroys
the remnants of burnt out stars and galaxies.
But in doing that they also
create massive energies.
And these spew out the elements
which will make new stars, new galaxies.
At the other end of the scale,
there are minute structures in each of our body’s cells.
These are called mitochondria,
and they are the power houses which convert oxygen to energy and keep us alive.
All
three of the readings we have heard this morning utilise energy.
They do it in different ways.
In the Old Testament reading
the story reveals God’s glory in fire.
In Jesus’ parable about the 10
bridesmaids, the story issues a warning.
The bridesmaids are divided
into 2 groups.
One group is wise - they ensure
they have sufficient lamp oil to see them though.
The other group is unwise -
that have brought insufficient oil. The warning is: be prepared.
Does this parable and its
warning have something to say to us today as we think about energy?
The parable of the 10
bridesmaids is written in the last section of Matthew’s gospel.
Part of the key to
understanding its point is found in the first chapters of Matthew
In particular, Jesus’ teaching
on Christian attitudes and behaviour in the Sermon on the Mount.
The parable through it warning
challenges our attitudes: the Sermon on the Mount allows us to reflect on our
response.
So what challenges are there
when we switch on the light, the car engine, the cooker or heating?
Perhaps we need to ask
ourselves some hard questions.
Firstly, do we have an absolute
RIGHT to energy?
We certainly need it for the
essentials of life – warmth, cooking lighting.
However our right to energy
makes claims on others. Some legitimate, some questionable.
For example, our right requires
others to extract, process, and supply us with gas, petrol and electricity. In
doing so provides employment which for those employed is their right.
But it also makes claims on
land – usually belonging to someone else.
Swathes of land for open cast
mining and sighting of oil pumps. Fields for wind and solar farms.
This takes away the land-owners
right to their land – and is a negative right - unless it is balanced by just
compensation.
It is all a matter of justice.
A just means of accessing others land and restoring it to use afterwards, as in
the case of some oil companies restoring farm land after laying pipes, Justice
in the form of financial compensation (as in the case of farmers being paid
rent for use of land used for wind turbines and solar panels).
In the gospel, the unwise
bridesmaids make a claim on those with sufficient oil – but in a negative way –
the unwise girls expect the wise ones to provide for them when the ir oil has
run out.
The seemingly harsh refusal by
the wise girls to share their oil may come as a surprise, but this emphasises
the contrast in the attitudes of the two groups of girls to their energy
supplies.
The second hard question
challenges our attitude to energy. Do we value energy by ensuring we have
enough for essential life, plus a modicum to spare for unexpected events and
the future? Or, because it is there on tap, exploit it to the full and expect
someone else to help when we run out?
We
all have choices. I can choose what car I buy. Do I choose a fuel efficient
one, comfortable enough for family use, and for going about town, or a snazzy
fast accelerating one or a Chelsea tractor with all mod cons and higher fuel
consumption. Which one will conserve energy for me and for the future? Which
will place unreasonable demands on my pocket, fuel supplies, emit more co2 and hasten
the demise of energy supplies. Would walking or cycling be more ethical for
some journeys? At personal level we can all switch off lights in unoccupied
rooms, put on a jumper rather than turn the heating up, recycle water and
household goods and refuse. However, some things are a communal responsibility
and require us to engage with government policies and technological advances.
So, as Christian community, taking note of Jesus warnings and teaching – how
does the gospel sit with us at St Johns?
Rather than debating the
relative efficiencies of various forms of producing energy, should we not first
ask some basic ethical questions – we have looked at the question of our right
to energy and some ethical pitfalls. We should also question the method of production
and who will benefit. Firstly, what method produces the greatest amount of
energy for the least harm? This is called the utilitarian approach to ethics
and balances benefit against cost. Secondly, if some harm is inevitable, we
should also ask how many will benefit . This is called the greater good ethic,
and accepts the method is for the greater good despite it having known and
sometimes unforeseen harm.
The answers are important for
us now in 2013, and will be a legacy for future generations.
It is not all negative. There
is much to celebrate in recent developments of cleaner, efficient car engines,
the introduction of hybrid and electric cars, and even experimental electric
racing cars. We see the increasing use of wind-turbines and solar energy, and
the introduction of Biofuels to help conserve petrol.
A recent BBC “Countryfile”
programme interviewed people on their responses to wind and solar farms. Some
welcomed them as contributing to energy conservation. But others were ready to
dismiss them as a blot on the landscape, or for only producing 6% of our energy
requirements, forgetting that these technologies are young and need developing.
It would be easy to see the
blot rather than the potential. As Christians, we should see these advances as
gifts from God, to be encouraged.
Like all parables, the gospel
parable challenges our attitudes, makes us reflect, and hopefully provokes a
change in attitude. Children are prone to asking hard questions. Rather than
asking us where the light comes from when they turn on the switch: in
dismissing present strategies for providing for the future, future generations
could be asking us why we did so, and why the lights have gone out.
Anthony Pullen
