In his book, David outlines seven spiritual values which he feels are essential in contributing to the health of the earth community. First of all, what do we mean by earth community? David defines the earth community as the world that God loves, a world of creatures, of earth, of humanity that is bound up with one another:
- a world where we recognize that the survival of the human community is dependent upon a thriving natural world.
- a world where we recognize that forces of destruction and injustice in the human community seriously threaten the larger natural world.
- a world where we as humans recognize that our health and wholeness is linked to the larger web of life
According to David, a healthy earth community will depend to a large extent on humanity embracing the spiritual values of gratitude, humility, sufficiency, justice, love, peace and faith & hope. In today’s sermon, I will highlight the values of gratitude.

Let’s start by trying to understand what we mean by quality of life. As a way to discern this, I would like you to take part in this short exercise. You may wish to take out a pen and jot down any thoughts on some of the blank spaces in your bulletin. First, I’d like you to recall three “high points” in your life. – moments of great energy, or joy, or meaning. Moments when things felt right and good. Now once you have named those high points take time to recall:
- what you were doing?
- whom were you with?
- were there any material things essential to making this experience possible?
In workshops, where people have participated in this exercise, it is common for those “high point” moments to include experiences of friendship, love, birth, death, time in nature or the wilderness, experiences of community, moments of discovery, the overcoming physical and other challenges. What is also common is that these experiences generally reflect little or no need for material things, or only for very simple things. The common findings of these workshop participants and perhaps your own experience here today, are in conflict with the pervasive cultural messages of our North American Society about what makes a good quality of life. Listen to some of these advertising pitches – all for motor vehicles:
“When it comes to keeping your kids happy, it’s beyond compare.” - (The 2003 Odyssey. A minivan)
“For those who like to be stirred by nature, not shaken” – (Outback by Subaru)
“Seven passenger seating for the family. Soul- stirring performance for you” (Mazda mini van)
“Stop torturing yourself. What you want is what you need” – (Infiniti)
“Explore your playful side” – (Honda)
…or how about these for skin creams, perfumes and personal products:
“Purified again and again” – (Biotherm cream)
“Live to Love” – (Celine Dion Perfume)
“What if you could capture radiance in a bottle?” – (Aveeno moisterizer)

Listening to these advertising slogans in isolation, we can all scoff. Of course we know that driving a mini van is not a soul-stirring event. Of course, we realize that no body cream can purify our lives, and yet day by day and year by year, we are gradually lulled into lifestyles that consume more and more – why? Because somewhere along the way, we have bought into the myth that the more we acquire, the happier and healthier we will be, the better our quality of life will be. In fact, in reality, the opposite seems to be true. In our quest to own more and have more, according to a 1998 General Social Survey conducted by Statistics Canada, Canadians are working longer hours, have less leisure time, and experience more stress than they did in previous five years. We are discovering that consumerism isn’t delivering what we thought it promised. What we thought would give us a better standard of living, has in fact negatively impacted our quality of life. What consumerism is actually giving us is increasing stress – what some call “hurry sickness”, strained relationships –at home, the workplace and in the community, overwork, galloping debt, and in some areas outright threats to our health from environmental pollution.

We also need to ask what consumerism is doing to our sense of what it means to be human. What does it say about the purpose of being human? Are we only successful and productive human beings if we can consume more? And if there is always one more item to buy, one more thing to acquire, how can we ever express gratitude? How can we utter the words “I have enough – I am content”. How can we learn to distinguish between what we really need and the greed that will never be satisfied? If we look to things to fill us up, what place does God and other relationships of love have in our lives?

David Hallman views consumerism as part of a negative cycle of spiritual emptiness. People feel a lack of meaning and purpose in their lives and seek to fill the void by consuming more material things, which in turn leads to a deeper spiritual poverty, which leads again to more consumption. According to David, this cycle cannot be broken until we practice gratitude. Without a profound gratitude for life and its blessings, no matter how meager they may seem, one’s spirit can easily dissipate into a cycle of depression, anger and frustration.

Emily Kamau, a staff person with the Nairobi, Kenya, a branch of the World Student Christian Federation on an exchange visit to the United Church of Canada reacted strongly to the wastage and excess that is so prevalent in our culture. She recalled an event she attended where the participants played a game that involved wasting food. She said, “People don’t play with their food in Kenya: they thank God when they have some.” When we give thanks to God, we begin to change our focus. We begin to recognize our dependence on God, other people and the earth. Gratitude encourages us to let go of the assumptions that we are in control and that we alone are responsible for our well-being.

Wasn’t that the mistake of the rich farmer? He lived in isolation from his community, he assumed that he was in control and that he alone was responsible for his own happiness. His lack of gratitude to God, meant that he only lived for himself; he neither gave nor received the essential gifts of love, compassion, or joy. There is no suggestion that in his wealth, he felt any need to share generously with others. In the end, rather than experiencing abundant life, he came face to face with death. But gratitude propels us toward the life that God offers.
- Gratitude to God, expressed in the grace we say before meals helps us to acknowledge that the food we eat is a gift of the earth and a gift of many hands.
- Prayers of thanks upon waking or before sleep, help us to focus on what is most important to us – the relationships with those we love, the glory of a sunny day, the beauty of the greening earth, the soft touch of spring rain, the sounds of laughter and of silence. And the more that we offer prayers of thanks to God, the more God opens our hearts to recognize what are truly the treasures of life.
- A life lived in gratitude also invites us to grow in our care and concern for more than our own existence.
- When we are grateful for the love of a friend, we grow in concern for her.
- When we are grateful for the health of our bodies and for the opportunities to learn, we grow in concern for the community and the people that make this possible.
- When we are grateful for the food we eat, the water we drink, the land that offers refreshment and recreation, then we begin to care about it’s health and well-being. And as our concern grows for others and this planet, we will find it only makes sense to live more simply, to give of our time and talents to the building of caring communities, of a healthy environment, of a just and peace-filled world.
Then and only then, will we begin to live and understand Jesus words, “I come that you may have life and have it abundantly.” The abundance, Jesus talks about is not in the accumulation of more and more things, but the
- abundance in relationships that are healthy, just and loving;
- abundance in time to reflect, to pray, to be with, to be still;
- abundance of clean air and water, of creatures and plant life.
- abundance of our own quality of life as we discover the depths of God’s love and care for us, and celebrate what it truly means to be made in the image of God.

In a World Council of Churches resource of readings and prayers, Elizabeth Tapia of the Philippines, wrote this Earth Credo that I hope will inspire us to live abundantly, so that the whole earth community may live.