Last Word: Extinction

Two triangles merge to make the symbol of an hourglass – the end is nigh! From New York to Paris the chants and banners herald an ‘inconvenient truth’. An Australian protester speaks with passion and reason: ‘We are simply telling people what to expect. Our politicians are asleep at the wheel. We need to tell the truth.’

Yet, as I watched the Extinction Rebellion demonstrations in my own city, I couldn’t shift the overriding emotion – ‘Have these people just taken my job?’ For if we are Christians, we are those who know that the end is nigh. This end will not arise because of any increasing ocean acidification or glacial retreat, but rather because the Judge is at the door (James 5:9). The message of climate change is vital (we are to be good stewards of creation), but it cannot be equated with the immanent and glorious return of Christ. And it is this inconvenient truth that really is the grounds for waking up those are asleep at the wheel.

However we must confess that many of us are light years away from super-gluing ourselves to an inner-city ring road. And in some senses, that’s absolutely right. We do not speak the truth in love by ‘blocking up the system,’ thus preventing ambulances from attending medical emergencies. However, the passionate protests of the past few weeks have made me wonder if British evangelicals are willing to suffer at all in light of the end.