Sara Tiersma
December 23, 2024
Colossians 1:19-20: “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.”
Lamont Hartman, co-lead pastor of Reconcile Church, guides his racially diverse Christian community of believers under the values of three R’s: repentance, responsibility, and repair. According to Lamont, because he has been reconciled by God he believes he is called to repent and turn from his old ways, take responsibility for injustices that he sees, and take action to repair the damage done to his community. He leads by example, and implores his congregation to do the same.
One of the ways that his community has taken on this call is by participating in an Interfaith Climate Action Working Group through the Wildland-Urban Interface Climate Action Network, or WUICAN. The collaboration offers his congregation an opportunity to reconcile not just the people of the world, but the land and the environment. “I don’t step into spaces where I’m gonna feel like I’m an expert,” he explains. “I step into spaces where I’m learning, and this is certainly a space where I’m learning about climate injustice.”
Lamont first gained awareness of the environment as a child living in a low-income apartment complex in Nashville. There he had access to only one trash can, yet while visiting a friend’s house he saw a line of cans each with a different label. Curious, he asked his friend why. His friend taught him about recycling and the importance of taking care of the environment and not littering. His curiosity grew from there into his education.
Lamont first felt called to the ministry while studying business administration at a historically black college. When he graduated, he pursued a master’s degree at Regent University in theology and is now working towards his doctorate. In his higher education, he has been encouraged to think theologically about humans as stewards of God’s creation and to ask himself, “Hey, how am I stewarding the earth?”
Lamont believes his faith tradition teaches that God has entrusted him, as part of humanity, with resources so that he can have a healthy life. He doesn’t own the land; instead, he has a responsibility to take care of it. He also has a duty to address any of the injustices that affect people who look like him. As an African American, Lamont believes that being involved and having a voice is important to raise awareness for other minorities.
Lamont delivered a breathing prayer during Air: An Interfaith Exchange, an event organized by the WUICAN Interfaith Climate Action Working Group at the Jain Center of Southern California, where he asked attendees to breathe in the injustices that disproportionately restrict air to certain people and breathe out the hope for justice for these communities. He was encouraged to see a number of his congregants participate in this interfaith climate action event as well as a previous event, Water: An Interfaith Exchange. Lamont hopes the movement will grow as he leads his community into a space where they continue to learn and participate in climate advocacy.
Drawing on Reconcile Church’s three R’s, Lamont’s goal is to see members actively engage and do their part in the conversation. “We don’t know that part yet, you know, but I think it will be revealed in time.”
Sara Tiersma is a senior at the University of California, Irvine, where she is majoring in Literary Journalism. She is a 2024-2025 WUICAN Climate Communications Fellow with the UC Humanities Research Institute (UCHRI).
WUICAN acknowledges our presence on the ancestral and unceded territory of the Acjachemen and Tongva Peoples, who still hold strong cultural, spiritual and physical ties to this region.
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