Sunday September 18, 2022 | Greg Boyd
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God.
This sermon provides a brief report card on how well humans are doing at caring for God’s creation, specifically as it relates to Earth’s climate.
In this sermon, Greg provides an introductory overview of how humans are doing in our commission to love the earth and the animal kingdom. He does this in two ways. First, he speaks to five climate realities that have been experienced over the last year. These are drought, fires, flood, the heating up of the Arctic, and refugees that are being displaced because of climate change. Over the last year, we have been faced with historical events in all five.
In the second part of this sermon, Greg invited Dr. George Johnson, a scientist who specializes in the study of climate change, to explain various aspects of the science of climate change. A large part of this conversation focused on how the melting of the Arctic ice is impacting the global temperatures and why this is such a huge issue.
After the conversation with George, Greg concluded with a brief word of challenge and encouragement. He spoke about the pride of man and how the pursuit of power has caused damage to the earth and how scientists like George are now encouraging us to be good stewards of the earth, just as the Bible commanded us to do in the first place. In addition, Greg established the fact that our hope does not lie in the absence of struggle, but in the fact that the glory of God will reign in the end and will outweigh any and all struggles that we face in this life. Our hope lies in God establishment of his Kingdom of love.