When a woman becomes a mother in the community where I lived in Uganda, her name changes. I recently gave birth, so if I were back in Bugembe, instead of Anna, people would call me Mama Helen now. What does it mean to have my identity change THIS much - so much that my name even changes? Becoming a mom has transformed how I understand and live my life; It changes everything.

At a recent family reunion, I unexpectedly had to leave early for my daughter’s health. Getting in the car, driving away from my whole family, my brother hugged me and said, “Keep putting her first.” A reordering of my priorities–my identity of mother took precedence over my identity as sister, cousin, and daughter. (not that any of those people would have wanted me to do anything differently).

Perhaps this is what Jesus is asking us, in hyperbolic language. He doesn’t want us to actually hate our family - he did say that the greatest commandment is to love after all - but to reorder our lives under the identity of his disciple. Throughout Jesus’ ministry, he showed his disciples that we are called to love everyone with the same commitment as our family; putting the most vulnerable first. And we can’t do it halfway: it changes everything.

This is a powerful reading to start the Season of Creation; a time to consider how our relationship with our Creator and all creation could change everything.

We can think of ourselves as separate, like this, humans and nature. However, this is horribly incorrect. We are a part of, not apart from, nature; God’s creation.

And we are fully surrounded! Everything we see, smell, and feel in nature; everything we eat and drink is from and of God. How truly amazing is that? As Pope Francis wrote in Laudate Deum, “If ‘the universe unfolds in God, who fills it completely… there is a mystical meaning to be found in a leaf, in a mountain trail, in a dewdrop, in a poor person’s face’. [40] The world sings of an infinite Love: how can we fail to care for it?” I am profoundly intertwined with everyone and everything, my very self is a part of this choir singing of this infinite Love.

St. Francis sang this relationality in the "Canticle of the Creatures" 800 years ago, praising God through Sister Water and Brother Fire. Just as it was no question that I would prioritize the well being of my daughter over a time of fun, could it be that I am called to do the same for all of God’s creation?

Our ecological sisters and brothers are suffering. The current climate and ecological outlook is dire. Our atmosphere is warming at an alarming rate, due to our choices. Our constant drive to create more, go faster, buy more; maximize profit at all costs, is expanding the burning of fossil fuels, when we know we need to stop. This is a death sentence for the people who are poorest, and innumerable species of animals and plants, and eventually, for all of us as it exacerbates natural disasters and decimates ecological cycles. Creation is crying out: “Stop!”

This is terrifying enough to make us want to turn away and shut down. But throughout the Gospels, Jesus points us to prioritize relationships; understanding the other helps us see the impacts of our society’s brokenness, and then invites us to make choices that heal and transform. All hope is not lost.

What does this tangibly look like for me now? Well, one small way: becoming a mom comes with a lot of… stuff.  Including the stuff I learn about at 4am while our baby won’t settle… everything on the Internet says just “Add to Cart.” (Many of us know this button well). Finger over the “Place Order button,” the first pink glimmers of sunrise illuminating Mt. Rainier out our window catch my eye. Seeing so much brown where I used to see the white of snow capped glaciers, even in the summer, breaks my heart. I feel a sense of kinship with the mountain, currently suffering because of our warming atmosphere. My mind jumps: we know the ecological impact that click causes to earth: the price we all pay that isn’t incorporated into the dollar amount.

Is this teether worth the emissions its production causes, which will make the world less safe for my daughter, my friends in Uganda, people I don’t even know, and the places I love? Feeling humbled, my broken heart, for my daughter’s future as well as the mountain, have me closing the app: their well being is well worth a little extra effort on my part.

A friend told me about a local Facebook group of young local moms. I posted there, and got offers of the exact thing we needed, plus advice, compassion, and even a new friend.

While it may have seemed like a sacrifice in the moment, albeit pretty small, because I didn’t just click to deliver, my relationships with people and creation invited me to pause from what seemed immediately best for my family, and there was another option which is better for ALL of us: the common good.

I see people leaning into this discipleship identity all the time: in uncomfortable dinner conversations when we ask that we stop eating red meat, working to divest bank accounts from the fossil fuel industry, at work, petitioning to become net zero, going to or organizing protests, choosing to work for the common good at the sake of a larger paycheck, as a teacher, nurse, non-profit employee, janitor, or bus driver. And it’s not always just these actions: it’s also choosing to lean into the relationships with Creation and our Creator: to grieve when we hear about the killing of children or the silencing of the whale song, rather than just rushing past the pain, or to rejoice when we see the first flowers of the year springing up through the soil.

When the diocese of San Diego chose to divest from fossil fuels, they did so because they were not willing to profit off of the destruction of God’s creation and our children’s future, not because it would impact their bottom line (even if it didn’t).

In a society that seems to reward those who can amass the greatest wealth, being a disciple means choosing the common good and preferential option for the poor, rather than a bigger storehouse (or bank account).

Am I willing to sacrifice for my Sisters and Brothers, just as I would for my blood relatives? These relationships are more important to me than wealth, esteem, and personal comfort: can I sacrifice for all of God’s creation in the same way that I do for my child? Profoundly countercultural, but I’ve never heard of a time when choosing to build the Kindom wasn’t worth it: it often creates more joy!

We will not just immediately get to this relationality. We do not think ourselves into new ways of living, we live ourselves into new ways of thinking. We need to spend time surrounded by our sisters and brothers of creation, as we would any relationship, learning the names of plants and animals, the conditions for their health and what causes them harm, in order to undergo this ecological conversion. That’s why we are inviting you to go out on Pilgrimages of Hope for Creation during the Season of Creation!

Spend some intentional time reconnecting with God in Creation, because understanding who we are in the midst of all of God’s creation can change everything.