Let Justice Roll Down Lesson Six
Lesson Six: Climate Change
Scripture: Ecclesiastes 1:14; 2:24; 3:9–11; Isaiah 22:13; Jeremiah 37:11–16; Luke 12:16–21; 12:19; 1 Corinthians 13:12 (KJV)
Climate Change
Like most Christians, I grew up singing beautiful hymns celebrating creation, such as “For the Beauty of the Earth” and “This Is My Father’s World.” The worship services at my little church in Austin, Texas, included a responsive psalm every week, so words such as “The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it” (Ps 24:1) and “Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all you shining stars” (Ps 148:3) were quite familiar. Yet like many people then I tended to see the earth as a backdrop for human drama, and animals as interesting creatures to be enjoyed, yet not taken seriously. I had little idea that poverty and disease for some might have resulted from living conditions they could not escape, conditions I did not share. I took for granted that “the poor you will always have with you.” As an astronomer’s daughter, I had great respect for science, but unlike the rest of my family I studied theology and Bible instead.
Learning about climate change opened my eyes to our need to care for God’s creation. When Al Gore’s movie An Inconvenient Truth came out in theaters in 2006, I was stunned by his clear and urgent explanations of a crisis that was still invisible to me, but has become increasingly obvious in the eighteen years since. I saw the urgency to do all I could to address global warming by reducing my own carbon emissions, teaching others to do the same and advocating with political and business leaders for environmental care.
With a few renovations to our 100-year-old downtown home, Don and I cut our utility use and expense by two-thirds. We founded a green team at our church in Jeffersonville, Indiana, influenced many members to practice energy efficiency, and soon installed solar panels and became an Earth Care Congregation. I began highlighting creation care in my seminary teaching, and then retired early to work more directly in environmental theology. Without the urgent timeline to curb our collective carbon emissions, I doubt I would have done these things. I am not sure humans will change our practices quickly enough to save ourselves and other creatures. We have the need and the means. But powerful people, especially in the U.S., are dragging their feet or even continuing to oppose climate action. So instead of combating climate change itself, we find ourselves combating one another.
The 2019 book Losing Earth: A Recent History, by Nathaniel Rich, narrates events of the 1980s, when political leaders who followed the science nearly stopped climate change before the storms began, but failed to do so. Because of growing disinformation by oil corporations, the window of easy opportunity closed. Today we face unprecedented probabilities of a world greatly impoverished for our descendants.
Why should we who will not live to see most of this unfold care? Even if we do care, what can we do? Lesson 6 on climate change addresses such questions, because the short answer is that we can do plenty. In fact, our mental health depends upon doing what we can.
The lesson does not delve into the science of climate change, but you can find a readable explanation here in my blog. This discussion is updated from a chapter of my earlier Bible study Inhabiting Eden: Christians, the Bible, and the Ecological Crisis (Westminster John Knox, 2013). Lesson 6 in Let Justice Roll Down begins with recognition that “more people than ever are now convinced that climate change is a human-caused, immediate threat.” It goes on to offer parallels to our present crisis in accounts from the book of Jeremiah and a parable of Jesus, as well as uplifting insights the book of Ecclesiastes brings us. While the writers of scripture knew nothing either about fossil fuels or the damage that mining and burning them could someday cause, they knew a lot about crises, choices and the call to do what we can in the moment and the locale where God has placed us.
P.S. For kids: Rev. Pressley Cox of Foothills Presbytery in South Carolina recently shared a wonderful list of children’s books related to Let Justice Roll Down. You can find it here.
Patricia K. Tull
Author of the 2024–2025 PW/Horizons Bible study, Let Justice Roll Down: God’s Call to Care for Neighbors and All Creation.
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This blog is the sixth in a series of nine blogs.
Let Justice Roll Down is the Presbyterian Women in the PC(USA), Inc. Bible study for 2024-2025. Go to presbyterianwomen.org/bible-study/justice to find more resources and purchase Let Justice Roll Down to study along with us. Call 800/533-4371 or order online.
