Wilding Our Faith
May 1, 2022 - Matthew 17: 20-21
Just before the few scripture verses we read today, the disciples fail to cure a boy with a demon who Jesus dispatches with quickly. When the disciples ask why they could not do what Jesus did, Jesus answers, “Because of your little faith.”
How many of us have not faced a challenge or wrong that seemed so big and insurmountable that our faith –either in ourselves or even in God–faltered? Though in the story it disgusts Jesus, it seems to me a perfectly understandable part of being human.
For me, the environmental crisis facing our planet is an example of just such a seemingly insurmountable trouble in the face of which I struggle to maintain faith, and that’s when I even have the courage to think of it at all. In this experience, it is very clear that I am not alone.
Dr. Nicole Ardoin is the Director of the Social Ecology Lab at Stanford University, where they study people’s relationship to the environment and where one of their areas of study has been something she calls “climate anxiety.” “Climate anxiety,” she says, “is very real, and people all over the world are feeling it–like this heavy umbrella hanging over everything... And until we name it,” Dr. Ardoin counsels, “we don’t know how to take action on it.”
It’s understandable to feel doom and gloom about news headlines on the environmental crises we face. Around the world we’re facing immense climate-related challenges, including intensifying weather events, devastating wildfires, freshwater scarcity, and ecosystem degradation, just to name a few. But Ardoin shares “what we know from decades of psychology is that catastrophizing rarely leads to productive, action-oriented outcomes…and that by shifting our perspective even just a little bit, we can start to empower ourselves by feeling more capable and ready to take action.”
Ardoin shares that no matter the challenge we face, we can get up every day with a “fresh start” mentality, ready to try again despite the reality of the obstacles before us. We can celebrate the gains we have made toward our goals whatever they may be. And, we can look for positive actions we can take now both individually and collectively.
When they fail to cure the boy with the demon, Jesus tells the disciples. “If you only had faith the size of a mustard seed” you would be able to move mountains. “Nothing would be impossible for you.”
Now, I think it is a harmful idea to espouse that people who are unwell, who struggle, or who fail in their health, wealth, or any other matter simply don’t have enough faith. I think that idea is akin to the harmful prosperity gospel that keeps the rich rich and the poor poor by assigning a morality and supposed blessing to wealth accumulation that the Jesus I find in the gospels would have considered upside down and evil. That’s not an interpretation of this text I could share as good news.
No, rather, I think the good news is even a little bit of faith and hope can indeed have a powerful impact on our lives and the world around us. When it comes to learning something new or doing something difficult, for example, if we believe it is impossible we are unlikely to accomplish our goals. But if even a little part of us believes we can do it, we are much more likely to get where we want to go.
I read a research study once that claimed one of the best indicators for whether a child will grow into an adult who is happy and healthy is if there is at least one person outside their family who supports and believes in them. I have never forgotten that claim, because I have seen how precious it is to have even one person in our lives who helps us develop faith in ourselves and a trust that good things can happen in the future.
Another education-based research track that has long held my attention is the philosophy of expeditionary learning. Outward Bound is an organization that leads young people on various adventure-based learning experiences. On those adventures, one of the chief philosophies they impart to their students is that there are no passengers here. Everyone is part of the crew. If there’s something that needs fixed, done, or cleaned, and you can do it, then you do it. You’re part of the crew. There are no passengers here.
What is within our power individually and collectively? How can we claim and utilize even our little mustard seed-sized faith that what we do can make a positive difference?
My favorite Midwest-centered environmental comeback story is that of the Sandhill Cranes. These tall, lanky creatures that make a rattling call as they migrate in large numbers high above the Fox River Valley were once threatened and endangered. “In the 1930s, only two dozen breeding pairs of Sandhill Cranes lived in Wisconsin. Today, researchers estimate, the population in the upper Midwest is between 65,000 and 95,000.”[1]
What aided their comeback? Scientists believe the biggest boost for the Sandhill Cranes’ re-emergence across the Midwest has been the conservation and restoration of wetlands, marshes, and prairies, since these places are the birds’ preferred habitats for nesting and breeding. Individual and collective human efforts helped to bring this species of bird that dates back to the Pleistocene era back from the brink of extinction.
We could tell similar stories about the Bald Eagle across the U.S. and about the wolves in Yosemite. What’s more is that protecting the natural resources for these species to survive and thrive also serves the survival and thriving of the human species–of our own yet to be born descendants.
Whenever I see the Sandhill Cranes or rather, whenever I hear them, since that usually happens first, I am reminded of the hopeful story of their comeback. That hope makes it seem a little more possible to me that together we may well yet avoid the worst of the forecasted environmental crises of the coming decades.
In Matthew, when the resurrected Christ meets the women after they have been to the tomb that first Easter morning, he tells them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to meet me in Galilee.” We serve a God who deals in resurrection promises and impossible possibilities, who meets us in every place we make our homes and in whom we may bravely put our faith.
With such a God leading us on and calling all creation good, what do we really believe may be possible? Do we really believe we can move the mountain to the ocean?
That’s a tall order isn’t it? But aren’t there times when the challenges of our lives and our world really do seem so immovable and insurmountable as a mountain?
As a woman who names coal miners among her immigrant ancestors, I know that humans can indeed move mountains. I also know the generations-long environmental perils of trying to move a mountain all at once. That wisdom of my ancestors matches up with the unique wisdom of a teacher who once told me “real change is more like erosion than explosion.” With those words ringing in my ears, whenever I meet a metaphorical mountain that needs moved to the sea I find my hope and faith buoyed by imagining it being done by many hands one spoonful at a time. With steady, hopeful perseverance, and the grace of the God of resurrection possibilities, I believe we can face any challenge before us–be it global, local, or personal–with a sturdy, strong, and despite its size, mustard-seed-like faith.
May it be so. Amen.
[1] https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-met-sandhill-cranes-20171115-story.html
