Covenanting for Creation

At 5:30 pm, Tuesday afternoon, June 22, 2010, one sunset past the summer solstice, at the Bolton Street Synagogue on the banks of the Stony Run, nine religious leaders pledged their "commitment to honor the covenantal relationship that, in the teaching of each of our traditions, exists between God, humankind and creation."

Before 70 witnesses gathered to hear their words and celebrate their deeds, these leaders promised to work within the Presbyterian, Episcopal, Catholic, Friends, Methodist, Baptist, Muslim and Jewish communities to bring healing and justice to the ways we treat this earth and each other.

They signed a covenant, which in part says:

We stand at a crossroad. God’s word of covenant with land and with each other calls us to turn from our path of unrestrained consumption and careless disregard of the integrity of creation, and guides us to the straight path, where the good way lies. Religious communities must lead the way.

We must remember how to be full without excess, how to be satisfied with enough. We must find delight in ways of living that confer well-being on all people and all creation. Today, in the presence of God and one another, we commit ourselves to walking the path of covenant by sharing God’s blessing with justice and compassion so that all creation and all people may thrive together.

This program was hosted by Bishop Eugene Sutton of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, and coordinated by the Chesapeake Covenant Community (www.chesapeakecovenant.org), which itself has been influenced by our successes at the Baltimore Jewish Environmental Network.

It was a most moving - if very hot - afternoon. And it was hopeful. The common need for clean water, breathable air, sufficient food, affordable energy, open spaces, life-giving trees and near-by walkable places that refresh the spirit, offers a way to unite us all.

We must urgently seek these goals together, or else, I fear, when things get tough, when resources become scarcer, when fuel and heat and food and commodities of all sorts become more expensive, when the divide between the haves and have-nots becomes unbearably inequitable and unjust, which may be much sooner than we imagine if we don't work hard now to prevent it, we may no longer be standing shoulder to shoulder but grabbing at each others' throats.

Though actions create the condition of the world, and values create the impetus for actions, the human spirit creates the birth of values. The equation is clear: from spirit to values to action. Which is why religious communities must lead the way.

On Tuesday, the Baltimore religious community pledged to do just that. Now, we need your help to pursue our pledge. Visit the CCC website, sign the guest book, be in touch, join in the covenant.

The world needs you.

(image of Stony Run from www.griaonline.org)