My son-in-law to be, named Steve, is a meterologist he is not a Christian but is not hostile. My uncle is a lovely regular church-going man, and in later years, a more committed Christian. It is interesting to hear them talk about climate change because while Steve is convinced it is happening, my uncle is a self-proclaimed climate sceptic. Their conversations can be quite interesting It s just the weather, my uncle will say whenever we talk about it. Steve on the other hand insists there is a climate change.
I agree with Steve . It is happening there is an ecological crisis not just a climate crisis Can I give you some facts: Firstly, the extinction of species as a result of human activity, happening for the first time in a period of decades rather than millennia. More than three species of plants and animals eliminated from the earth every day. Among the causes of this degradation are the conversion of forest to farmland, exhaustive fishing of deep-sea stocks and increased human development of wilderness areas.
Secondly, global warming. The rise of sea levels and global air temperatures, the melting of the Antarctic ice shelves and the increased occurrence of severe tropical storms are among the symptoms of what has been diagnosed as global warming , whereby the normal greenhouse effect which heats air within the earth s stratosphere is accelerated by higher levels of energy-absorbent gases such as carbon dioxide, released into the atmosphere by the burning of fossil fuels for the heating, transportation and electricity infrastructures on which developed societies de
. Our carbon footprints are now 10 need to be 2 tons each for sustainability!Thirdly, increased pollution. It is clear that the land, sea, river systems and air of the planet are becoming increasingly polluted by potentially harmful chemicals, on a global scale. The litany of threats is well-known: indiscriminate waste disposal has toxified areas of both land and sea; the increased use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers has damaged river systems; the release of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) into the air has depleted the ozone layer which protects the earth from the sun s ultra-violet rays, leading to an increase in the instances of skin cancers and blindness in humans and mammals.
Fourthly, degraded land. It is clear that 40% of global arable land is affected by serious soil erosion, linked to poor farming methods, both large and small scale. In many instances, Southern hemisphere populations have been forced to degrade their land in order to produce crops for export to the North. In drier regions, this results in increasing desertification and water shortage. However, desertification is also a problem in Europe and North America. For a long time, we have associated this kind of thing with the green movement and the liberal wing of the church, but not any more. Recently, this has become as close to a consensus issue as there is in church and politics.
So we have agreed it s happening. We can t stick our heads in the sand but how do we respond? I can vividly remember a conversation with folks from our old church in Bristol who had come from another church why? The last church tells us how to recycle but nothing else and we know that already! This topic is not just about recycling it s about God. This is the first of four principles for this topic I thought these through and then found almost the same thing in a very learned book a good sign!
That s not to say my brother-in-law to be has no integrity, but that we have something for him to hear. For us, yes, we work with all those concerned, but let s make sure our own thinking is God-centred. I don t often quote from my reading but here goes John Milbank says, The pathos of modern theology is its false humility, because once theology surrenders its claim to be a metanarrative to tell the big story about God - it can no longer articulate the word of the creator God, but is bound to turn into the (oracular) voice of some finite idol such as historical scholarship, humanist psychology, or transcendental philosophy , or can I add, perhaps, nature worship? This is a danger in telling people about recycling ONLY and a danger I pick up in some of the books on the subject a slide into idolatry But books on this topic are two a penny I heard a theologian say: stop talking about the environment everyone else is!
So let s not allow it to be an idol an excuse not to talk about and worship God. But as soon as you talk about God, you must speak about the creator God and the created world. As I said, it is really a question of theology - how we understand God God is creator, redeemer and sustainer Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Bible contains an ecological hope, a hope for all creation, not just a human hope we will see that in a minute. If you search the Bible, you will find a huge amount of detailed practical ecology mostly in the Hebrew Bible. To be honest, the NT just assumes most of the ethics of the Hebrew Bible.
Talking green is a sure way to sound good. It s important for our politicians to talk green. But it goes with action. David Cameron has gone to great lengths to get his house eco-fitted. He doesn t just want to talk about it!!! As I was thinking about this, I came up against a dilemma. I was having our basement painted. We tried to use up old paint but I realized that the kind of paint I was using was really being bought for its value and convenience to me rather than its eco-qualities. Did you know, you probably did, that normal paint is a potent chemical concotion and is a known carcinogen. Not only that but 15-25% of paint purchased every year in UK goes unused! So if you want any, let me know And in case we blame painters etc. did you know that professional decorators are 40% more likely to contract cancer I got hold of a mask for my decorator he didn t wear it
If I speak tonight and we tick the green box, but don t help people think about actions what a waste of time! A lot of the literature points out that green stuff is really about those who can afford it Quote criticism of Fox. What he writes is sloppy romantic rubbish which appeals to a certain type of believer, notably the affluent type who is shielded from political reality Hampstead liberals
Now the 7th MDG - make sure the environment is protected has specific aims about sustainable development policies, about slum areas and about safe water. By 2015, reduce by half the proportion without safe water the scaling up of technology around the world this leads us to the next area
It s easy for us to talk about cutting back on technology that pollutes and to forget that what other people want is MORE technology Did you know that child mortality is very correlated to poor sanitation? Every 15 seconds a child dies of water-related diseases. But this is just as things used to be in the UK. In 1850 the child mortality rate in British towns was 50%, half died before 5 years old, of typhoid, dysentery, cholera, diarrhoea because of unclean water. The Victorians solved the problem by separating out water supply and sewage providing us with piped water to our houses Let s give thanks for the hard work and technology that has gone into making our lives liveable and safe. This is not an anti-technology talk. 94% of Ethiopian population does not have access to safe water. 40% of world population does not have a clean place to go to the loo they need more technology, not less.
This leads me to my third principle
We need to be careful not to pretend we can turn back the clock or that somehow industrialization has all been a terrible mistake As I have said, technology is not bad! But we need to be constantly asking, what problem is it I have, that my brother has, that this new technology is going to solve? We probably all agree that poor access to safe water is a serious problem but how do we solve it? The issus of the distances people walk to get clean water has been well publicised in the past, and we probably know about people like Wateraid who put in hand pumps in villages But what about improving electricity supplies? What about the electricity required to run boreholes, for example? We could easily say the electricity needed in rural areas of developing countries must not be coal-generated is that realistic and fair?
And what about our own generation of power? There is a huge debate about nuclear power at the moment. Now it is not as easy as saying well let s just use less We do need to find ways of generating power, and the nuclear question is a hard choice. Buzz together for 2 minutes However, there are things we can do. For example, we save 4 times as much energy by saving current usage as we produce by nuclear power do away with standby . The slightest choice has a big impact! My last principle is:
As you may have gathered, my approach to this topic tries to be balanced. I want to show that practical ecology and the gospel go hand in hand and that s because I believe that everything we do now has eternal significance, for us and for our home our oikos where the word ecology comes from. This was illustrated for me on a trip to Kenya I was leading with CMS a few years ago. We were being hosted by a family who were water engineers. They were lovely and the work he was doing was vital in setting up locally appropriate technologies. But as we went from one set piece project to another, a member of our group got frustrated. Do you also tell the gospel to the people you help, he said, as well as helping with their water supply? I think that what I am doing by helping them with their water is the gospel, the engineer replied.
Our passage in Revelation 21 speaks about Jesus as the water of life . Is it literal water, or is it the water of eternal life an image of life in all its fullness? It s both-and surely. For Christians, Jesus provide both literal and metaphorical water and bread. Jesus is real water and real bread as we follow him now, he wants to satisfy all our hungers and thirsts both literal and metaphorical and he will satisfy us for eternity. How for eternity? Because he rose literally from the dead and his resurrection is not just a metaphor but a real event. He is now the one seated on the throne in God s place and he says: It is done I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end . Literal water now can point beyond itself to the water of eternal life because Jesus has achieved something which will last for eternity. He has died and risen again and will die no more.
So Revelation 21 is based on Isaiah 65 but have you noticed how it goes beyond it. Isaiah 65 is a vision of an earthly paradise where children don t die young, old age becomes the norm, a place where people have satisfying work, and a beautiful place to live it s a kind of wonderful set of 1st Millennium BC Development Goals. God promises a new heavens and a new earth not new in the sense of other, brand new, but new in the sense of renewed, radically different. The prophet says: There will be a new order in creation, centred around Jerusalem. The book of Revelation picks up the same language but shows that this amazing new order has come and is coming about through Jesus Christ. And here s the difference - after a final fulfillment when Christ comes again, beyond Isaiah, there will be no more death, no more crying, no more pain.
Is this a totally new world, unlike our own? No, the language shows that it s not a totally new, other world. Just as in French, there are two words for new in Greek one means new-renewed, kainos and one means, new-other, neos. The words used here are Kainos renewed. Things are going to change once and for all. But that doesn t mean our physical world gets totally replaced No, our hope is literal, physical, ecological our ultimate hope is that heaven will come to earth, not that earth will be destroyed and that we will stay up in heaven
So, will we work towards a world which gets gradually better and better until the new earth or will there be a final change which brings in newness? I think I see it more in the second sense, but in any case, that is in God s hands all we know is that everything we do in this earth has eternal significance, or as Paul puts it, our work in the Lord is never in vain.
Martin Luther said: if he knew that the kingdom of God was coming tomorrow, he would plant a tree today. We cannot make a new world on our own that is idolatry because we do not have the power to do that that power belongs to God and Jesus Christ but everything we do today has impacts in eternity. Every little action we take to develop and take care of God s creation can work for the new heaven and the new earth. So let s keep our eyes on Jesus and get practical.