Jesus teaches us to “Love Your Neighbor as Yourself”
How do we do that in the Diocese of Vermont?
by the Reverend Anita Schell-Lambert
Mountain Echo, September 2008

This month, Bishop Ely has invited the Rev. Anita Schell-Lambert, rector at St. Peter’s, Bennington, to write a column for his usual space in the Mountain Echo. Schell-Lambert is chair of the committee that is planning the program portions of this year’s Diocesan Convention. Its focus is on environmental sustainability.

At the 2008 Rock Point Summer Camp, counselors, campers and staff followed this definition for sustainability in all aspects of their life at that special place on Lake Champlain: “Living in such a way that provides for the needs of today’s people while at the same time assuring that future generations have all that they need to lead fulfilling lives.” This is the working definition and urgent vision that we are adhering to at this year’s 176th Diocesan Convention, entitled, “Tending God’s World—Now.”

The theme of sustainability reminds us that the entire world is our neighbor whom we are called to serve. As the refrain to the Ghanaian hymn underscores, “Jesu, Jesu, fill us with your love, show us how to serve the neighbors we have from you.”

With the looming harsh reality of global warming, how do we serve our neighbors, both near and far? How do we commit ourselves to drastic reform so that we are not stuck in the grim realities of our present ecological crisis? Here are 10 mindful steps that you can take right now to live more sustainably and simply so that our neighbors here in Vermont and around the world may flourish.

1. Sign up today to participate in a Ministry Fair near you! Every one is encouraged to attend one of these fun and Spirit-filled days with friends in the diocese. Choose from five workshops in the morning. Worship and break bread together. Hear from the youth of the diocese. Be a part of the pre-convention hearings in the afternoon, a time to learn more about the topics to be acted upon at Convention. These fairs are chock full of practical ways that you can make a difference in living more intentionally. In keeping with best environmental practices, you can save the paper and register for a Ministry Fair by emailing adminasst@dioceseofvermont.org.

2. Hear acclaimed author and environmentalist Bill McKibben lead a forum on climate change on Friday, November 7th from 3 to 4:30 p.m. at Trinity Church, Rutland.

3. Take an energy audit! In November 2007, delegates to the 175th Convention of the Diocese of Vermont unanimously resolved that each of its parishes conduct an audit of its energy use and consumption patterns and that each parish file a report before the 177th convention. To help you and your congregation achieve this goal by Convention 2009, members of Vermont Interfaith Power & Light will showcase an energy audit at each of this year’s Ministry Fairs.

4. Eat Locally. As part of a new feature of Ministry Fairs, we will show you how communities around the diocese are growing and serving their own food. A delicious home-cooked lunch at each ministry fair will feature soups, local cheeses, apples and other fall foods for a suggested donation of $5 per person. Bring your own mug for coffee and strive to have a “no waste” and no paper lunch. Enjoy the meal while you lessen your carbon footprint. The communion bread baked and served at the Ministry Fairs will also be made using local ingredients.

5. Go on a low carbon diet to decrease your (and your congregation’s) ecological footprint. Learn more about this diet for everyone at the Ministry Fairs.

6. As Jesus taught his disciples, pray without ceasing. Prayer builds community and networks of support that bring strength beyond measure. In the words of the bumper sticker, “Prayer changes things.”

7. Get outside and walk, hike or bike during this beautiful time of year in Vermont. As we work to heal the planet, the planet in her infinite beauty will begin to heal us.

8. Support legislation that seeks to leverage US government actions for the benefit of vulnerable communities affected by climate change. Join the Episcopal Public Policy Network to learn of upcoming legislation and how to contact legislators (www.episcopalchurch.org/eppn/).

9. Cultivate a culture of neighborliness by getting to know your neighbors where you live, work and worship.

10. Support the work of the Millennium Development Goals. In the words of this year’s Convention speaker Bill McKibben, “If the rich world began making less extreme demands on the planet, poor countries would have more physical margin to work with—a little slack. This is desirable, of course, because the poor world is too poor.” (Deep Economy, 197).

When William Booth founded the Salvation Army in the London slums in 1865, Victorian England was not kind to its poor. Early on, Booth was arrested for his charitable work. He persevered, nonetheless, and by 1880 was ready to send his troops to America, where the Salvation Army now numbers thousands in all 50 states.

One Christmas, the story goes, Booth wanted to send a cable to Salvation Army posts all over the world. A long cable was out of the question—money was tight. So he chose a cable with one word. That Christmas, Booth greeted his co-workers around the world with this cable:
OTHERS.
That single word, “others,” encapsulates Jesus’ call to us to love and serve our neighbors as ourselves. Service happens when we embrace the needs, the hopes, and, above all, the suffering of others, near and far.

Toward the end of her career, Helen Keller was speaking at a midwestern college when a student asked Keller, who was blind and deaf from early childhood, “Miss Keller, is there anything that could have been worse than losing your sight?” Helen Keller replied, “Yes, I could have lost my vision.” May Helen Keller’s vision be our inspiration to make our collective voices heard as we seek to care for our neighbors by tending all of God’s world.

Each of us has an important and irreplaceable role to play in the healing of our planet. The future of all life, including our own, depends on our deep and abiding commitment to a sustainable future. Our mindful steps today will take us to that place where, in the words of writer Frederick Buechner, our “deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” May it be so.