We know about the three Rs: Reduce. Reuse. Recycle. But “reduce” can no longer be where our efforts begin. I invite us all to Rethink, Revisit and Refuse.
We must “rethink” our overly affluent consumer lifestyle. Rethink how we mass-manufacture and mass-produce. Rethink our purchases by considering the product’s origin and packaging.
Then, “revisit” our values, our beliefs, and what it is that we truly need. As Luke 12:15 reminds us, we’d “take care [and be on] guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.”
Most powerful, we’d “refuse” – refuse to be an uneducated participant in a dominate consumer culture that mounts millions of landfills. We’d refuse to squeeze nature out just so we can have a larger home, a closer parking lot, an additional tennis court or the most beautiful golf course.
Rethink. Revisit. Refuse. Then Reduce. Reuse. Recycle. Let’s renew our relationship with God’s earth.
This message is excerpted from “Pray for me. Pray for the earth.” by Venice Williams in the September/October 2022 Gather magazine. Today is Earth Day.
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