The Earth is Burning. Jesus says, "Don't Worry."
Arguing with Jesus about wildfires, and finding our place in creation
Matthew 6:25-34
Do Not Worry
25 ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? 28 And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not worry, saying, “What will we eat?” or “What will we drink?” or “What will we wear?” 32 For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
34 ‘So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.
I woke up this morning arguing with Jesus.
“Do not worry about your life.”
The world is on fire, Jesus. Don’t worry, and the world is on fire? Do you see how silly you sound?
Look at the birds.
The birds? The birds are flying away from these fires!— not all of us can do that. We have homes, dogs, mortgages, insurance claims! 5 dead, over 1,000 homes destroyed, and the numbers have barely begun to come in.
Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow.
Ah, yes. The wise spiritual guru telling us to go touch grass. Don’t worry about the collapsing economy and the loss of everything— take a look at these flowers, aren’t they prettttyy?
Gotta be honest, this feels like a dodge, Jesus. I think I read about this on instagram, I believe it’s called “spiritual bypassing.”
Deep breath.
…
I took a moment to do what Jesus said, and look.
What I hear Jesus saying is to look at the creatures of the earth, and remember that we are just like them. We are not possessors of the earth, but inhabitants. We do not own the earth, we belong to it.
“they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns.”
The birds do not accumulate stocks, hoard wealth, build portfolios, and yet they have what they need.
“they neither toil nor spin.”
The lilies don’t work overtime, produce quarterly reports, or build shareholder value, and yet they are more beautiful than anything we can create with artificial intelligence. Our place is not to control the world, but to take our place “in the great family of things,” as Mary Oliver called it.
if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven—
The mountains of the Palisades evolved to burn regularly— in fact, many of the plant species only release their seeds after being burned. The indigenous people of California learned to work in harmony with the rhythms of the land through traditional burning practices. Don Hankins (Plains Miwok) said, "Fire is medicine. The land evolved with fire, and our people evolved with fire.”
The cycles of the land do not fit with our quarterly growth cycles or the development plans of real estate management groups. No matter what a piece of paper says about property rights, this wild land cannot be truly owned— its rhythm cannot be dictated by our election cycles, economic development goals, or if a multi-million dollar outdoor shopping center just went up.
Jesus’s words are meant to be a balm to our worry. I do not mean to shame or simplify anxiety, but how much of our worry and striving comes from refusing to accept our place as creatures?
We are a part of the natural world too. Without healthy topsoil and regular rain, this whole project of humanity would stop in its tracks, no matter how much shareholder value we added that year.
This is a simple fact that is too often ignored by Christians, but there is not a more spiritual idea than this.
Sallie McFague says, ”the most basic insight of faith in our time may be... that we belong here, we are at home on the earth, it is our home – but it is also the home of all other creatures.”
The theologian Leonardo Boff goes even further. We do not just belong to the earth, we are the earth. “We are Earth that feels, thinks, loves, cares and venerates.”
To forget our belonging to the earth is to forget who we really are.
So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.
In the Hebrew Bible, God tells the people of Israel not to hoard the manna that God provided from the earth. There would be enough. Trust the God of the land to provide.
Although there is a natural rhythm of burning, the fires that raged through California this week are not wholly natural. Our striving and suppression of the land has heaped fuel on the fire. Rather than align ourselves with the rhythms of the land, we have cannibalized her for profits— profits which are not shared by all of humanity, but by a small percentage of wealthy individuals. Oil corporations have concealed the results of their barbarism and even now that the truth of climate change is out, they bribe politicians to continue to do nothing.
Why? They are worried about tomorrow. They are not living in this present moment, because this present moment does not require booming quarter four profits. We turn “the live green earth into dead gold bricks,” as Michael Parenti says. And yet, when we attempt to secure our tomorrow by pillaging our earth today, we are only investing in our doom.
Some things need to burn. Some systems need to fall. Some securities need to be released. Perhaps this is what Jesus meant - that our worry so often comes from clutching what was never meant to last, while missing the glory of this world around us. Look.
Our worries will not be healed by attempting to control what cannot be controlled, but by surrendering to our place in the great family of things. Our security will not come from what we own, but in how we belong— to the earth, to each other, to the God of creation herself.
If there was ever a day that it was a good idea to slow down and breathe, this is it. As you pray this breath prayer, consider the wisdom of creation, and the invitation it offers you.
Inhale: I look at [the birds, the flowers, my neighbor, the grass, etc] (4 seconds)
-HOLD- (4 seconds)
Exhale: And I find my place in the family of things. (4 seconds)
Inhale: I cannot control the future (4 seconds)
-HOLD- (4 seconds)
Exhale: But I belong to the earth. (4 seconds)
We are but fellow creatures of this earth... Thanks for sharing this Brian. As a Californian this is a balm for my fear and anxiousness.
Consider the lilies of the field... this is a passage of the Bible that means so much to me. It has been indelibly etched on my soul.
My father so to is when he introduced me to an anthem by that name. In times of trouble of soul sings it on a whisper only I can hear.
The fires in LA are raging. What to do?
We all need to consider reframing our attitudes and beliefs about our place in this world. We need to make the changes necessary for all of us to survive a climate out of control.