The Gulf

Not a day goes by that the National News doesn’t lead off with an update on the disastrous effects of the giant oil spill caused by the explosion of Deep Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico. Brian Williams begins, “This is day 72 of the massive spewing of oil. And still no end in sight.” The next four stories are submitted by on-the-scene reporters, complete with pictures and video. They show birds covered in oil, tar balls on beaches, and families lamenting the loss of their livelihood.

It is estimated that perhaps 20,000 to 50,000 barrels of oil are pouring into the Gulf every day. That’s a total of 150 million gallons. The floating oil slicks and subsurface plumes are destroying the ecosystems in the marshes of Louisiana. It is poisoning the fish of the sea, including sperm whales, whale sharks, blue fin tuna, sea turtles, shrimp and coral. It is starving the birds of the air and coating them in oil so they can no longer fly. We’ve all seen the heart wrenching pictures of birds being pulled out of the sea - some barely alive. And for others, it is already too late.

The government has prohibited fishing in what it has labeled “The Dead Zone” - which is 80,000 square miles of contaminated waters. Commercial fishermen have docked their boats, laid off their workers, dipped into their savings and filed their claims, hoping to get some financial relief from the $2.35 billion that BP has dished out so far. Hotels and resorts, and restaurants and tourist attractions remain deserted as the masses stay away from the white sand beaches that are no longer white. In a kneejerk reaction, the President has placed a 6 month moratorium on deep sea drilling - but that only compounds the problem because 120,000 people in the South make their living from oil - not fish.

It is bad. Everything about it is bad. The consequences are devastating on so many levels. The Gulf was once full of life and beauty. People longed to go there to get away and enjoy all it had to offer. And now, it has very little to offer because of the enormous amount of oil that is polluting the Gulf with very little resistance.

It was at our Saturday morning Men’s Bible Study a few weeks ago when Todd Schroering brought to our attention something that had not hit me before like it did this morning. We were discussing the book of James, a verse that we are all familiar with: “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress...” (James 1:27). We sat around and talked about the practical implications of this verse in our lives and for our church. We talked about what God expects of us. We talked about the need to help widows and orphans, and the children, and the poor, etc. This is good. This is acceptable by God. And deep down inside - most people know this. They might not make it to church on Sundays. They might not do a lot of other things in the name of religion, but they do feel passionate about taking care of the widows and orphans.

And then, Todd brought to our attention the second half of the verse... “and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.“ Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is.. to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. And that’s when it hit me like a ton of bricks - that you and I are created in God’s image. We are filled with life and beauty. We are just like the Gulf of Mexico! But something has gone terribly wrong! We are being poisoned and polluted by some bad stuff in this world. And we stink. And we are dying. And we are covered with sin that keeps us from soaring. We are spiritually starving. We are so far from the robust spiritual economy that we were destined to be because we have allowed ourselves to be polluted.

It is strange to me that this verse in James is so popular - and yet we have completely missed the importance of the second half of the verse. Keeping ourselves from becoming polluted by the things of the world is just not that big of a deal to most of us.

Uhmmm. I bet it would be if you were a bird in the Gulf!

Go Bless,

Pete Baumgartle, Lanesville, Indiana

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. - James 1:27