"The Ecology of Personhood"

Why care for all people across the world? What responsibility do we have for others who are not our family or friends, or even common citizens of the United States of America? These questions have come to mind especially during the first quarter of this year when we have seen more and more movement in the USA toward isolationism. What it really comes down to is that as a person on this planet we have a responsibility to care for all others on the planet. Further, as Christians we need to live our lives with the consideration of how our lifestyle will affect all others in the world. It is what I call "the ecology of personhood."

Ecology is usually thought of as protecting the environment, or the earth. But a secondary definition is “the branch of biology that deals with the relations of organisms to one another and to their physical surroundings.” With that second definition in mind you can understand how the relationship of people to people can emerge as a kind of ecology. The problem when people or a country become isolationist is that they no longer treat other people as equals sharing a planet, but they treat them as someone to be managed, someone to help them survive. They want others to help them be the fittest of human beings...to survive and thrive.

I watch CNBC from time to time and often am surprised at the cheering that goes on when financial markets other than the United States do worse or fail. This is an example of not really caring for others as equals. On this day in which Brexit became a reality certainly we wonder if the long-standing solidarity of the people of Great Britain with the continent of Europe is being weakened. Could their caring more for their own economic gain over standing with many other countries in the European Union be the beginning of an isolationism that will prove to be detrimental to the free countries of Western Europe? Is it the intention of our U.S. government to follow suit, haughtily stand free and independent. We seem to be like a young capitalist not caring for anyone, not even his/her own parents.

Caring for all people is built into the creation story. In paradise, all creation was in balance, with Adam and Eve placed there to take care of the world, even as God took care of them in placing them there. As they overreached their limits and tried to be like God they were banished from the garden, banished from paradise. Consequently, every person we have met (including ourselves) must deal with both trying to go it alone (and be like God) and selfishly seeking the good of themselves and their closest persons. But the creation call for caring for all people in the world still is in force. We are to open ourselves up to the needs of the world and respond with empathy and sharing. If we have been so blessed to live well in a country that for the most part thrives economically, then we ought to share from our wealth with others everywhere.

Last summer I was serving as an interim pastor at a church in Wausau, WI that was host for two weeks to over twenty-five pastors and laypeople from South Africa. I listened to them talk about the meagre resources they had to survive, yet alone thrive. When we asked the pastor of the parish that we were matched with what we could do to help, he said two things: we could give money to put locks on the parsonage door and we could help put a roof on the church. We shared the same mission, praying for one another, but we certainly had a disparity of worldly goods.

The ethics of responsibility motivates us to care for all people. As Christians, we believe that “God so loved the world that God gave God’s only Son that whoever believes in Him might not perish, but might have eternal life” We are created in God's image to have dominion over the world by caring for others. As those who are created in God’s image, the whole cosmos is the arena for our loving and caring. What we have is not meant to be guarded selfishly, but we are to give to others as God first gives to us.

We may be going through a period of isolationism in America, but I suspect the pendulum will soon swing back toward opening our walls and doors to others. Meanwhile, those of us who really care for the whole world and all people in it, ought to do the best we can to pray for and care for the people God created in the world. It is our calling to care for the well-being of all people.