"Learning From Lilies": Time, Covenant, and Revelation in the Eco-Theology of an Argentine Methodist Sermon

Abstract

This article will engage a transcribed sermon on climate justice originally preached by a Methodist pastor working in the community of Rosario, Argentina. Translated from the original Spanish from a local congregation’s Sunday morning worship recording, the sermon gives voice to a holistic call to discipleship in the face of systemic environmental exploitation.  Delivered in an Argentine context of increasing religious fundamentalism and authoritarian political tendencies, the sermon gives counter witness to louder, more conservative Latin American religious voices that do not find climate justice a significant or appropriate theme for biblically oriented sermons. The sermon also disrupts shallow definitions of eco-justice increasingly critiqued in more progressive, North American communities that claim environmental advocacy as their goal.