"Religion, society, nature; these are the three struggles of man. These three conflicts are, at the same time, his three needs: it is necessary for him to believe, hence the temple; it is necessary for him to create, hence the city; it is necessary for him to live, hence the plow and the ship. But these three solutions contain three conflicts. The mysterious difficulty of life springs from all three." Victor Hugo. Preface. The Toilers of the Sea. Trans. Isabel F. Hapgood. Signet 2000.Victor Hugo was by no means interested in promoting organized religion. Whatever interest he took in spirituality was limited by his romantic rationality, his personal prejudices, and the turbulent climate of religion and society in 19th Century France. And yet, his dissection of the human condition into these three spheres is very significant and useful for examining our existence. Of the three--religion, society, nature--only religion deals with origins, eternity, and the telos, or goal, of society and nature. Without this goal, it is very difficult to build or struggle in any productive or meaningful way or to find harmony between the demands of nature and the demands of creating.
In our city, we often speak of sustainability, without ever asking the question: are we a sustainable people? Are we sustaining the right things? Why are we sustaining? It is a wonderful word with which we cloak our anxieties and lack of answers regarding the current status quo of society and nature. Alone, the word provides no true goal, no framework, and no methodology for developing our city, our province, or our country. It says nothing concrete about the human condition.
The mystery of life is that we have a basic need to live, and have to do so in the face of death. Our struggle in society and against nature is a struggle against the two great imperfections that define our limitations: sin and death. Without dealing with sin, we can never develop sustainable societies. Without conquering death, we cannot perpetuate ourselves, our children, our lives. Some two thousand years ago, Jesus Christ said that those who believed in him would not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16). And he also said that he was the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6). In other words, Christ offers us something far more valuable than mere survival or mere sustaining. Christ overs us the methodology, the truths we need to implement this methodology, and the life we need for sustenance and endurance. Christ is the solution to sustainability--on both a temporal and eternal scale. On a temporal scale, Christ teaches us how to take care of ourselves and the environment, training us to be good stewards, responsible citizens, and loving human beings building and preserving the light for civilization. On an eternal scale, Christ grants us a new heaven and a new earth (Revelation 21, 22) where we may dwell forever in perfection, face to face with God, once our mission in this world has been complete. As William Barclay once said: "Here is the essence of Christian belief. God neither abandoned the world, nor destroyed the world...in Jesus Christ He entered into the world to bring men back to Himself, to make men accept Him instead of rejecting Him, to make men submit to Him instead of rebelling against Him, to make men love Him instead of disregarding Him or hating Him. To put it quite simply, God in Jesus Christ pleads with men to come back to Himself and shows them the way to come back. So then we must teach that God is Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer of the world." (William Barclay. Fishers of Men. London: Epworth, 1966. 62.) Elsewhere, he writes: "Life is not a road that leads to nowhere; it is a road that leads to God; and the tremendous importance of this life is that it is the training-ground for eternity" (69).
Without religion, we cannot solve the struggles of nature and society. Without religion, we cannot penetrate and comprehend the mystery of life. Without Christ, we cannot have true religion. Christ is inviting you now to come to Him, and learn at his feet, to come and be free of sin and death, to find true sustainability in his salvation.
"For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: 'Death has been swallowed up in victory'. 'Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?'...Thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." (1 Corinthians 15:53-58)
