While Christians can disagree on many things, I think most of us agree with Jesus when he said that we should love God with everything we’ve got, love our neighbours as we love ourselves, and even love our enemies. For me, this is the heart of the life of faith. Everything else is commentary. So, I was surprised that it had never occurred to me to ask a question that was a children’s time suggestion last week in a worship resource I use, “Who are my neighbours?” In this context, the question referred not to other humans – although we should love them too – but to all the non-human living things which also co-exist with us in our community and our region.
My neighbours include the maple tree in my backyard and the oak in my neighbour’s yard, the squirrels and chipmunks gathering acorns, the geese getting ready for a long flight south, the beautiful heron I saw in the stream on my way to work, the earthworms getting ready to overwinter in the soil and even the swarms of whatever annoying insect has survived the first frost and gets in my face when I bike on the trail towards Atwood. These are my most immediate neighbours but I also acknowledge as neighbours the eagle in the sky and the deer in the forest, the raccoon searching for scraps of food and the bear trying to eat enough for its long winter’s sleep. Who are your neighbours?
Then, how do you love these neighbours? What can you do to protect habitat? How can you reduce pollution and garbage? What impact might you have on climate change?
Caring for creation has always been a matter of faith. Nevertheless, thinking about it in terms of loving our non-human neighbours helps add an immediacy to the work which is desperately needed.
In 2019, the United Nations found that around a million animal and plant species are now threatened with extinction, many within decades, which is more than ever before in human history. The main causes of this are: habitat destruction, over-harvesting, climate change, pollution and invasive species. These are our neighbours. They are in danger of dying out. How can we do a better job of loving them?
