Selling the car for gas money: Choices of the absurd
So what words come to your mind when you think about water?
Thirst.
Wet.
Fish.
Swimming.
Showers.
Gas…
Did I say gas is connected to water in my mind? Nope. In fact, when faithful Brethren chick Mary Lorah-Hammond showed me a picture of the words that came to mind of two grade-school girls from Flint, the word gas stuck out to me as odd. I could easily connect the other words on their list, but I couldn't begin make sense of the word gas when it appeared on the water list. Lead, yes, but gas? Do they make a car that runs on water? Hydrogen? A return to leaded fuels?
“Like vapor?” I asked Mary. She shook her head "no" and began to tear up just a little.
“One of the girls at the lunchtime activity said she asked her mom for some water and they were out." Mary said. “When she asked if they could go get some water because she was thirsty, her mom said they couldn’t. They didn’t have enough gas in the car to go pick up water for the house.”
There are so many problems related to the Flint water crisis that we cannot possibly think of resolving quickly. Actually it seems we can’t even begin to imagine all of the problems that might arise if we lack the resources to resolve even some of them. At First Church of the Brethren, we distribute water. We will give so much away to larger families that we worry the springs on the car will fail under the weight. We also provide bus passes to give to people without their own car or access to a car. If you are as big as I am, and reasonably strong enough to perform basic tasks, you might be able to get two cases of water from a store or distribution point to a bus, or walk home with them. A wagon, if you have one, might hold six cases. Yet I am often reminded by some of our smaller-in-size regulars at the church that they are too small or a little too elderly to be hauling water around. Carry a few cases of water around every day (a family of five might use six to twelve cases a day) and tell me how your arms feel.
Yet, even when folks have a resource such as a car – you still need gas in the tank. And, if you have to drive a few miles outside of the city for a living wage job, as many folks do; or even to get to Walmart, which does not pay a living wage, every drop of gas counts, and you might choose gasoline over water. Imagine being faced with such a choice. I couldn’t, because, while I have scrounged pennies for gas in my life, I have never had to put gas in the car instead of spending money for water, or running out of gas in pursuit of free water. I live in Michigan; we conserve gas not water. (jOking.)
Actually, we rarely worry about either when gas prices are low and we live in the center of the Great Lakes. We know that we should, and we harp on people when they waste anything. Yet politically, we cannot muster the energy to ensure that our place atop God’s water-table wonderland can prevent chemical clouds from overtaking groundwater, or keep lead out of our drinking water. Most of all, we seem to lack the wherewithal to ensure that every child in our state has continuous access to clean water. We seem not to believe that fresh water is a right. In fact, I'll risk suggesting that legislative rhetoric may not be the maneuver the church wants to prioritize anyway, despite its value.
Rather, we need to be concerned with care of water and nature as a part of our faithfulness. A people who care for nature are reflective of God’s own care for us, and for Creation. When Christians reject responsible conservative stewardship of water or any other natural resources, we reject grace outright. We can do that - Christ, in fact, allows for us to reject grace, as well as God’s invitation to reflect grace. We should choose kenotic stewardship, however, as an important witness to our faith.
As far as religious or theological arguments go, none of our commitment to kenotic stewardship rests on scientific facts, resource availability or access, nor does it rest on political power. Our commitment to stewardship of God’s Creation is one that is based in simple piety – don’t use more than we need, don’t waste resources, and don’t use progress or wealth as an excuse to use more than what is needed. Because one is wealthy does not give them the Spiritual go-ahead to take more than what they need, especially at the expense of others. Golf courses in Arizona come to mind. Fresh January vegetables in freezing climates come to mind. Pineapple comes to mind. Every bit as much as a Hummer or the daily use of a farm pick-up for long-distance pleasure drives, our food and water consumption is as reckless as it might be sinful.
This is never a matter of legalism. It could, however, be a matter of the way we read the Bible together. No conservative or liberal should find it easy to deny that we are to provide food and water for those in need, just as neither side of the spectrum should find it difficult to read the Bible together and find ways to explore what it means to empty ourselves of privilege on behalf of the earth and the rest of God’s Creation. While we are chosen as stewards, it does us no good to wield power over the Earth in a manner that destroys our very future. We may be surprised at judgment day when God shows more concern for the state we leave the earth in than the fact that it is time for us to leave. And, trust me, using water or food for fuel is not a good idea, especially if it is cheaper. Do we really want to begin using farmland and aquifers for car fuel? It seems open to discussion, perhaps much more so than discussing using our automobiles less as an act of faithfulness.
