Weekly Reaction #6 - Doing vs. Being

The combination of this week’s Bouma-Prediger readings and our discussion in class on Tuesday has had me thinking about the “answer” we have been trying to find for this problem of earthly stewardship. We have been striving to know what to do. What to do about feeding the growing population? What to do about the warming climate? What to do about children being trafficked for slave labor? Of course, there are tangible things we can do, but the reality of doing all of these things as individual students trying to find a place in the world is flawed. This being said, I will let Bouma-Prediger present what I feel is a fundamental part of the “answer” we are seeking. In For the Beauty of the Earth, it says in chapter 5, “As I will argue, the most promising ecological ethic is one that asks not primarily, what do we need to do? but, who do we need to be?” (p 112). Often, I feel frustrated by the discussions and borderline arguments that have taken place in class. However, this question of “being” is a common theme of what I find to be a sensible answer not only to the environmental crises we have talked about but the aspects of everyday life.

I have not been dwelling on this idea of “being” just after reading that quote. In fact, it started when Dr. Sunberg came to speak to us and has validated itself after we discussed our Shipshewanna adventure in class on Tuesday. Dr. Sunberg talked about the kingdom of God and what it looked like to already be actively participating in this kingdom. She talked about how stewardship and holiness are important because God is already at work restoring his creation. This means giving up our dreams of a certain lifestyle and living authentically. This is hard for us in our culture! Thanks to the overabundance and overuse of resources, we have become entitled to living a certain way. Instead of living in this entitlement, we should be living kingdom lives of service to others by giving of ourselves and our resources to those who need it. Being separated from “the world” does not mean abandoning the world; it means being active examples of Christ to the world.

Going off of this idea of being, our reflection of our visit among the Amish in class was thought-provoking. The visit alone was an eye-opening experience for me. The Amish and their way of life was always something I was curious about but never knew exactly what it looked like. The practicality of their life and the way they lived in complete community with one another was amazing. They not only knew their place; they accepted their place. One thing we talked about was how there was no difference between the religious and the secular. This all struck me as similar to the description of the church in Acts. In chapters 2 and 4 of Acts, it described the believers as a community who valued fellowship and togetherness. They supported each other in times of need, shared meals together, and prayed as a body of believers. It says in verse 32 of chapter 4, “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had” (NIV). There was no sense of entitlement to one’s possessions whether it be time or money or food. As I like to think about it, the believers did life together.

Bouma-Prediger writes, “If being-in-relation is the nature of things, then to be human is to exist in relationships” (p 115). We were made for relationship, for “being”. What I have been slowly realizing through Dr. Sunberg’s visit, our experience of the Amish community, and the passage in Acts about the church, is the simple answer for us, now, as students, is to figure out who we are going to be. Are we going to be of this world, living the lifestyle that is most comfortable? Or are we going to be participating in the alreadiness of God’s kingdom by living authentic lives in community with other believers and the Earth?