We’re talking about the end of the world; must be Advent. (Or election season in America…)
The end of the world, Jesus suggests, will not sneak up on us, tiptoeing in quietly:
“There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken."
(This week's gospel reading is here.)
Nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves; sounds like the latest warnings from environmental scientists, and Pope Francis. For those who track the melting of the ice caps and the rising of the seas, the increasing ferocity of storms and fragility of food production, also sound the alarm about the conflicts the resultant scarcity may unleash among humans. What are we doing to each other, and to the planet we call home, with its wondrous diversity of creatures and abundant food supply?
Will the end of the world, when it comes, be man-made or God-ordained? Are we to work to save God’s creation or hasten its implosion? I’m still betting on the former – I don’t believe God has invited us to help destroy the earth, but to build God’s reign in the here and now, bringing about a just and merciful creation built on the promises of God. In that sense, we are all to be about the business of climate change. And by that I mean much more than environmental ministry.
The people who follow Jesus as Lord are charged with fostering a climate of godliness, of humility, of generosity, justice-seeking, peace-making, love-giving. Not only are we to live this way – we are to create a climate in which others can experience transformation and live this way too. That is the pattern we see in the community of sinner-saints who surrounded Jesus and later his apostles.
What marks the emotional climate in your community? On your Facebook feed? In your local media? Is it a climate of suspicion and division, or honest inquiry and supportive assistance? Is it a climate of violence in word and deed, or generous debate? Does it celebrate death or nurture life?
And then this: how are you being called to change that climate? Where does God want you to show up? What does God want you to say? Who does God want you to love, to challenge, to break down, to build up?
We are responsible for the climates in which we live, in more ways than one. I pray we can truly be climate changers in the best sense, creators of an emotional, political and spiritual climate in which children can thrive and all those who are wounded can be loved back into wholeness. Even us.
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