Reflection for Week 4 – Season of Creation
“Abraham said to the rich man: ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’” (Luke 16:31)
The parable of the rich man and Lazarus the poor man ends with the death of both. Lazarus, so poor and alone in life, is comforted by food and friendship in the afterlife. The rich man is condemned to eternity in Hades, tormented by flames. In Hades, the rich man asks that Lazarus be sent to his five brothers to warn them to change from their hedonistic lifestyles and look after the poor around them – which is what Moses and the prophets have been saying is God’s will for centuries.
The problem in the parable is that some people just don’t listen. Some people, the parable tells us today, will never listen to what God truly desires from us about how to live as human beings – no matter who is sent with the message! Even in the parable, the rich man, suffering in Hades, is concerned only with saving his immediate family, and not the many people who were living in poverty and suffering on earth.
The Season of Creation in 2022 calls the body of Christ to listen in a new way. To listen to the Voice of Creation and to act. The voice which has been calling and warning us for decades, maybe even centuries, about the effect our conspicuous consumption of the planet’s resources has on Creation. The Voice which has been pleading for a change.
Apart from a small, loud minority, it appears that most Australians are listening, and that is something to be thankful for and generates hope. Now, of course, as well as listening we are called to act – immediately – both on a local and global level.
The UN’s COP 27 climate negotiations will be happening in November, and on the agenda is the call for a Fossil Fuel Non Proliferation Treaty – if signed it would be the first time governments agree to not only stop burning coal and gas but to phase out the mining for these resources.
A full list of faith communities in Australia gathering and praying for such an agreement is here.
For those in Brisbane, join with your own voice on October 13th:
St John’s Anglican Cathedral
8am
Thursday October 13th
Blessings
Ceri
