Lately, when the Rev. Canon Sally Bingham, president and founder of Interfaith Power and Light, preaches a sermon about the United States’ dependence on fossil fuels and the possible shift toward renewable energy sources she turns to Luke chapter 5 and the metaphor that Jesus used when talking to the frustrated fishermen on the Sea of Galilee.
“When it’s not working, put your nets on the other side of the boat,” Bingham, also an Episcopal priest, said in a telephone interview from Washington, D.C., where Interfaith Power & Light, a national organization with 35 state affiliates aimed at mobilizing a religious response to global warming, is having its annual meeting.
“After a hundred years’ of fossil fuels, it’s time to look to alternatives. Put the nets on the other side of the boat. Wind, sun, geothermal ”¦ just like oil, gas and coal, they are God-given resources. What Jesus was saying was, when something isn’t working, try something else.”
[blockquote]Bingham and 70 faith leaders representing diverse religious perspectives — Bahá’Ãs, Episcopalians and protestants of all denominations, Roman Catholics, Buddhists and Jews — planned to visit with U.S. senators and their staffs May 5 to advocate for strong climate and energy legislation, including removing offshore drilling from the climate bill.[/blockquote]
This generation seems to be under the strange illusion that they can produce engineering feats simply by demonstrating.
The fact is that demonstrations cannot produce renewable sources of energy.
Our country and the world would be better served if these misguided demonstrators would hit the books and do the hard engineering work that is necessary to develop and produce renewable energy sources that work.
I fail to understand why some misguided folks feel compelled to mix politics and religion. Yes, I’m Episcopalian; but no, I’m not in favor of more government interference. Let the free market be free, thank you. That’s how the greatest advances have come about.
How much energy is consumed to heat and cool all those empty Episcopal churches?
She is not “mobilizing a religious response to global warming.” She and other like her are parasites using religious hosts to advocate for the political action they want.
#2 Betsy–One of the largest single budget items in TEC’s budget is the Washington lobbying office. When the deputation from my diocese suggested it be cut or eliminated in 1997, we were practically hooted out of the hearing room. In 2009 TEC/Executive Council eliminated the church development/evangelism office, but we kept the lobbying office. That should speak volumes about the kind of “church” we have become.
Using the Reverend’s analogy I’d like to propose that with ASA in TEC slipping drastically, that maybe they should try putting their nets on the right side of the boat.
although i agree with most of the message i wish this were coming from a conservative leader. and no, it isn’t a justice issue it’s plain common sense.
Well sure, whenever I read Luke chapter 5 in the past, I always just knew that the Lord was talking about renewable energy!
I suppose the miraculous catch is really about those poor dumb firshermen not knowing enough to try their nets on the other side of the boat. Of course, the boat never moved and the fish were just waiting there the whole time. All they had to do was try something different. The miracle is that they listened and tried something new, not that the Lord demonstrated His power and provision.
Of course, they really shouldn’t have taken all those fish, though. I mean, they are doing what fishermen today are doing by overfishing. hauling in so many fish that the boats were sinking is just plain greed! /sarcasm
You know what’s funny? The text of her “sermon” (sic), Luke 5, doesn’t tell the story about the nets being cast on the other side of the boat. Nope. That story is from John 21:1-11 and it happens AFTER the resurrection. Luke 5 is when Jesus is first calling his disciples.
[blockquote]
Luke 5:4-7
4When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”
5Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”
6When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 7So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. [/blockquote]
[blockquote]
John 21
Jesus and the Miraculous Catch of Fish
1Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Tiberias.[a] It happened this way: 2Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. 3″I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.
4Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.
5He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?”
“No,” they answered.
6He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish. [/blockquote]
I take it back. It isn’t funny. It isn’t funny at all. It’s tragic. It’s a disgrace. It’s pathetic. But, it isn’t funny. She couldn’t be bothered to read the text she was allegedly preaching from? How very Biblically illiterate! She went to seminary? This is her calling…her profession?
What she is doing is political activism. The IRS needs to look at revoking her 501c3 status. Seriously, that is just politics in the pulpit!