This Sunday (October 31) the world will meet in Glasglow, Scotland, (COP26), to work out a framework to sustain the future for all of creation. The leadership of this conference is under the United Nations. Twenty-five thousand people are expected to take part in this most international of meetings.
The world stands at a point on our road where we can work together (all humanity) to sustain creation or we can just go ahead doing what we do now and continue to heat up the atmosphere. Thoughtful people know that if we do not make some drastic changes in our ways of production and consumption we will head over the cliff to ecological collapse. Thoughtful people know that if we do not make drastic changes we are on the path of self-destruction.
All Christian people have a great opportunity to rediscover the great wealth and strength that our faith story brings us. We have been so preoccupied with personal salvation for the past five hundred years that we do not know that the first part of God’s revelation is the story of creation. The first place that God’s goodness is revealed is in and through nature.
This is not a time for us to reinvent the wheel. This is a season for all Christians to rediscover the first part of our faith which we have not paid attention to for the past five centuries.
Pope Francis gave official impetus to this rediscovery in 2015 with the publication of the encyclical (official church policy), Laudato si. He called upon all people to rediscover our “common home” and to care for the survival and well-being of all creatures. The teachings of this encyclical brings together our great concern for the well-being of all human beings and our concern for the well-being of all parts of creation. This is a powerful roadmap to move all Christians, and all people of good will, to a life of compassion and concern for every single human being and every single part of creation.
This is why the meeting in Scotland (Oct. 31-Nov. 12) is such a step forward for the world. This is an opportunity for all nations, corporations, faith communities, the media and all households to work together to make possible the sustainability of our common home.
Never before has humanity stood on the steps leading to our survival as a world. The only way forward is through cooperation and adaption to a carbon free world. It is possible for humanity to cooperate toward our own survival.
What can our faith bring to this international dialogue?
First, we can rediscover and claim the great value of creation. We need to fall in love with all parts of creation just as God has created all parts of creation in love and compassion. No one will ever try to nourish and sustain creation unless they have a great love for creation. We can rediscover what God has brought forth through the creation of every tree, squirrel, bird and human being. Nothing in creation is neutral in its value and place in our common home.
Secondly, we can claim the power that our Christian faith gives us to preserve through all the changes and the resistance that will be brought up as the world moves toward a carbon-free future. There are great fights and misunderstandings that will happen through this shift in our culture but our faith can give us strength and power to work through all the difficult times.
This is a great time to be a believer. We are living the Exodus (freedom of the Hebrew slaves in Egypt) in a new way but God is with us on this journey.
No comments:
Post a Comment