FossilFreeUMC

This reflection was written to be published in the upcoming MFSA newsletter.

As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. Indeed, the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up ramparts around you and surround you and hem you in on every side. They will crush you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave within you one stone upon another; because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.” Luke 19:41-44

Lent is a season to recall and live into the story of Jesus’s journey to Jerusalem and to the cross, and to recognize the truth of this story in the context of our lives. As I read this passage from Luke, I am struck by the compassion Jesus has for the people of Jerusalem and his grief at the direction he sees that they are headed. I find myself weeping with Jesus over the indiscriminate slaughter taking place in Gaza in a war that disproportionately maims and kills children.[i] I find myself weeping with Jesus over the present and future impacts of climate change, another form of slaughter that disproportionately harms and kills children.

Yet if we intend to follow Jesus on his path to Jerusalem, weeping is not enough. Even as he wept, Jesus warned the people of what would befall them and their descendants because they did not recognize the things that make for peace or the presence and action of God in the events of their day. Then he continued on his way to Jerusalem, where he overturned the tables of the moneychangers in the Temple, the center of the religious, economic, and political powers. His compassion, expressed in tears as he saw the city, led directly to his confrontation with the powers and ultimately to the cross.

As Convener of Fossil Free UMC, my primary focus heading into General Conference is climate justice, specifically the petition to add fossil fuels to our list of ethical investment screens. Becoming aware of what’s at stake with climate change makes clear that we must respond in ways that are proportionate to the magnitude of its impacts.

Many of us struggle to reduce our carbon footprints. Since we still use fossil fuels, we might feel hypocritical supporting fossil fuel divestment. Renewable alternatives are quickly becoming cheaper and more widely available, but fossil fuels still dominate. Not only are fossil fuels the dominant form of energy, but they are also politically dominant around the world. According to the IMF, governments of the world subsidize fossil fuels at the rate of $13 million a minute, or $7 trillion per year. We have been taken hostage by fossil fuel companies that lobby for subsidies, lobby against strong climate action, deceive the public through greenwashing, promote doubt about climate change, and claim to be moving toward “net zero” while doubling down on fossil fuel projects that they know will pollute marginalized communities and lock in climate-warming emissions for decades. Should our church be a part of this? By refusing to invest in banks, pension funds, and other institutions that provide funding for fossil fuel companies, we reduce our carbon footprint and further the transition to renewables.

Although many other major denominations have divested from fossil fuels, we United Methodists are still invested in fossil fuel companies through our banks, foundations, and Wespath, formerly The United Methodist Board of Pensions and Health Benefits. This is ironic since The United Methodist Church was the first denomination to pass a resolution in 1980 calling for a transition away from fossil fuels and toward renewables. As the first denomination to call for a just transition, we should join the rapidly growing global movement to divest from fossil fuels for the sake of climate justice, so we are not left behind.  Or will the first be the last?  

There are many companies with which a strategy of corporate engagement works well, but two decades of Wespath’s engagement with fossil fuel corporations has not resulted in them transitioning to renewables. Instead, we continue to pressure them to make relatively minor changes even as they are doubling down on fossil fuels.  Continuing to engage with intransigent fossil fuel corporations is not a path that leads to peace.

Lent is a time for repentance, not just for us as individuals but also for our communal actions. As United Methodists, General Conference gives us the opportunity to shake the dust off our feet, recognize the presence and action of God in the divestment movement for climate justice, join the many denominations divesting from fossil fuels, institute a church-wide conversion to renewables, and invest in things that we know lead to peace.  

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[i] Fossil Free UMC supports the General Conference petitions from UM Kairos Response, which encourages our church to divest its holdings in companies that support and profit from Israel’s occupation. Both Fossil Free UMC and UM Kairos Response are part of the Love Your Neighbor Coalition.

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Sharon Delgado is a retired UM Elder, Chair of the Cal-Nevada Climate Justice Ministries Task Force, member of the Coordinating Committee of the UM Creation Justice Movement, and Convener of Fossil Free UMC. She is author of The Cross in the Midst of Creation, Love in a Time of Climate Change, and Shaking the Gates of Hell. She blogs at sharondelgado.org.