The Storm is here

In our Season of creation this week is Storm Sunday – an opportunity to reflect on the importance of storms in the intricate web that sustains life in this God given world. They can be inspiring and awe inspiring events. But they can also be incredibly destructive. And they are growing larger, more frequent, and more damaging by the year. For many, storms are increasingly to be feared. It can feel like Jesus is once again asleep in the back of the boat. Or are we?

They are also symptoms of a bigger storm – the storm of climate change. A storm that threatens to shred our way of life. Within that storm we find another – a moral storm. The same drivers of consumerism and greed that lie at the heart of so much inequality and poverty in our world lie at the heart of this storm. Pope Francis says in Laudate Si, “The human environment and the natural environment deteriorate together; we cannot adequately combat environmental degradation unless we attend to causes related to human and social degradation. In fact, the deterioration of the environment and of society affects the most vulnerable people on the planet… The impact of present imbalances is also seen in the premature death of many of the poor”.

The storm is here. We have helped create it. As people who walk with Christ through the storm of crucifixion, who live Christ’s presence in the face of the storm and help bring in the new creation, what role do we play in living God’s justice, holiness, generosity, wholeness in the face of these storms?