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Honey bees in Italy-down
by 40%. Farmers in Cornwall can't bring in the harvest or plant winter
crops-it's been too wet. Another hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico, with
61dead in Haiti. A midge that carries the African Horse Sickness is likely
to follow the bluetongue disease. A midge that likes humid, warm conditions.
A disease for which there is no cure and which could decimate the horse
population of this land. Anchovies overfished to extinction in the Bay
of Biscay. The list goes on, and on.
Some mornings I wake in terror at the news. The world is changing -fast
and in frightening ways. The created order, that speaks to me so much
of God is under threat as never before, and none of us know where it will
end. There's lots of reason, I think, to be profoundly anxious and fearful
for the world we are leaving to our children. Unlike the threat of nuclear
war which hung over us in the cold war era, causing real anxiety, climate
change threatens long term and irreversible damage, and we are already
seeing the signs. The future is bleak, I believe. There was a debate on
the radio this last week about the terminology 'climate change' and 'global
warming' - both terms are too innocuous, the argument goes. Change and
warming are largely perceived as good things-on the whole we welcome change
as a fact of life; we like to be warm. We should be talking rather of
climate chaos, global catastrophe-so we take seriously the rising sea
levels, the extreme weather patterns, the changing range of disease vectors.
Instead we go on as normal. We are hamstrung-well, that's how it feels
to me-hamstrung by anxiety. It feels like anything we do as individuals
will be too little too late. We can't impact on the big industrial nations,
like China and India, who are now in the ascendancy. China, who this week
signed an oil deal with Iraq-and the US could only stand by. The global-political
scene is in flux-the old order changeth. Who knows where we will be in
20, 30 years time?
I think there are profound theological questions that are raised by the
changes we are witnessing. Will God simply stand by and watch humanity
destroy this fragile earth? Is that the end of the big experiment? Are
we so greedy and full of pride that we can be as gods and destroy the
very basis of life on earth? Is that how we are to be judged? And is there
no divine intervention that will turn the tide? Will God simply let this
happen? It seems so. Perhaps this is one major reason why people stay
away from church: all the prayers in the world can't change the future
we are bringing upon ourselves. Perhaps that's why society seems so hedonistic-drink
and be merry today; for who knows what tomorrow will bring?
You could argue-and some wacky Christians do-that God is behind it all,
drawing us onwards towards Armageddon, so that we can enjoy salvation-a
salvation that is nearer to us than when we became believers. I don't
think that. I don't think the destruction of the world-if that's what
we're contemplating-is God's fault, or part of God's plan. I think God
looks upon that projected future and weeps, much as Jesus wept over Jerusalem.
I think, rather, that God has given us the most wonderful gift of creation-a
creation that sustains life and gives us resources to flourish, to grow
into the mature people of God, to grow in the likeness of Christ. That
is what we are here for-and creation around us is indispensable for that
to happen. Imagine a world without any flowers. Imagine cold, wet Augusts
for ever more. Imagine a world without honeybees, without horses, without
food. Our survival and flourishing depends on God's creation.
St Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome. He told them to wake from sleep-that
it was now time to put on the armour of light; to put on the Lord Jesus
Christ.
What is it to put on the Lord Jesus Christ? Each of us-you, me, everyone
here is called to this-called to reveal the Lord Jesus Christ. Each one
of us, as we go about our daily business, is a place where the Son of
God is revealed. What are we revealing-or hope to reveal-as we do? Because
as we reveal the Son of God, we are church-God's community on earth; God's
redeemed people who show the world what life in God is. What we bind on
earth is bound in heaven: what we are here and now is what is revealed
of God. Rowan Williams, in his retreat with the Bishops at Lambeth gave
three things that revealed God. We recognise-and reveal Jesus Christ in
one another in healing and forgiveness, in promise and in challenge.
First of all, we reveal the healing and forgiveness that the Jesus of
the gospels offered in the name of God. That means we are set free by
God to show forth freedom from sin, from fear, from doubt. From anxiety.
So when I wake in terror and filled with anxiety, I am not revealing Jesus
Christ. Yes, we must be realistic about climate chaos-but we must also
be hopeful, confident, trusting in God.
Rowan then said we reveal and recognise Jesus in one another as we see
and live God promise of a future. In the words and the work of Jesus in
the gospels, God's own future has come close to us. Now is the time to
wake from sleep, so that we can receive and give a glimpse of God's future-in
this situation, in that life, in the face of that person-glimpses that
reveal God's purposes for the world.
Forgiveness and freedom. And challenge. Judgement. I don't know about
you, but when someone is critical of me, I tend to shrivel up inside.
I stop listening through a sense of inadequacy. When, however, I meet
someone in whom the kingdom of Christ is alive, I know I must change and
become like that. When we see such an abundance of love and generosity
in someone else, we know how far we are from God's grace. That's when
we are judged, when we chose to change for the better. The greatest motivation
to change, with regard to the climate chaos that faces us is not fear.
That merely makes us shrivel inside. Rather it is the recognition, the
revelation of God's wonder and grace in creation that helps us to see
why we must work to save this beautiful planet of ours. Of God's.
When I am full of despair and struggle to find hope, I find it really
difficult to pray. I wonder what good it will do. Usually I simply ask
God to help, and that gets me through. Again, reading Rowan's addresses
has helped. He mentions someone who told him that every time we pray,
God always creates a new situation. That's given me hope. You will know
that the clergy and others pray every day in the Lady Chapel at 8 in the
morning, 5.30 at night. Why not come along? Why not pray at that time
yourself if you can't? Let's pray a lot more-and imagine the new situations
that God will be able to create as a result!
In June this year, the four co-presidents of Churches Together in England
called upon Christians to use the period from 1st September to 4th October
as an opportunity to put the environment at the heart of their worship.
Concern for creation is fundamental to being a Christian-so let us respond
in private prayer, and in public worship. Now is the time for us to gather
in the name of Jesus, in twos and threes, to reveal Christ amongst us-Christ
who heals us, our communities, our broken and traumatized world. Christ
who promises the kingdom to us-the glimpse of God's future where peace
and justice will reign for all creation. Christ who judges and challenges
us to show forth grace, generosity and love of creation as a central aspect
of our Christian discipleship.
Let your faithful love come unto me, O Lord, even your salvation, according
to your promise, for my trust is in your word; my hope is in your judgements.
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