BLOG 3/11/15. THE KINGDOM OF GOD … AND THE ENVIRONMENT

BLOG 3/11/15. THE KINGDOM OF GOD … AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Pope Francis I ‘gets it’ and will shortly be releasing a papal encyclical on the environment. I can hardly wait. As a card-carrying (but probably somewhat compromised) Protestant I can hardly wait. Even when I find myself in some disagreements from time to time, I find that those papal encyclicals are worth reading. They are usually well-researched and rich in thought-provoking resources. Then there is this pope himself, a most unusual guy. He s the first Jesuit pope, and Jesuits are not shabby thinkers, and they are tough. Plus, this first Jesuit pope took as his papal name that of another fascinatingly eccentric and creative figure: Francis (as in St. Francis of Assisi). Now if you want to talk about an environmentalist, all you have to do is to read the histories, or biographies, of Francis of Assisi. He was so attached to the environment that he has actually been accused of being a pantheist because of his calling all created things—streams, trees, birds, etc.—his brothers and sisters. One has only to look again at his classical hymn: All Creatures of Our God and King to sense this unique relationship.

Yet St. Francis saw what so many of our present skeptics about environmental concerns (global warming, pollution of the atmosphere, what we dump into the ocean, etc.) in society, and yet who profess to be ‘Christian’ seem to miss. When Jesus came preaching the Kingdom of God, that kingdom was 180o away from any disembodied, otherworldly, bland religious mysticism, … or pie-in-the-sky-by-and-by escape from the calling to be agents of God’s New Creation here and now.

You see, Jesus’ primary message was that in himself God’s New Creation was being inaugurated. That ‘kingdom’ language was somewhat familiar to the Jewish community which Jesus was part of. Centuries before Jesus, the prophets dropped all kinds of clues about God’s design to make all things new, to send an ‘anointed one’ (or messiah, or Christ) to both reconcile the his estranged human community, … but also to inaugurate the recreation of all things into their total shalom, or harmony, what with love for each other, but also love for God’s creation. The prayer: “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as in heaven” has all kinds of implications. It is vastly more than simply my personal salvation and forgiveness of sins (though it is that, for sure).

Now, take note: In those first three gospel narratives, written primarily to the Jewish community, the writers appropriates this kingdom of God terminology, since it would have been somewhat familiar to his hearers. But, then, John writing to a more Gentile audience uses the term: eternal life to speak of the same eschatological reality, i.e., the in-breaking new age of God. Paul speaks of the same reality with his usage of new creation as synonymous with kingdom of God. In other places the very word salvation carries this huge meaning of the restoration of all thing to their intended design. Sometimes the word righteousness is used in this sense. Or, perhaps: the age to come now being experienced by the Christian community.

What all of this implies for us is that all of those who embrace Jesus Christ, first of all renounce all attachment to the destructive implications of the dominion of darkness, and become those who, with Christ, set about demonstrating God’s love for, and purpose for all of creation, which purpose will be consummated at the end of this age, but is all in process here and now (“the already-but-not-yet-kingdom”).

And, do you know what? Our stewardship of the environment is very much a part of that, and yet the dominant order has become so callous to that, that we hardly give second thought to the pollution and destruction taking place. Yet no thoughtful believer in Jesus Christ can write this off as some liberal political agenda. So, I’m thankful for Pope Francis, and for all of those who understand our role in being agents of a holistic new creation in which every thing we touch and influence in in the context of God: “I will make all things new.” And, in the end it will be so.

About rthenderson

Sixty years a pastor-teacher within the Presbyterian Church. Author of several books, the latest of which are a trilogy on missional ecclesiology: ENCHANTED COMMUNITY: JOURNEY INTO THE MYSTERY OF THE CHURCH, then, REFOUNDING THE CHURCH FROM THE UNDERSIDE, then THE CHURCH AND THE RELENTLESS DARKNESS. Previous to this trilogy was A DOOR OF HOPE: SPIRITUAL CONFLICT IN PASTORAL MINISTRY, and SUBVERSIVE JESUS, RADICAL FAITH. I am a native of West Palm Beach, Florida, a graduate of Davidson College, then of Columbia and Westminster Theological Seminaries.
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