The Story of Stuff at Emerge

On Sunday March 14th some of us gathered at the Undercroft for some tasty popcorn to watch an animated film that depicted our habits of buying stuff and the impact in our ecosystem.

It was a thoughtful evening with a good discussion, some of us got this impression of the evening:

"I found it useful in helping me to remember why cheap stuff is usually bad, and why I should (and how to) change some of my North American consumer habits." -Laurel

When we buy things we see the little picture, the intended image of what we want to buy, but we miss the whole scope and impact of our purchase. We damage the ecosystem by ignorance and we became part of the problem. Environment exploitation and human rights abuses are some of the consequences of buying "cheap goods". We go for the instant gratification and do not question why this product is cheaper here in our Country than the place is assembled or fabricated.

So many good words came up that evening like; Tend, keep, dominate (depending what version of the bible you read) regarding the creation of God, and the one that stuck on my brain personally was "stewardship". We have to have always present whom is the owner of the planet, read Psalm 24:1

Then if God retains ownership, what means mankind has a dominion on earth?

Jesus parable of talents in Matthew 25:14-28 describes a more clear picture of stewardship and how to take care and use what was entrusted to us.

Humankind was given a special mission on earth, it was ordained by God. He takes care not only to us but to every breathing thing on the planet: Psalm 104:10-13

Things to ponder:

We are forgetful of God's love for his creation, so we forget to take care of it. God love us dearly and He call us to love one another as well his creation.

readings:

Genesis 1:26-28

Psalm 8:6-8

Exodus 23:10-11

Leviticus 25:1-7

2 Peter 3:10-13

Revelations 21:1

There is multiple conclusion to take from watching The Story of Stuff and reading the Bible.

Perhaps one verse may help us understand the respect we owed to God's creation:

Colossians 1:16 "For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him"

Joan Daniel