Jesus and climate change X

Jesus’ life: God with us
God’s passionate and loving commitment to his wonder-filled creation is seen most clearly in Jesus. Christians have always believed - and we celebrate this at Christmas - that Jesus is Immanuel, God with us: the Son of God come amongst us, as one of us. If we want to see the heart of God, if we want to see what God cares about, if we want to see God, Christians say, "look at Jesus! Come and see what God is like – you might be pleasantly surprised." In Jesus, God moved into our neighbourhood. He didn’t stand at a distance and make assurances that he cares, he came and got his hands dirty. Actually, he got his hands pierced with great ugly nails to a wooden cross. God is not cold and distant. He is like Jesus.

If you want to know the heart of God, try reading the Gospels and seeing the heart of Jesus. He is the kind of God who welcomes little children, the kind of God who hates religious hypocrisy, the kind of God who throws parties for the outsider, who opens the eyes of the blind, who feeds the hungry, heals the sick and raises the dead, who brings good news for the poor. In Jesus, we discover that God’s yoke is easy and his burden is light; he is gentle and humble in heart. He is the kind of God who, like Jesus, is easily misunderstood, but not easily ignored. He is a God who knows our suffering and temptations from the inside, who can sympathise with our weaknesses. He washes smelly feet and weeps over death. He is a God who would rather die than live without you. He is the kind of God who won’t let death stand in the way of his plans. What is God doing about climate change and all that threatens us? For a start, he is with us. We are not on our own, fending for ourselves.

But Jesus doesn’t just demonstrate that God cares for a world gone wrong, he is also the start of God’s solution.
Series: I; II; III; IV; V; VI; VII; VIII; IX; IX(b); X; XI; XII; XIII; XIV; XV.