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JANUARY
2007 - THE
STORM
CLOUDS
GATHER
Elizabeth Goodridge and
Ian Yearsley of Southwark Diocese consider the major challenges
of climate change and rising debt…
Those who wish to follow Christ in 2007 must face and consider
some serious issues. We shall be looking at two of the most
serious: climate change and debt over the coming year. Both
have deep biblical roots, both take us to the very nature
of God and his purposes for his people and his created universe.
Climate change surrounds us. Despite efforts by some industrial
and political groups to rubbish the idea, the reality of climate
change is now being recognised, along with the facts that
this earth's inhabitants are responsible for it, and that
drastic measures will be needed to avoid it becoming a global
disaster.
For this is not like some natural disaster where we can reflect
on what our faith means when good people suffer bad things.
Climate change is the result of the lifestyle of the affluent
West and humanity's squandering of God's gifts for
more than a century. Putting things right will take more than
low-energy light bulbs or double glazing.
Yet we need to see this in the light of God's love for
his people and his creation. It is a love which provides generously
for all to live in community with God, something expressed
by the word "shalom". But it is also a love
which judges those who seek to appropriate wealth for themselves
instead of sharing it. The riches of the world are provided
for all to enjoy, not for a few to squander.
From now until June we shall look at this problem, the measures
needed to tackle it, and what all this tells us about the
God we worship. Then we shall look at debt: individual, national
and global; does it reflect the generosity of God or the greed
of humankind? Are these concerns of Christian faith? Yes,
if you take discipleship seriously.
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