The Words We Use

“Therefore, make it your habit to confess your sins to one another and to pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.” James 5:16

Here’s my confession. Up until several years ago, I was a closet environmentalist at church and a closet Christian at work. When I entered the green scene five years ago, it was by way of a secular route: activism, and eventually, corporate sustainability. Talking about Jesus felt weird and out of place. So, I ended up becoming a walking jigsaw puzzle. All the pieces were in place and the picture looked great from far away, but a closer inspection revealed a lot of open seams. Although I was out of integrity with myself, it was the only way I knew how to operate.

Then one day, while doing research for a Sierra Club project, I attended an event to hear Dr. Matthew Sleeth speak about his book Serve God, Save the Planet. All of a sudden, it was like getting permission to mix my two passions together. In fact, it explained a lot that I hadn’t understood before. No wonder I had such enthusiasm for protecting the environment. All along what I was really trying to do was protect God’s creation! In working to heal the planet, I was also trying to heal my relationship with God.

Since that day, I’ve worked on bridging my faith with my work, which leads to some very interesting (for me), and sometimes awkward (for others), conversations. Among Christians, I can't help bringing up the environment, and among environmentalists, I find myself talking about God. These conversations have made me realize that, as Americans, it has been a long time since we really talked to each other and perhaps even longer since we really talked about Him (outside of church, that is).

Many of us have never read the Bible cover to cover. And yet, in today’s sound bite culture, you can find an enormous number of Christians who boil down the whole of humanity’s relationship with the natural world to a single word: Dominion.
On the flip side, we have the secular environmentalists. In the eyes of believers, these activists come off like walking billboards advertising an angry message. Finally, when everyone turns a deaf ear to each other, both sides end up preaching to the choir and we wonder why we don’t have more new converts.

This hit home the day I attended a business networking lunch. I exchanged cards with a woman named Sally, a speaker, a writer, and a Christian. It looked like we shared a lot in common. Wanting to get to know her better, I asked about her work. “I’m building my motivational speaking business, but my day job is in marketing with Chick Fil’A,“ she told me. “Oh, I hear that’s a great company,” I said. Curious, I asked, “Do you happen to know how your company ranks in terms of corporate social responsibility? How about animal rights? How do they treat their chickens?” She looked at me like I had grown horns. She gave a short guffaw and her tone cooled, “Um, let’s see. How do we treat our chickens? We kill them. Animals don’t have feelings or rights.”

Wham! I felt like I’d been slapped. “Oh, I didn’t mean to offend you,” I stammered. “I know where we humans rank on the food chain, but it doesn’t mean that we should treat animals inhumanely,” I explained. Somehow she managed to smooth my feathers (no pun intended) and we parted ways amicably. I have respect for her even though I can’t understand her lack of enthusiasm for my cause. I guess that’s an invitation to continue the conversation.

What came up for me from that exchange is that some disagreements simply come down to the words we use. Sally balked at “animal rights” but relaxed when I downshifted to “humane treatment.” Is it possible that we are all fundamentally alike, but just speaking different languages? We may never know unless more of us learn how to translate.

I’m excited about the path God has put me on. The reason I know it is His idea that I become this kind of “translator” is because it feels so darned uncomfortable. This wasn’t exactly what I signed up for when I got into sustainability. And yet, it’s thrilling to have found a way to serve Him and others. I prayed that I would find a way to make a difference, and now I’ve found it. Having awkward conversations isn’t always easy, but part of me loves to rock the boat, so it’s a natural fit. I am glad to get to share these conversations with other Creation Care enthusiasts so that you might find your own voice, too. Visit this column each week to help me keep the conversation going.

Anna Clark is president of EarthPeople, a Dallas-based sustainability consulting firm. She is an author, a motivational speaker, a columnist for Greenbiz.com, and a regular contributor to SustainLane. Anna lives in Dallas with her husband Michael, their toddlers Jordan and Ryan, and their pet Bullmastiff named Casper. Their home is the second LEED-certified Platinum residence in Dallas.