What does your congregation ask about climate change? Part 1

Over the years, I’ve talked with many Christian congregations and groups about climate change. In the course of these conversations, I’ve discovered that there are three questions that come up over and again. Why not speak proactively to these concerns in your preaching? 

Part 1: Is climate change a sign of end times? 

It’s certainly true that some passages seem to describe in vivid language the fearsome effects of environmental change. But are these direct predictions of the changes we are experiencing now? And if they were, would that change what God is saying to us? 

Biblical scholars remind us that when we talk about apocalypse, we are not strictly speaking about the unfolding of a future chronology.  Apocalyptical literature – both in the Old and New Testaments – is more about revealing the underlying nature of things, the forces for good and evil that are at work in the world. During the Middle Ages, and on into modern times, revelation and chronology were increasingly combined, resulting in a belief that the underlying order would be revealed at the final close of history. 

It is helpful, when we read disaster-flavoured passages in the Bible, to think about apocalypticism in its original sense. This is, indeed, a powerful genre of scripture even without the future framework. The revelation of forces at work can tear the fabric of our comfortable existence at any moment. Such a revelation can, as in the case of the rich man with the big barn (Luke 12: 16-21), constitute the moment of death. Jesus’ parables can be read as revelations of political powers and human desires misused; the returning groom or manager – whenever or however he comes – provokes the crisis of mis-spent lives.   

In this original sense, too, many activist movements are apocalyptic, in that they insistently pull back the curtain to show the corporate greed and thoughtless consumption that power climate change. They speak for the scientists who ‘interpret the signs’ (Matthew 16:3). Apocalypticism often goes down badly. No-one enjoys having the dark side of their life revealed, whether that be the emptiness of individual lives based upon meaningless consumerism, or the evil of collective life based upon exploitation.   

Despite the technical distinction between apocalypticism and eschatology (end times), we can still take seriously this question that combines the two. Perhaps climate change really is a sign that time is nearly up. There are good scientific reasons for thinking this may be the case, for humans at least. 

Sometimes, however, the question about end times is asked in bad faith.  The questioner is asking permission to give up caring: if the situation is part of a divinely-ordained chronology, then it would be foolish and perhaps even wrong to try and mitigate it. This is a biblically strange perspective. There’s nothing in the Bible to indicate that there is a time when Christ’s call to radical compassion is over; a time when God’s judgement that creation is very good no longer holds. 

A second caveat is scripture’s warning against speculation over the timing of Christ’s return. Keeping this warning in mind, the question ‘is this a sign?’ is better posed as: ‘how should I live, given that it may be a sign’? And this, in fact, is a major theme of the gospels, notably Matthew, whose call to Christlike discipleship plays out against an apocalyptic backdrop. How should I live, if these are signs? Going back through the gospels is a great place to start! 

So is climate change a sign of end times? It is apocalyptic, because it reveals the forces at work in the world. Greed and selfishness are playing out in physically measurable terms. But it is not necessarily a sign of end times. And, even if it were, it would not change the message that we preach: of delight in God’s creation and care for the poor. 

Read Part 2 and Part 3 of the series 

Learn more about this topic 

St Augustine's College of Theology, Kent, has put the project ‘Discipleship for a Planet in Crisis’ at the heart of its educational and worshipping life. As part of this project, it has developed two new courses to help people take their questions further. One is an MA suitable for committed learners: Theology for a Planet in Crisis. The other is a short, online course suitable for everybody: God, the Planet & Us.   

About the author 

Charlotte Sleigh is Director of the project ‘Discipleship for a Planet in Crisis’ at St Augustine's College of Theology, Kent, and is associate priest in the parish of St Martin and St Paul, Canterbury.