Day 10: Fri., 23rd Feb. Romans 4. 13-25
In this typically dense Pauline passage two phrases stand out for me: "Hoping against hope", at the beginning of verse 18; and verse 22: "Therefore his faith was reckoned to him as righteousness." The three verses that follow verse 22 are important too, since they include us, the spiritual descendants of Abraham. in the faith and reckoned ("Imputed" is a word sometimes used.) righteousness of our great forefather.
In a collaborative task of writing a simple textbook of ecotheology for Indian pastors I'm engaged in at present I got to write the final, theological chapter. The major task of the chapter has to be to discuss hope. Increasing numbers of scientists now believe that humankind has already influenced the climate of planet earth so much that the world has entered another era of geological time. It has been dubbed the "anthropocene era". Some believe that the most important question for our time, equivalent to "How can I be saved?" during the Reformation 500 years ago, is "Where is hope to be found in the Anthropocene?" The climate crisis is that serious. The veteran environmental campaigner, Nobel Peace Laureate, Oscar winner and former US Vice President Al Gore has said, no doubt of all that, that "The difference between hope and despair is a good night's sleep!"
Hope is, I think, the main contribution Christians and Christian theology can bring to the climate crisis. In my experience both scientists and "radical greenies" can be overwhelmed by the enormity of what we all face on planet earth. But in its way the set of circumstances Abraham and Sarah faced was no less serious than what we are living through today. During the first half of the '90s I ministered in a group of evangelistic, lay-oriented Lutheran congregations in southern Sweden. In an environment that was deeply suspicious of Christian faith the main congregation started a day care centre as a means of reaching out to young families. After several years of cautious relationship-building we in the congregation suggested to the parents that we start a discussion group on some Christian material that very gently looked at the Christian faith as providing a resource for life.
"And what do you think the meaning of life is?" we asked one night, feeling a little emboldened.
"The meaning of life is life," replied Bengt, a highly intelligent agnostic, instantly. We good Christians were speechless. In the context of the daycare centre, dedicated to the prospering of young lives, that was the best possible answer. As it is now for me, racing to finish this blog so I can drive 2 hours to spend some time with my new granddaughter.
I weep sometimes when I think of all too likely outcomes for planet earth. The 6th great extinction event. Terrible droughts and floods, submersion of coastal cities, a collapse in food production, rising social disorder, a resurgence of disease... If you want to be terrified by something really dystopian read Cormac McCarthy's mercifully short book The Road.
But there is something about having and not having children, of bearing and fostering life, that goes beyond even that. And Abraham and Sarah, to whom God had made extravagant promises of fathering/bearing a great nation, were old and childless. Yet Abraham chose to believe. To hope against hope. "Trots allt" is the Swedish word for it. "Despite everything." "Against all odds", to quote Phil Collins' song-title and the eponymous film. "That's what I gotta face."
And God came good.
We too are the recipients of extravagant promises. "I'm the resurrection and the life," said Jesus to grieving, brother-bereft Martha. "The one who believes in me, though s/he were dead, yet shall s/he live. And whosoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?"
Well, do you?
The thing that for me makes this promise simultaneously less likely and more exciting is that when Jesus was raised and returned He was not a body-less soul, en route from this doomed earth that was bound for destruction to some heaven. Instead, Jesus returned as the first instance and example of God's new Creation. My understanding of God's promise in the New Covenant is that earth, ravaged as it is becoming, will be made new. And every good thing you and I now do will be incorporated in God's wonderful project. What we call heaven and earth will be reunited under God's rule.
A brilliant Indian friend once said, "The good thing about Christianity is that it has a happy ending."
"Hoping against hope?" "Against all odds?" No. Biblical hope is confident expectation!
In a collaborative task of writing a simple textbook of ecotheology for Indian pastors I'm engaged in at present I got to write the final, theological chapter. The major task of the chapter has to be to discuss hope. Increasing numbers of scientists now believe that humankind has already influenced the climate of planet earth so much that the world has entered another era of geological time. It has been dubbed the "anthropocene era". Some believe that the most important question for our time, equivalent to "How can I be saved?" during the Reformation 500 years ago, is "Where is hope to be found in the Anthropocene?" The climate crisis is that serious. The veteran environmental campaigner, Nobel Peace Laureate, Oscar winner and former US Vice President Al Gore has said, no doubt of all that, that "The difference between hope and despair is a good night's sleep!"
Hope is, I think, the main contribution Christians and Christian theology can bring to the climate crisis. In my experience both scientists and "radical greenies" can be overwhelmed by the enormity of what we all face on planet earth. But in its way the set of circumstances Abraham and Sarah faced was no less serious than what we are living through today. During the first half of the '90s I ministered in a group of evangelistic, lay-oriented Lutheran congregations in southern Sweden. In an environment that was deeply suspicious of Christian faith the main congregation started a day care centre as a means of reaching out to young families. After several years of cautious relationship-building we in the congregation suggested to the parents that we start a discussion group on some Christian material that very gently looked at the Christian faith as providing a resource for life.
"And what do you think the meaning of life is?" we asked one night, feeling a little emboldened.
"The meaning of life is life," replied Bengt, a highly intelligent agnostic, instantly. We good Christians were speechless. In the context of the daycare centre, dedicated to the prospering of young lives, that was the best possible answer. As it is now for me, racing to finish this blog so I can drive 2 hours to spend some time with my new granddaughter.
I weep sometimes when I think of all too likely outcomes for planet earth. The 6th great extinction event. Terrible droughts and floods, submersion of coastal cities, a collapse in food production, rising social disorder, a resurgence of disease... If you want to be terrified by something really dystopian read Cormac McCarthy's mercifully short book The Road.
But there is something about having and not having children, of bearing and fostering life, that goes beyond even that. And Abraham and Sarah, to whom God had made extravagant promises of fathering/bearing a great nation, were old and childless. Yet Abraham chose to believe. To hope against hope. "Trots allt" is the Swedish word for it. "Despite everything." "Against all odds", to quote Phil Collins' song-title and the eponymous film. "That's what I gotta face."
And God came good.
We too are the recipients of extravagant promises. "I'm the resurrection and the life," said Jesus to grieving, brother-bereft Martha. "The one who believes in me, though s/he were dead, yet shall s/he live. And whosoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?"
Well, do you?
The thing that for me makes this promise simultaneously less likely and more exciting is that when Jesus was raised and returned He was not a body-less soul, en route from this doomed earth that was bound for destruction to some heaven. Instead, Jesus returned as the first instance and example of God's new Creation. My understanding of God's promise in the New Covenant is that earth, ravaged as it is becoming, will be made new. And every good thing you and I now do will be incorporated in God's wonderful project. What we call heaven and earth will be reunited under God's rule.
A brilliant Indian friend once said, "The good thing about Christianity is that it has a happy ending."
"Hoping against hope?" "Against all odds?" No. Biblical hope is confident expectation!
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