Read the entire "Our Living World" series here.
Genesis 1:11-13 portrays the emergence of plants as the first form of life on our living planet.
“Then God said, ‘Let the earth put forth vegetation: plants yielding seed and fruit trees of every kind on earth that bear fruit with the seed in it.’ And it was so. 12 The earth brought forth vegetation: plants yielding seed of every kind and trees of every kind bearing fruit with the seed in it. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening and there was morning, the third day” (NRSVUE).
It is important to ponder this. In this account, plants emerge before even the sun, moon and stars are created. Ignore for a moment the impossibility of plants without sunlight. Simply be aware of the priority of plant life asserted in this ordering of the events of creation. Animal life and human life all depend on plant life existing first.
To be sure, Genesis does not use the term “life” or “living” (“nephesh” in Hebrew) to describe plant life as it does to describe animal and human life. This does not mean it was not understood to be alive, however. “Nephesh” refers to that which can breathe and move about. We know that plants respire, something the biblical writers may not have known. Still, plants do not (usually) move substantially from where they are fastened to the earth, to rivers or seabeds, or to other plants. Even without breath or movement in the ways animals and humans have them, plants are essential to all life on this planet.
Genesis goes on to describe part of why plants are essential. At the conclusion of the sixth day, Genesis 1:29-30 goes on to say,
“See, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is upon the face of all the earth and every tree with seed in its fruit; you shall have them for food. 30 And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the air and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food” (NRSVUE).
In this account, plants are for food. They exist to help sustain all other living beings, animal and human alike.
We must, therefore, ensure they are cared for, in all their diversity, not only for our sake, but for the sake of our animal neighbors on this planet as well.
While official United Methodist statements about plant life are few, they reflect the awareness of our need to care for them as co-dwellers of our living world. In the preamble to the Social Principles on the Community of All Creation, we read:
“Human beings, nonhuman animals, plants, and other sentient and non sentient beings participate in the community of creation, and their flourishing depends on the care of all God’s creation.”
The Book of Resolutions includes more specific statements.
Resolution 1214: Church Land Use notes:
"God gave the earth plants that grow from the combination of nutrients in the soil, the sunlight, and the water, and that are used as food and shelter by other life forms on earth. These plants absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen, which cleans the air and provides humans and other animals with oxygen they require to live. Through transpiration, these plants release water into the air that cools the air and becomes the basis for precipitation that releases water back to the ground for use, once again, by plants and other animals." It goes on to make multiple specific recommendations about the plant life on church properties, from planting trees, to reducing grass lawns by 50%, to eliminating invasive species, to reducing herbicide usage, to planting edible plants for the sake of other creatures and the use of the community.
Resolution 5112:Green Team Formation calls for every local church and district to form green teams to put into practice the recommendations of "Church Land Use," particularly those relating to plants.
This commitment calls United Methodists to a proactive rather than a reactive approach to caring and working for the good of plant life, as part of those ecosystems, everywhere on earth. It is not enough to rescue endangered plant species or the old-growth forests that human harvesting endangers. Maintaining natural ecosystems means we seek to understand our link and the link of all other life-forms with the ecosystems of our living world and take actions that sustain those systems, including the plant life in them.
Recognizing that sustaining ecosystems, including plant life, is about sustaining all life, United Methodists also reject all attempts of human greed to make any part of those ecosystems proprietary, whether under patents or other claims of intellectual property. United Methodists reject the patenting of seeds or any organisms used in farming and agriculture (Social Principles, Food Justice).
The United Methodist Church also calls the U.S. military and others to account for actions that disregard and destroy plant life and with generational effects. In Resolution 3222: US Policy in Vieques addressing the impact of military activity on the Caribbean island, we state:
“One of the effects of 60 years of bombing has been the degradation, and in some cases destruction, of Vieques’ delicate ecosystems. Hundreds of species of plants and animals have been killed as a result of the direct impact of projectiles during military practices.”
While noting that United Methodist advocacy was part of what led to the end of these military exercises in 2003, and celebrating that outcome, United Methodists continue to call for justice for the sake of the people and the ecosystems, including the plant life, both on land and in the sea. The primary means of removing unexploded ordnance has been to explode it, only prolonging the damage being done across all ecosystems, including the plants at the base of those systems and the food supply.
Despite few references to plant life in United Methodist official statements, those we have extend widely. As individuals and local churches, we are called to interact with, understand, respect and work for the good of our neighbor plant life. As a denomination, we call ourselves and others to care for every ecosystem, all the time, including plants. And we call on businesses, nations and international bodies to account for actions that damage plant life and to act to reverse that damage, so that our living world may thrive.
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