Rain

Religion can be a magnet for extremism. Not only the kind we read about in the paper but really all kinds of human expressions of strong feelings or opinions. The splintering of the Church into a myriad of denominations has not helped this much. Because we generally associate ourselves with people who think a lot like we do, it is easy to walk away from communions that do not consistently reinforce our most cherished beliefs.

While there is a degree of common sense here--it makes sense to worship in an environment where you feel comfortable and you enjoy the company--it can be potentially dangerous as well. If we surround ourselves only with people who think like we do, then we are more susceptible to self-deception. Purposely avoiding other visions or even other emphases can lead us to an irrational intolerance of those who hold them.

This is true of anything but it seems particularly true when it comes to religious conviction. By definition, religion reflects our strongest feelings and opinions. When God's name gets associated with strong feelings and opinions, the neighborhood can become a potentially explosive place. In other words, there is no extremism like religious extremism.

Now chances are, if you have read this much, you are already fashioning images in your mind about what I am writing about here. And while those images might well be fitting, I actually want to take this in a slightly different direction.

When I first entered the ministry, I remember having a conversation with a friend of mine. He was also a pastor but he was about ten years older than I and had been in the ministry for that many years longer. We were talking about the environment and the pressure that 5 or 6 billion people are now putting upon it.

I made a statement about some of the irreparable damage that humans have done through strip mining, oil spills and the like. I was speaking passionately--partly because I felt strongly about what I was saying but also because I assumed that he would agree with me. But to my surprise, my friend did not jump in to fuel the fires of my passion. He rather spoke a word of temperance--offering me an alternative perspective to my religious diatribe.
He said, "The earth has been around for a long time. It's pretty resilient and it's been through a lot worse than us. I think it has a greater capacity to heal itself than we realize."

I was taken back. I was surprised that my friend did not agree with me. But I was even more surprised by the fact that he felt no need to support what I was saying. Of course, the truth was that my claim was probably over-zealous and probably self-righteous. It might have otherwise hurt my feelings except for the fact that there was great wisdom to what he was saying. His comment did not necessarily change my feelings--I still find myself passionate when it comes to our brazen disrespect for the environment. But at the same time, I now can see a little better my own arrogance in all of this. The earth is probably far more capable of taking care of itself then many of us give it credit for.

A year ago, Charlotte had just finished one of the driest summers in recent memory. We were under water restrictions and we were reading that the city of Atlanta was even worse off. Remember the alarms--all the apocalyptic imagery about what it would be like if a city the size of Atlanta was suddenly without water? Remember the blame game between Atlanta and the state of Florida? That was last year and that same drought continued throughout this past year well into the early summer.

But eventually it started to rain. And it has actually rained quite a lot. We're still not entirely caught up. But it's close. In the past month, we have had a lot of rain and it looks like we will be back to normal soon enough.