Tomorrow’s Gospel lesson (Luke 18:1-8) is about persistence. Jesus tells the story of a judge who respected neither God nor other people, and of the widow who repeatedly goes to this “unjust judge” to ask for justice against her opponent. Her persistence wears him down, and he gives her justice just so she will stay away. Jesus says that if an unjust judge eventually does the right thing, God will much more quickly bring justice to God’s children who cry out day and night.
Then Jesus asks this question: “And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” How much faith in a God who hears our cries for justice do we have?
This week again there was discouraging news. Climate Progress yesterday reported NASA reports the hottest January to September on record.I read this week an interview by David Helvargwith the President of the Pacific island nation of Kiribati, telling of the unimaginable task Kiribati faces of trying to get wealthier nations to act on climate change soon enough and strongly enough to give his nation some hope of staying above water (yes, literally) while also figuring out what happens to the nation and its people if climate change continues on its present course. Already they have erosion and flooding at high tides, and salt water intruding on their cropland.
The response of the wealthier nations has not been positive, but President Anote Tong of Kiribati, like the President of the Maldives and others, is persistent in pursuing justice. If we are faithful to our baptismal covenant to seek and serve Christ in all persons, to strive for justice and peace, and to respect the dignity of every human being, we will join our voices with theirs.
Being persistently faithful is inseparable from being persistently hopeful. Even in the face of a daunting task, we continue to act to bring about a healthier planet for all. Our hope is that our faithful persistence will eventually wear down the powerful political and economic interests that respect neither God’s creation nor other human beings. Our hope is that our cries for justice and our acting as people who know justice is on its way will bring about the changes we need sooner rather than later.
Sometimes several things come together at once in a way that help us to see something we had overlooked or not seen clearly enough. For years, climate scientists have been warning us about global warming. For months, reports have appeared saying that the earlier predictions had been too conservative, and that climate change is happening more rapidly and dramatically than these scientists had expected.
Several things have happened in recent weeks that are helping more people become aware of the problem we face and the changes we could make that would lessen the severity of the problem. U.S. News has an article about the role of American religious groups in pushing for climate change legislation. Awareness of creation care as a fundamental piece of overall stewardship is growing. Out of that awareness has come action to urge the Senate to pass a major piece of climate change legislation this fall.
The timing of such a bill is important, as December brings the UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen. You might recall from an earlier post that this conference is considered extremely important because of the point we have reached with climate change; this may be the last chance to begin to reverse climate change before its effects are devastating for life as we know it on our planet. There are more voices saying this now. In a piece called “Copenhagen or Bust” that appeared in the September 28, 2009 issue of Newsweek, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: “If we miss this opportunity, there will be no second chance sometime in the future, no later way to undo the catastrophic damage to the environment we will cause.”
Leading up to the Copenhagen conference, there was a UN Summit on Climate Change held in New York on September 22. This was the biggest gathering ever of political leaders to discuss climate change, indicating the growing urgency and awareness of the issue. One hundred heads of state and governments gathered for this summit. President Nasheed of the Republic of the Maldives was one of the people who addressed the gathering. His island country is facing the possibility of disappearing as the oceans rise. His words are sobering:
The Gospel lesson for September 20 (Mark 9: 30-37) ended up being especially appropriate for a week in which such things were discussed at such a high level meeting. Preparing a sermon for St. Mark’s on the Campus for that Sunday, I thought about the people living on low-lying islands, in far northern villages built on melting permafrost, in the lowest-lying coastal areas around the world where so many of the poorest people in the world live. “Today’s lesson suggests that good discipleship calls for us to ask the hard questions, to set aside our own desires for status and power, and to welcome – to notice and build relationship with – the people who are most easily pushed aside and overlooked in our world. A big piece of discipleship today involves good stewardship of the environment, because the first and worst effects of pollution and climate change usually fall on the most vulnerable people in the world.”
These weeks that lead up to Copenhagen have more Good News from Mark that can help guide our decisions and thinking about climate change: the rich man’s difficulty in letting go of his treasure so he can live into the greater treasure of the kingdom of God, the importance of serving others instead of lording it over them, and the commandment to love God and one’s neighbor. These passages help us to find our way in a world in which we Americans are the people with wealth and power, and others in the world stand to lose all they have if we misuse our wealth and power.
The importance of the growing role of religious groups in the conversation about the environment may end up being not so much the addition of more voices urging our Senators – and our representatives at Copenhagen – to take action, important though that is, but the reminder of why we should care, and the voice of hope that God will give us the will and the means to do the right thing once we make the decision to be better stewards of God’s creation.
Meanwhile, more talks leading up to Copenhagen are occurring in Bangkok this week. The Philippines and Viet Nam are dealing with big floods from Typhoon Ketsana, and more storms are forming that could hit the Philippines again. There has been speculation that these huge rains could be related to climate change. That’s probably no more than speculation, but the sort of damage and loss of life we are seeing do give us a glimpse of what the future holds if we do nothing to avert major climate change.
Given everything that is happening this fall – all of the above along with things like the good opportunities to connect with God's creation in Nebraska in the fall, and our approaching Annual Council in North Platte – the plan here at Green Sprouts is to increase the frequency of posts on the blog for the next several weeks. Please send along anything that you think should be included in our conversation.
