By Emilie Bouvier
Everyone has their favorite household chores. I’m transported back to sitting cross-legged on the kitchen floor in front of my family’s “recycling drawer,” neatly sorting the contents into their respective bags to bring to the recycling center. This was my favorite chore, probably because it was slow and methodical and far less frustrating than vacuuming the stairs (my least favorite chore to this day). But mostly, this ritual-like practice directed my attention to what we discard and fostered in me a responsibility to steward these materials.
“That was the first moment I realized that my faith and my commitment to what happens to a plastic water bottle were very much connected.”
Fast forward a few years to the hallways of high school when I noticed a friend of mine drop a plastic bottle in the trash instead of the recycling bin just a bit further up the hall. Formed by the many hours spent as the sorter of the recycling, I exclaimed “wait!” When I asked her about it, she calmly replied, “Well, it doesn’t really matter because when the earth dies, Jesus will come back and save us.” I was totally floored. I didn’t have a honed theology of recycling to share back then, but that was the first moment I realized that my faith and my commitment to what happens to a plastic water bottle were very much connected.
Ask me today and you’ll get a whole mini sermon: Genesis and watersheds; Cain and Abel and the interconnectedness of violence and oppression with alienation from the soil; practices of sabbath and gleaning; a whole spiel about reducing and reusing as the primary steps ahead of recycling; and a healthy dose of corporate responsibility in our collective addiction to plastic (So, maybe not a mini sermon).
BUT HERE’S WHAT I’VE REALIZED – the deep connection I feel to these biblical stories and the call to tend and keep creation as an act of faith and justice, is still grounded by the simplicity of daily practices. I no longer sit in front of the “recycling drawer,” but I relish the ritual of bringing my empty jars to the co-op to be filled up with coffee, pasta, and rice. And I still find myself taking inventory of my recycling, wondering what it would take to get rid of the rest of these plastics that have become the non-degradable fabric of our on-the-go habits.
This is my hope for our upcoming EcoFaith Lenten Series on Plastics: to learn simple, repeatable practices that reduce our individual reliance on single-use plastics; and through that learning, enhance our understanding of the issues, deepen our faith, and root our activism. I was inspired by the ELCA Youth’s campaign to “Give up Plastics for Lent” over the past few years, because Lent is already a time for committing to simple yet sometimes challenging changes in our daily actions in ways that encourage faithful reflection.
“And through learning, enhance our understanding of the issues, deepen our faith, and root our activism.”
Part of what will make this season of learning and action so powerful will be when lots of folks jump in and take these steps together – we will be able to see the collective impact of how all the small changes add up and challenge the systemic norms and prevalence of plastic in our lives.
And whatever your journey looks like through these coming weeks of Epiphany’s light and Lent’s season of reflection, I hope you’ll catch yourself looking twice at your recycling next time you put it out.
So, do you have plans yet for what your Lenten learning or worship focus will be? Thanks to a partnership grant with Hennepin County that offered the necessary support and resources, we’ve been able to run with the idea of a lent-focused series on plastics!
Hennepin County congregations: Use this form
Congregations outside Hennepin County can use our online resources by filling out this form.