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The Great Work of our Time The Revs. Becky and Mark Edmiston-Lange, September 2, 2007 Tomorrow is Labor Day, the national holiday established in 1894 to recognize the contribution of all workers to the nation's productivity and common good. Labor Day had its origins in the Labor movements of the late nineteenth century and the union struggle to procure just and fair treatment for those who provided the backbone of the industrial revolution. The Sunday before Labor Day seems a fitting time to turn our attention, as our hymn puts it, to “work and its rewards.” The word “work” to many of us simply means that which we do to earn a living, as in “gotta get up and go to work on Monday morning.” Or, if we aren’t currently employed outside the home, “work” probably refers to those never ending chores necessary to keep body and home together. If we are in school, work means the studying that is required, the assignments we need to perform. Whatever our situation, it is important to give thanks that we have work to do and for our ability to do it. It is important also to give thanks for the benefits, monetary and otherwise, such work brings to our living. Gratitude is a primary religious response, and so it is appropriate to give thanks here for all the ways in which work sustains us. Our religion would call us as well to remember that there are still many people in the world today who labor under unsafe and harsh conditions and many who are not fairly compensated for their labor or who have insufficient work to adequately sustain them. Our religion reminds us that the work of economic justice is ongoing. There is another dimension to the concept of work that we would like to explore today—the spiritual dimension of “The Great Work.” Our two readings this morning, the one from Thomas Berry and the one from Matthew Fox, both use those words, “the great work.” Thomas Berry refers to the Great Work of a people, or of a particular moment in history, such as the creation of the western humanist tradition in classical Greece, or the creation of covenantal monotheism by the ancient Hebrews. Berry maintains that the Great Work of our time “is to carry out the transition from a period of human devastation of the Earth to a period when humans would be present to the planet in a mutually beneficial manner.” In short, the Great Work of our time from Berry’s perspective is to save the planet. Is saving the planet the Great Work of our time? Some will readily agree with Thomas Berry that the most important project now confronting the human species is the work of saving the earth. Others might argue with that assessment. But surely on some level we can all agree that clean air and sufficient water, for example, are not incidental but necessary to everyone’s well being. So whatever else we do, we must make sure that such elemental necessities are not threatened but instead preserved. And because such things as air and water are necessary for everyone, everyone must somehow or other participate in the work of their preservation. When there is a drought, for instance, people cannot individually decide that water use restrictions only apply to “other people.” If everyone thought that way the drought can become a disaster. Some kind of common agreement is necessary when environmental conditions require us to be wise stewards of the elements necessary for our well being. But the imperative for that sense of common agreement becomes much more potent when we view it from the perspective of Matthew Fox’s understanding of the Great Work. The reading from Matthew Fox, describes how all individual work participates in the one “great work” of the universe. Fox enumerates the interdependence of all things and the interrelatedness of all things, making the point that everything that is comes from the same original source, the singularity when the universe began. To Fox, there is only one work going on in the universe, the “Great Work” of creation or evolution unfolding. At first blush, it might appear as if Berry and Fox are using the words “the Great Work” to mean two different things. But in fact, these two meanings of the term “the Great work” are intimately connected. Indeed, both authors would say that it is only when human beings come to truly understand the oneness of work in the universe that we will be able to do the work, the labor, which will save our planet and save our species. Both Berry and Fox believe that we need a transformation of consciousness, a paradigm shift, in order to live in such a way that saving the earth becomes not only possible but immensely satisfying. What would such a paradigm shift entail? It would mean expanding our thinking so that ideas which are precious to us—ideas that once served us well and made possible many of the successes of the modern era—are re-framed within a larger context. What ideas are we talking about? Well consider the sense of pride we feel in the successful completion of some project. Look at that ditch I dug, that tower I made, that table I set, that jury verdict I produced, that engineering formula I perfected. Look at that, will ya? Our sense of pride in our accomplishments derives in part from our awareness of the amount of effort required and our awareness of how constraints of time, talent and money can impact our success. It does not often occur to us that there is, however, a larger context for all our efforts, the impact we have upon the environment. As long as there weren’t too many of us, and our powers were limited, the constraints of talent, time and money were all that we needed to think about. But now, if our desire for accomplishment only includes the struggle to muster time, talent, and money, we may well be doing work that eventually leads to our own and the earth’s demise. We have long struggled hard against an environment that has not always easily given up its riches. We have thought of the environment as something to be conquered or something to be exploited. Fox would suggest that we now must struggle with, not against, the environment. And he knows, as should we all by now, that if we continue to view the environment as solely an object for our benefit, we will lose. Fox would also suggest there are other traditional struggles that must be similarly re-framed. We have always acted as if it's us against other humans; that it’s the individual (or the individual company, or the individual nation) that matters most. Competition between persons and communities and even nations has led to a great many things, some good, others not so good. But that drive for success must now be re-framed so that cooperative behaviors become the norm. We cannot individually solve the problems that we face. All human beings must work together. And that is our great work, at which we dare not fail. Such a paradigm shift would mean adopting a consciousness of the earth as a living organic system where human beings truly understand that what effects one element of that organic system reverberates throughout the entire. Such a paradigm shift would mean radically acknowledging our utter dependence upon the earth’s friendliness toward us. It would mean embracing the interdependence of all human beings, recognizing that we are all part of one genetic family, abandoning the bellicosity that too often plagues human interaction. It would mean that individual and national concerns would necessarily have to be subsumed to planetary concerns. And we would have to abandon the fallacy that the earth and its gifts to us are infinite. Both Berry and Fox believe that the Great Work of our time, that of saving the planet, is dependent upon internalizing the idea that there is ultimately only one work—the great work of creation unfolding. We, as human beings upon this planet, have to develop a radical earth consciousness and come to understand ourselves as the “understanding heart of the universe.” Such a paradigm shift would necessarily transform the way we view individual human labor. If the Earth is a living organism, and we are the earth’s compassionate heart, then all human labor should respect the earth and its limits. The work we do, how we make our living, what occupies us, now have to be seen as having moral implications. Either we are honoring the earth and respecting its life transcendent of our individual desires, or we are committing ecocide and, by extension, our own suicide as a species. Environmental concerns are no longer an option. But what does such a paradigm shift imply for the many people in the world today who labor under unsafe and harsh conditions or who are not fairly compensated for their labor or who have insufficient work to adequately sustain them? If you are struggling to make ends meet, if you’re wondering where your next meal, or even your next drink of water is coming from, global warming is the last thing on your mind. And what about those who fear their jobs are endangered by the global economy or who can see no choice but to continue working for a company which pays little heed to environmental impact? For such people concern for the environment may seem like the luxury of an economic elite who can easily afford to make life style changes. In this country, for instance, the environmental movement and the labor movement have often been at odds with one another. Labor has often resisted environmental regulation fearing that it will cost workers jobs. Environmentalists have accused labor of shortsightedness, with failure to see that sustainability is an issue that effects us all. Viewed from a blue-collar perspective, the Green movement often does seem elitist, out of touch with those who often feel expendable. Viewed from the environmental side, Labor has failed to grasp the extent of the crisis we face. And so l oggers come to blows with tree huggers; the United Auto Workers oppose stricter mileage requirements for cars and the Teamsters and United Mine Workers support drilling in the Arctic, while environmentalists call for reductions in greenhouse emissions and preserving wilderness; and those whose livelihood depends on the extraction and use of coal, oil and gas fear they will be left behind in the push for clean energy. In the international arena, aid policies to stimulate economic growth in the developing world have often been at expense of the environment, while efforts to protect the environment have not always taken into account the interests of the poor. But in recent years there has been increasing awareness on both sides, green and blue, that the historical dichotomy—protecting the environment or economic justice—is a false dichotomy. Increasingly, there is evidence that the two movements can find common ground and make common cause. One factor in this rapprochement is the recognition by both sides that the poor and the working classes tend to suffer the most from environmental degradation. In the developed world the effects of polluted water, air pollution and chemical exposure and the associated health costs are not fairly distributed. They are unfairly born by those who cannot afford to move away from the sources of pollution or who do not have the political clout to thwart the location of pollution producers in their neighborhood. And in the undeveloped nations, the decline of major ecosystems has had an especially brutal impact on the poor, particularly poor women and children, as the natural resource base upon which they depend for sustenance erodes. Another factor in the rapprochement is a recognition that the efforts to save the planet, to move to a sustainable green economy will only be possible with a broad base of support. To make the necessary changes means having governments on the side of saving the planet; to have governments on that side require broad support from the populace; and if you want the support of the populace, those who need jobs make good allies. Interdependence is not only an environmental fact but a political and practical reality. When you survey the current landscape you find many surprising examples of the marriage of economic and environmental concerns. Take the Apollo Alliance, for example, a broad based coalition, endorsed by such diverse groups as the AFL-CIO and the Sierra Club, the Teamsters and Greenpeace, to name only four of its hundreds of labor, environmental, business and community partners, working to address both environmental degradation and social inequity, to develop renewable energy sources and sustainable jobs. Or the Blue-Green Alliance of the Sierra Club and the United Steelworkers, a partnership committed to mobilizing public support for policies that create good jobs and a cleaner environment. The Blue Green Alliance, together with the Service Employees International, the textile union, Unite, and the Union of Concerned Scientists, have endorsed a plan to reconcile environmentalists with workers frightened over the prospect of job loss in the move to clean power. Called Just Transition, it is modeled after the GI Bill and a similar initiative in the European Coal and Steel Community. It would provide financial support, health care and retraining for employees displaced by environmental regulation. The Blue-Green Alliance has also endorsed the idea of a national Energy Corps modeled on the Peace Corps, which would train youth from the inner city to retrofit public buildings and businesses for cleaner energy, install solar panels, and so forth. In the past few years there have been national, state and local Labor Conferences on Climate Crisis. There has been change in consciousness on both sides. Recent polls suggest that union workers support environmental regulation at least as much, and in many cases more, than the general population. And increasingly, environmental groups are stressing the opportunities for jobs creation in a green economy. And on the international level, too, a growing body of experience from around the world points to significant “win-win” opportunities for reducing poverty while addressing urgent environmental concerns. The UN’s Promoting Farmer Innovation programs have improved both rural livelihoods while addressing the problems of land erosion and water harvesting in several African countries. The UN’s Environment Facility Small Grants Program has supported a wide range of activities in over fifty countries to address livelihood needs while contributing to global environmental stability, including, for example, the generation of income from sustainable non-forest products for those living in endangered areas and the use of agricultural waste for bio-gas production as an alternative to gathering fuel-wood from forests. There are signs of hope that people are beginning to understand that the idea that we have to choose between concern for the environment or concern for those in economic risk is a false one. And there is growing acknowledgment that we unless we begin to change our ways, and soon, we really are in environmental peril. And there are burgeoning signs of people imagining a new way—a new way of structuring jobs and a new way of structuring our lives so that we need not choose. Of course there are still and will be disagreements about what concrete policies and strategies to pursue, but more and more people are coming to understand that environmental justice and economic justice must go hand in hand. If indeed the Great Work of our time, the most critical project now confronting the human species, is to save the planet (and Mark and I believe that is so) this moral imperative must be grounded in an appreciation for both our interdependence as a species and our mutual species-wide dependence upon the earth. Are we as a species beginning to develop such an earth consciousness? Is there a paradigm shift occurring? We believe, and hope and pray, it to be so. And we believe that this church has a critical role to play. For, you see, the Great Work we are talking about here is nothing less than a spiritual transformation—a spiritual transformation which will lead us to take responsibility for the well being of the planet and for the well being of our neighbor—a spiritual transformation which internalizes deep into our psyche, deep into the marrow of our bones, the knowledge that everyone is our neighbor and that everything that exists shares a common origin and a common destiny. We are all part of the one Great Work. |
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