"All the Nations" based on Social Principles on "Sustainable Policies and Practices" and Matthew 28: 16-20
I hear the word “disciple” used a lot in a lot of different ways, enough so that I’m not sure people know what they mean when they say it. So, years ago I decided to stop decoding it and just translate the word as it was originally meant.
A disciple is a student of a teacher. Jesus’ disciples were his students. When we talk about being disciples today we are claiming Jesus as our teacher or guru.
When the Gospel says “Go and make of all disciples” it is really an invitation to being students of Jesus together. While the early Christians called themselves “followers of the way” of Jesus, this is nuanced a bit as “learners of the way of Jesus.”
Which, I have say, I really like. At it’s core, the teachings of Jesus are neither complicated nor unique: Love God and love your neighbor. It is the living of them that is challenging.
One of the most consistent metaphors among disciples of Jesus is that of being siblings in Christ. It shows up in the New Testament, and continues to this day. If we are made kin by our shared faith, then it has implications. Because kin take care of each other. Kin redistribute resources so that everyone has enough. Kin rally to uphold those struggling. Kin have a right to make requests and sometimes even demands of each other. If we are siblings in Christ, we have responsibilities for each other.
If we are disciples, then we are siblings in Christ, students working together to understand God and engaging in mutual care and concern along the way.
The United Methodist Church talks about itself as a “connectional” church, and we are. In our structure, we are first United Methodists of Upper New York, and then this church is a local expression of the Annual Conference. We are united first of all. We also have national and global expressions, uniting us well beyond Upper New York. Which means that within our denomination we have siblings in Christ around the world.
The Gospel tell us to “go and make of all disciples” but these days, with 2+ billion Christians in the world, I think maybe that instruction might need to be heard a little bit differently. Mostly, I think the question should be about how we treat each other as kin as well as how we treat outsiders.
Which is to say, that I think the Social Principle about “Sustainable Policies and Practices” has a lot to say about how we treat our fellow disciples, and all the people on earth that God has made. Because the choices we make that are are sustainable have a lot of impact on others – as do the choices that are not sustainable. When we use single use items, they land as trash somewhere, usually near people already struggling and impoverished. When we consume fossil fuels we are using resources pulled from the earth somewhere, transported somehow, and impacting the quality of air in some places. And, those impacts too are disproportionately felt by already vulnerable people.
As a world, we desperately need sustainability, sound policies, and practices, and to think together about the long run. It is beyond time for countries to mandate that companies who make products to take on responsibility for the impact of their products and packaging over the lifetime of their products. As human beings and citizens, we need to prioritize each other’s lives and well-being over cost-cutting short-cuts.
I am the great-granddaughter of anthracite coal-miners, and there is a great example to be found in mining. Anthracite coal is the “clean coal” that fueled of of the US 100 to 150 years ago. Clean coal is, of course, a marketing scheme. One of my great-grandfathers who was a coal miner died of black lung, and the other died in a mine explosion.
But the example I’m thinking of here is that to safely mine anthracite coal, people had figured out how much coal needed to be left in “pillars” on each level of the mine in order to maintain the integrity of the mine and the land above it. As time went on, those pillars were required and regulated. And still the mine companies, after an area was completed, paid people on the side to go in and take some the pillars. After all, it was easy coal to extract and they cared about money, and not lives. Which meant collapsing mines, people buried alive, and even today the occasional collapse of homes into holes in the ground in the anthracite region.
The coal companies had no reason to care about their workers, the people who lived in their region, their impact on the environment, nor their customers. They were set up to maximize profit, and ONLY to maximize profit. And they did it, at any cost. Even taking out the pillars, even killing their employees, even lying to the public, even buying out the police, even shooting protestors and killing them. ANY cost. The anthracite coal miners ended up having some of the most important strikes in US labor history, and gained safety mechanisms, but the companies fought them every step of the way and ignored regulations continually.
It is safe to talk about the coal mine companies now, because they aren’t coal companies anymore (they are still fossil fuel companies though, so there hasn’t been a change in goals or values.) But the truth is that this is how US companies function. Once a company goes public, responsibilities are to share-holders to maximize profit. And, even private companies USUALLY follow the same model.
To even think about sustainability requires us to listen to God’s voice throughout creation calling creation good and telling people to act as stewards of the goodness. And, it would be possible to structure our country so that companies are responsible for profits AND for their employees. We could even add for the common good. Or for consumers. Or simply make them responsible for the impact of their existence.
These things are possible once we shake off the assumption that “maximizing profits” is a good reason for a company to exist! And heavens, it is a terrible reason for a society to exist.
A friend of mine spent the first few years out of law school in a warehouse looking through old documents so her firm could protect companies that engaged in prolific destruction of the environment. She hate it quite a bit, and eventually stopped being a lawyer. She also stopped recycling, and while that may sound horrifying, let me explain the reasoning. She read the papers about how much waste companies were making and she managed to fathom it. And then she thought about how much waste she made in her life and realized that unless the big producers were stopped, nothing we do as individuals would matter.
I still recycle, but her point is valid. Sometimes pretending that the container I get my yogurt in will recycle manages to help me pretend that things are OK and I have enough power to make the world a better place. But most plastic doesn’t really recycle and all of us recycling perfectly doesn’t impact things as much as changing our laws would. (Also, consuming less is just better than recycling later.)
What a wonderful line we have in our Social Principles, “Such cooperative efforts must include the development and enforcement of policies and practices that protect all sentient beings, and the promotion of sustainable economic development.” “Protect all sentient beings” is really just lovely.
Now, we aren’t going to get there all at once, nor by just wanting it. But paying attention to sustainability, caring about it, thinking about what it might look like, even being idealistic about it matters too. We won’t get there unless we think it has value and we’re willing to work on it.
For me, today, “Go and make of all disciples” means working with and for other people around the world in building the kindom of God. Which, pretty clearly, also means not making our lives easier on the backs of those already struggling more.
When you think about sustainability, what do you dream of? (Real question, asking for real tangible answers, even if they feel small.) What are you already doing? What are you ready to take on? (Also real.)
Thanks be to God for dreams of how life could be, and for the nudgings God gives us all towards it. Amen
May 31, 2026
Rev. Sara E. Baron
First United Methodist Church of Schenectady
603 State St. Schenectady, NY 12305
Pronouns: she/her/hers
http://fumcschenectady.org/ https://www.facebook.com/FUMCSchenectady















