Caring for the Earth: Serve God, Save the Planet author calls for action

Dr. J. Matthew Sleeth of Wilmore, Ky., discusses ways to protect the environment during an Earth Day program on April 20 at Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Indianapolis. He describes himself as an evangelical environmentalist. His daughter, Emma, is the author of It's Not Easy Being Green-One Student's Guide to Serving God and Saving the Planet. (Photo by Mary Ann Wyand)

By Mary Ann Wyand

If Jesus asked you to help take better care of the precious gifts of God’s creation, what would you say to the Lord?

How would you change your lifestyle to honor his request?

Through Scripture, Christ continually calls people to protect and preserve the Earth’s fragile natural resources, Dr. J. Matthew Sleeth explained during an Earth Day program on April 20 at Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Indianapolis.

Consider Psalm 24, verse 1: “The earth is the Lord’s and all it holds.”

Or the Apostle’s Creed, written in the first century, which proclaims, “I believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth.”

Or the words of St. John of Damascus (675-749), who wrote in his Treatise that, “The whole earth is a living icon of the face of God.”

When his concern about the deteriorating environment overwhelmed him, Sleeth turned to the wisdom of Scripture for advice after he found a Gideon Bible while working at a hospital. The Gospels convinced the former emergency room physician and his family to courageously change their lives.

He told the hospital administrator that he was resigning as director of the emergency department and chief of the medical staff in order to “serve God and save the planet.”

The Sleeth family sold their huge home on the coast of Maine, gave away many of their possessions and moved into a much smaller, solar-powered house in Wilmore, Ky.

The author of Serve God, Save the Planet–A Christian Call to Action, which is printed on 100 percent post-consumer paper, said he is sleeping better now that he is happily working to solve problems even though the planet is still dying. (Related: Tips on how to reduce carbon usage)

Instead of just worrying about the environment, Sleeth said, he and his wife, Nancy, and their children, Clark and Emma, are doing positive things to care for the Earth and educate others about the critical need to protect its natural resources.

“Seeing a need and acting to meet it is the central theme of this book,” Sleeth explained in his Earth Day talk mixed with sober facts and humorous anecdotes.

“The Earth is our ship, an ark for everything that lives,” he wrote in his book. “It is the only vessel available to carry humans through the ocean of space, and it is rapidly becoming unseaworthy. God created the world to sustain all living creatures. … He designed this elegant system to function naturally, but our ark of life is changing rapidly.”

Our grandparents could drink water from a stream or lake without concern, Sleeth noted, and “the bounty of nature seemed inexhaustible.”

Now, however, the water in rivers and lakes harbors dioxin and fish are contaminated with mercury, he wrote. The air we breathe is polluted, and there is an alarming increase in the number of people who are diagnosed with asthma and a variety of cancers.

“Our generation consumes five times more energy than my grandfather’s,” he noted in the book. “… How can I live a more godly, equitable and meaningful life? How can I help people today and in the future? How can I be less materialistic? How can I live a more charitable life? … How can I become a better steward of nature?”

The Sleeth family answered those questions by moving into an energy-efficient home the size of their former garage, and significantly cutting their energy usage to lower their “carbon footprint” and reduce damage to the planet.

“Because of these changes, we have more time for God,” he wrote. “… We have found his Word to be true. He has poured blessings and opportunities upon us. When we stopped living a life dedicated to consumerism, our cup began to run over. We have seen miracles. Today I preach about God and his creation. … The Earth was designed to sustain every generation’s needs, not to be plundered in an attempt to meet one generation’s wants.”

We can all help save the Earth’s resources, Sleeth told Immaculate Heart of Mary parishioners, by educating ourselves about stewardship of the Earth and making dramatic changes in our daily lifestyle as consumers.

Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas read Sleeth’s book then his family made environmental changes in their lives. The senator also invited Sleeth to speak on Capitol Hill.

“There’s no blue pike in the Great Lakes, and that was the most numerous fish,” Sleeth lamented. “Every year, we cut down an area of forest the size of Washington state. … The Amazon [rain forest] is being destroyed. …”

Sleeth said he “was really in turmoil” and “kept thinking about how the world is dying, how there is evil in the world.” Then he “came to believe that only the Gospel, only Christ, had the answer to this … scary problem.”

Use Christ as the model for everything you do, he advised the gathering, and take a careful accounting of all the resources that you use in daily life.

“To believe in Christ is to act like Christ,” Sleeth said. “… Mahatma Gandhi rewrote Matthew 7, verse 1, ‘Judge not lest you be judged,’ as ‘Be the change you wish to see in the world.’ That’s sound advice for us all.”

Read the Bible with a new focus on its environmental statements, Sleeth said, and you will be surprised.

“The tree of life is quite aptly named,” he said. “No trees, no oxygen, no life. … Trees are mentioned in the Bible more than any living thing other than people. … Christ is mentioned in the Bible, in Isaiah, [as] ‘a tender shoot that grows up.’ … He dies on a tree. … .When Christ is resurrected, Mary Magdalene goes to the tomb and mistakes Christ as a gardener. This is not a mistake. He is a gardener. … Christians, of all people, should be tree-huggers.”

In his homily during the Mass before the Earth Day program, Father Robert Sims, pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish, urged parishioners to “do more to treasure the beauty of God’s creation. … If all of us make … positive choices to cherish that creation, then the ripple effect does make a difference. … The choices that we make can change the world.”

(To order Dr. J. Matthew Sleeth’s book or Emma Sleeth’s book, log on to www.servegodsavetheplanet.org.) †