Plastic Jesus

Dear Friends in Christ,

This Sunday we will be including some creation themed prayers in our liturgy to observe Earth Day, April 22nd which falls on Monday this year. The Episcopal Church’s Creation Justice Ministries have produced a resource for congregations to use for Earth Day called Plastic Jesus: Real Faith in a Synthetic World. It is intended to make us think about our use of plastic and its impact on God’s creation, including marginalized and vulnerable people who are most adversely affected both by climate change and the industrial process that produces plastic and contaminates the environment. Since it was first produced in 1907 and began being produced on a global scale in the 1950’s, the use of plastic in our world has reached epidemic proportions. The following excerpts from the Plastic Jesus guide describes this better than I can:

“Single-use plastics have become one of the most urgent environmental threats. These are too often buried in landfills or dumped untreated in our precious water sources. Even the manufacturing process itself has been identified as a major source of climate warming greenhouse gas emissions.

As people of faith, we are not exempt from the overuse of plastics. Communion cups, nativity scenes and Easter eggs are just a few of the Christian staples that contribute to our single use plastics issue…

Plastic pollution damages habitats and interrupts natural processes, reducing the ability of ecosystems to adapt to climate change, directly affecting millions of people’s livelihoods, food production capabilities and social well-being.

Our waterways bear the brunt of this pollution, which interferes with navigation and disrupts commercial and recreational fishing. Ocean wildlife, including birds, whales, fish and turtles, can easily mistake plastic waste for prey, resulting in consumption of plastic that can’t be digested, which leads to starvation and eventually death. Infections, reduced ability to swim and internal injuries are also the result of this consumption of plastic.

Microplastics also pose a risk to human health…

…many of the petrochemical plants that contribute to the insatiable demand for products derived from crude oil or fossil gas, such as gasoline and plastics, exist in close proximity to Black communities. People who live close to these production facilities experience severe health consequences, including cancer, organ malfunction, impaired sensory organs (eyes, skin), birth defects and many more illnesses…

…plastics can take anywhere from 20 to 500 years to decompose, depending on the material’s structure and environmental factors such as sunlight exposure. Less than 14% of plastic packaging is recycled. With plastics being composed of several different polymer types, it is nearly impossible to recycle different plastics together as they melt at different temperatures. Additionally, to be recycled properly, plastics need to be separated. This is not only time consuming, but costly…

Justice for creation requires a rethinking of our relationship to plastics. Is it enough that we recycle and find alternatives to single-use items to reduce the amount of plastic that ends up in landfills? How do we account for the fact that plastics are often produced in historically oppressed communities so that their very production harms the health of Black, Brown and poor White communities?...

A theological conversation on plastic has to begin with an understanding of sin. So often we think of sin as the individual acts of harm that are committed between individuals. And while this is true, we can’t stop there. Sin is also the harm that communities and societies do to other communities and the vulnerable within their own and ecosystems have to be included in that understanding of “community.” Conventionally we think of sin as the acts of harm that are committed between individuals. And while this is true, we can’t stop there. Sin is also the harm that communities and societies commit against the vulnerable amongst themselves. That includes vulnerable ecosystems. Lack of intent does not equate to lack of harm. That we don’t intend to pollute fragile ecosystems and neighborhoods does not absolve us from culpability in the damage that our oversized demand for plastics creates.”

A few years ago, we made the decision at Saint Anna’s to minimize and eventually discontinue our use of plastic. We no longer use single use plastic items for coffee hour or fellowship events but silverware and china plates or compostable paper products. We use glass cups for communion and reuse the plastic eggs for our Easter Egg Hunt year after year. Doing this involves an increased cost and is more labor intensive, but we feel it is an investment our faith requires us to make. This Earth Day, I invite you all to examine your own use of plastic, especially single use plastic, and pledge to reduce it. It could be as simple as taking a reusable bag to the grocery store, or more complicated, like cleaning and personal care products that do not need plastic form companies such as Blueland, or Zero Waste store.

Yours in Christ,

Rev. Jane+