Coming Home to Earth

As a young Norwegian Lutheran teenager in rural Wisconsin, Brocker lay awake one night worrying whether he believed in Jesus enough to get to heaven. This getting-to-heaven anxiety reflected an excessive focus on individual salvation and a loss of concern for the well-being of the Earth community. A faith journey that leaves Earth behind is misguided. Ever since those early teen years Brocker has been on a journey to come home to Earth.
Coming Home to Earth makes the case that there is no salvation apart from Earth and that Earth care is at the core of our identity and mission as followers of Jesus. The ecological consequences of a loss of concern for the well-being of Earth have been devastating. Brocker is especially concerned to determine what will motivate followers of Jesus to make radical changes in our way of life so that we can participate in the healing of wounded Earth and all of its inhabitants, both human and nonhuman. We are far more likely to make needed sacrifices for our fellow creatures if we share God's delight in and affection for them, and cherish Earth as our home.

""Coming Home to Earth offers a fertile vision of earthy, environmental Christianity for the twenty-first century. Brocker brings a crucial set of skills to this vital work--a preacher's understanding of the Bible, scholar's knowledge of the field, pastor's wisdom about human nature, and a faithful person's desire to live peacefully with God's earth. Anyone concerned with how Christians and our churches can respond to environmental challenges has much to learn from this book.""
--Kevin J. O'Brien, Pacific Lutheran University

""With a pastor's touch and clear prose, Brocker narrates his own conversion to Earth as a follower of Jesus. Get the book and gather some friends for collective study and response, for what could be more important for the coming years than to quit our lives as 'a prodigal species' and truly come home to God's Earth?""
--Larry Rasmussen, Reinhold Niebuhr Professor Emeritus of Social Ethics, Union Theological Seminary

""Brocker shows us how to find God here on Earth, as a homecoming. Coming Home to Earth counters childhood anxiety about going to heaven with wonderful homecoming images, from salmon migration to the biblical Prodigal Son; from Kenya's tree-planting Green Belt Movement to Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Martin Luther. Brocker shares astute pastoral insights through his own journey home to Earth, including the surprising environmental legacy of a Republican governor. I love this book!""
--Barbara R. Rossing, Professor of New Testament, Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago

""Just as the prodigal son repented of his arrogance and returned home, a prodigal species needs to repent of its environmental arrogance and return to its Earth home. In this passionate appeal for ecological humility, Brocker combines serious theological insight with sound practical wisdom to point the way back. Along the way he reminds human creatures of their need for beauty as well as bread.""
--Martha E. Stortz, Christensen Professor, Augsburg College


Ordained in 1985, Mark Brocker has served since 2005 as Lead Pastor of St. Andrew Lutheran Church in Beaverton, Oregon. He chaired the Environmental Ministries Committee of Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon (EMO) from 2009 to 2012 and currently serves on the Executive Committee of the EMO board. He edited Conspiracy and Imprisonment: 1940-1945, volume 16 of Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works. He was an adjunct professor in theology and ethics for Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary from 1998 to 2014.