Genesis 41:46-57
In a conversation after viewing An Inconvenient Truth a few evenings ago, I observed it might help some people if it could be seen there are actually benefits to following a new way. It was rightly countered that the truth is we have to be prepared to make some sacrifices.
Similarly, in following Christ’s way there certainly are benefits (eternal life, new fellowship, peace of mind), but the truth is there will be sacrifices to be made, and the way can be very hard. Jesus himself said that to follow him means daily to take up our own cross. We pray for daily bread, enough to go on as we proceed in faith. To be in Christ, as the Way, Truth and Life is its own reward. Still, there is an abundance in this that the world largely doesn’t know. Normally we think more of scarcity, focusing on the things we lack: not enough time, money, appreciation. What faith does is adjust our expectations so that we see and experience abundance differently: primarily through relationships, first with God, and then with others. Perhaps the main shift is that abundance is something that comes through us than to us. It is not for us.
That’s the way it is with Joseph. He is personally blessed with a family of his own. But it’s a byproduct of the dream, not the point of it. The main contrast here is the abundance to feed and to share with the world, as opposed to the way of limitation and death that was the way of the empire (41:1-8).
Prayer:
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury,pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen
- Francis of Assisi
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3 comments:
i did stress the need for a measure of austerity the other night, but you're quite right: the sacrifices are small compared to what we gain.
we sacrifice our addictions and gain freedom.
reading living more with less, published by the mennonite central committee, convinced me of this many years ago, and my small sacrifices, humble as they are, have been a joy to me. i look to greater joy, for all of us.
"It is vital to understand that reducing our consumption of resources does not mean
reducing our quality of life. For example, switching to a car that uses half as much fuel or a
refrigerator that uses one-tenth of the electricity protects the environment, saves money,
and provides the same level of service and satisfaction. Nor does reducing consumption of
resources mean the end of economic growth, since we can exchange more dollars while
using less resources (by focusing our efforts on adding value and providing services rather
than products). However, in order to reduce our consumption of resources, we must
reverse the path of several centuries when prices, policies, and governments encouraged
exploitation, over-use, and waste of natural resources."
Sustainability within a Generation: A New Vision for Canada, published by the David Suzuki Foundation
the general assembly of the presbyterian church of canada has been calling attention to global warming for over 15 years, when the international affairs committee (IAC) submitted its “Environmental-Global Warming” report in 1991.
over the years, the IAC reports have been moving. here are some snippets:
Structural adjustment programs often ignore the environmental costs of certain patterns of
economic development, costs that will ultimately be borne both by individual nations and the
whole world. As a result of its disastrous environmental record in Asia and Latin America, the
World Bank has begun to take environmental concerns more seriously. The IMF has yet to
seriously incorporate environmental costs into its structural adjustment programs.
In Zimbabwe, intensive cash crop farming is depleting the soil of normally fertile regions. ... Gold
panning is creating siltation problems that have dried up two rivers and are threatening the quality
of Harare’s main water supply. ... Several Canadian mining companies have recently invested [in
Guyana], some in joint ventures with Guyanese business. Three-fourths of Guyana is still rain
forest, and the development of the interior raises concerns about protecting it and the 40,000
Amerindians who live there.
--“Structural Adjustment Programs”, IAC report 1995
Not far from the city of Nogales on the Mexican-American border is a garden in the desert.
Beneath the desert is an aquifer, and the aquifer provides irrigation for citrus groves and
vineyards, fruit and brandy for North Americans and the Mexican middle-class. The men and
women who work these vineyards live in minimal housing in the middle of the desert. When the
water is gone, and it is going fast, the vineyards and fruit trees will wither and die. The people
who made luxuries for the rich will be left in the desert like the vines and the trees. They won’t
stay; people, at least, are mobile. But in the world economy, they are as expendable as the plants
they cultivate.
--“Food Security: Bread of Life for the Common Good”, IAC report 1997
It is also important to recognize that the Kyoto targets are just a beginning. They will not prevent
climate change. And they are only a first step to limiting the impact of climate change. Many
nations and peoples around the world will be confronted with severe social and economic
problems in the wake of climate change and other environmental crises. The church must be
ready to play a role in alleviating human suffering and enhancing human security through these
difficult changes.
The following statement by the World Council of Churches acknowledges that if humans are to
enjoy environmental security, the developed world’s entitlement to unchecked economic growth
at the expense of the developing world must be challenged:
Churches must call into question the dynamics of the present economic systems.
They need to point to the contradictions in which society finds itself, despite
clear analyses of the threats endangering the future of humankind…Development
is not a constant upward movement. We have to be content if we succeed in
containing the process of degradation and maintain a sense of solidarity among
the nations and their people. ∗
The call to the church is to resist indifference and take concrete steps to express solidarity with
victims of climate change, recognizing that we are all affected and that we are all responsible.
“Environmental Degradation as a Human Security Issue”, IAC report, 2003
We are water creatures—born of water, mostly made of water, dependent on water for life.
According to Genesis, the creation itself was born of water, the surging chaos out of which God
brings order (Gen. 1:2). The waters were gathered together so that the earth can bring forth
vegetation and living creatures of every kind and the waters can bring forth swarms of living
creatures (Gen. 1:9-10). God orders and sustains everything in the universe but gives humankind
dominion over the earth (Gen. 1:26). This is not license to exploit but responsibility to treat the
planet’s creatures and resources wisely.
The Bible, whose events are set in a dry, rocky land by the sea’s edge, has many references to
water. Water flows as God’s blessing, sustaining life (Gen. 2:10) and providing healing (Ezek.
47:12). Precious in its scarcity (II Sam. 23:13-17), water is also deadly in flood proportions
(Gen.7). It represents chaos and death (Ex. 14) but also the salvation of God (Deut. 8:7, Isa.12:3).
Water is used by sinful humans as a weapon of war (II Kings 3:19-25) but is meant by God for
sharing (Gen.13:2-12) and building peace (Rev. 22).
Whether water is scarce or abundant, accessible or hidden, the Bible portrays it as a free gift from
God and a sign of our dependence on God. When Hagar and her child, Ishmael, are driven out
into the desert and the skin of water runs out, God provides a well of water for them to survive.
When the people of Israel thirst in the wilderness and find only bitter water at Marah, the Lord
shows Moses how to make it sweet and drinkable (Ex. 15). When they are thirsty again at Rephidim and can find no water at all, the Lord shows Moses how to strike the rock so that water
will flow from it.
Because water is God’s gift, we are to use it as responsible stewards. We are not to fight over it
(Gen. 26:20) but to share it (Mark 9:41, Gen. 24:17-20). The inequity of access to sufficient,
clean water is at heart a spiritual problem. Any denial of access to water represents lack of
respect for God’s creation and lack of concern for our neighbour. As the Letter of James says, it
is no good to wish our impoverished brother or sister well if we do not supply their bodily needs
(James 2:15).
The physical and the spiritual are inextricably linked as the sacraments show us. In baptism, the
“water signifies the washing away of sin, the start of new life in Christ, and the gift of the Holy
Spirit” (Living Faith 7.6.2). In communion, “Christ places his table in this world to feed and
bless his people. . . . proclaiming salvation until he comes—a symbol of hope for a troubled age”
(L.F. 7.7.2, 7.73). Spiritual and physical nourishment are gifts of God’s grace. God wills that all
should enjoy God’s blessings, without discrimination. Since human life, health and dignity
depend on water, it is more than a need—it is a right. It is also a “prerequisite for the realization
of other human rights,” namely, the rights to adequate food, health, to gain a living by work, and
to take part in cultural life.4
Sin has led humans to hoard, waste, pollute and misuse water, causing conflict and injustice. But,
through Christ, sin does not have the last word. God offers grace and new life through the Living
Water given by Jesus (John 4:10). The Church of Christ is called to see that God-given blessings
are managed and shared wisely, ensuring availability, access to, conservation and sharing of
water.
Water is linked with the biblical hope for a new creation in which “waters shall break forth in the
wilderness and streams in the desert” (Isa. 35:6b), the river of life flowing from the throne of God
will sustain the tree of life whose leaves “are for the healing of the nations” (Rev. 22:1-2), and the
righteous will be “trees planted by streams of water” (Ps. 1:3) yielding the fruit of compassion as
they feed the hungry and give the thirsty something to drink in Christ’s name (Matt. 25:35).
“Water—God’s Gift” IAC report, 2005
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