Reflection (readings follow on)
Reading again the parable of the Sheep and the Goats, I think we would all be herded onto the side of the goats. There are so many people suffering and in need across the world, and despite the wealth that the planet has – in natural resources, in the wealth of human ingenuity and in the economic wealth – we have not managed to distribute these such that we do truly care for our brethren.
This is not a new situation. If I went back to my teenage years, or when I was at university, or when I was a mother of young children, there were so many things wrong in the world which we either did not address or could not resolve: the debt crisis of developing nations, starvation in many regions, imprisonment of those standing up for social justice, the subjugation of women, the persecution of those with different sexual orientations, people suffering from infectious diseases and treatable illnesses, victims of war and civil violence, and the list goes on. I often imagine that in the afterlife anyone of these victims will turn to me and ask, ‘Why didn’t you help?’
Perhaps the parable from Ezekiel is an easier read. As it begins, we feel reassured that there is going to be happy conclusion to life, that God will ensure that we all get to live good, comfortable and contented lives; that creation will be the bucolic, biodiverse garden God envisaged; that God’s salvation will be one of effortless happiness and serenity.
But then we pick up a jarring note, that this future will only be reached through judgement; that there will be a casting out of what is self consuming, a readjustment of priorities and relationships.
So who are we? Are we the fat sheep who have pushed with flank and shoulder, and butted at all the weak animals with our horns, and scattered the vulnerable far and wide?
This week a report was published by the Guardian, Oxfam, the Stockholm Environment Institute and others, called The Great Carbon Divide. Its headline message was that “The richest 1% of humanity is responsible for more carbon emissions than the poorest 66%, with dire consequences for vulnerable communities and global efforts to tackle the climate emergency. [This] most comprehensive study of global climate inequality ever undertaken shows that this elite group, made up of 77 million people including billionaires, millionaires and those paid more than US$140,000 (£112,500) a year, accounted for 16% of all CO2 emissions in 2019.”
“The super-rich are plundering and polluting the planet to the point of destruction and it is those who can least afford it who are paying the highest price,” said Chiara Liguori, Oxfam’s senior climate justice policy adviser. The twin crises of climate and inequality were “fuelling one another”, she said.”
“The suffering falls disproportionately upon people living in poverty, marginalised ethnic communities, migrants and women and girls, who live and work outside or in homes vulnerable to extreme weather, according to the research. These groups are less likely to have savings, insurance or social protection, which leaves them more economically, as well as physically, at risk from floods, drought, heatwaves and forest fires.“
Isn’t this the story of the fat sheep pushing aside the lean sheep?
Neither the parable from Ezekiel nor the one from Jesus, is a comfortable read. If we want to live in a good, comfortable and contented world, then we do have to look at and change the way we live.
The carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere is such now that temperatures are going to continue to rise, causing more extreme weather events and rising sea levels. It is likely that by 2070 3 billion people will be living (or rather dying or escaping from) areas of the world that are too hot for human life. So far our response to the climate crisis has to been to do very little and then years later regret that we didn’t make changes sooner. That is surely something we can change!
I am often reminded that we can’t individually solve all the world’s problems, but, as the letter to Ephesians reminds us, we can ask God for wisdom and power through Jesus. As Advent approaches maybe we all need to look at the ways we can alter our lives to protect human life and the environment; to look at how we can take practical, generous, action to be of use to those in need (knowing that in serving them we serve Jesus); and how we can tackle through petitions and activism the unfair differentials of power and wealth that beset the world. And if we can do this together and act collectively, we can become a significant minority and then a major majority.
There are many organisations that you can provide you with information and ideas and whom you then actively support. EG:-
Christian Aid and Cafod, Green Christian, the Laudate Si movement, Christian Climate Action
Practical Action, Tear Fund, Oxfam, A Rocha
Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, Extinction Rebellion
The Trussel Trust, the Rowntree Foundation, 350.org,
Just Money, Fuel Poverty Action, Christians Against Poverty, Debt Justice
The RSPB, the WWT, the WWF
Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace (101 ways!), Green Christian and Imperial College’s Grantham Institute are good places to start to make your lifestyle climate friendly.
Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24
Thus says the Lord God: I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places to which they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited parts of the land. I will feed them with good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture; there they shall lie down in good grazing land, and they shall feed on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice.
Therefore, thus says the Lord God to them: I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. Because you pushed with flank and shoulder, and butted at all the weak animals with your horns until you scattered them far and wide, I will save my flock, and they shall no longer be ravaged; and I will judge between sheep and sheep.
I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them; I, the Lord, have spoken.
Psalm 95:1-7a
1 Come, let us sing to the Lord; *
let us shout for joy to the Rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving *
and raise a loud shout to him with psalms.
3 For the Lord is a great God, *
and a great King above all gods.
4 In his hand are the caverns of the earth, *
and the heights of the hills are his also.
5 The sea is his, for he made it, *
and his hands have moulded the dry land.
6 Come, let us bow down, and bend the knee, *
and kneel before the Lord our Maker.
7 For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture and the sheep of his hand.
Ephesians 1:15-23
I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, and for this reason I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power. God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
Matthew 25:31-46
Jesus said, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’ Then he will say to those at his left hand, ‘You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they also will answer, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?’ Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
The Green Tau 