It’s the topic that crops up every time we meet, it is the weather. Whether it is at the Annual Ploughing Championships or waiting for the Luas it is the opening gambit to nearly every conversation. This week saw the publication of the latest reports compiled by a myriad of scientists confirming that global warming is real.

This summer we didn’t need their reports – we enjoyed it!

Don’t throw away the wellies however as our climate is likely to become more erratic with bigger storms than we have been used to. In fact if you are thinking of retiring near a beach or in a river valley – don’t! With rising sea levels and flash floods predicted you might regret it.

The sea is warming and the sile have noticed. In fact they have moved north and the kittiwake, whose sole food supply it was, have all but vanished from our coasts. However there have been new arrivals as varieties of jellyfish and plankton travel up from the Azores. These are followed by bigger fish such as the Baleen family of whales, monsters growing to 110 feet in length, who have no teeth, filtering their food from the water.

These changes in the movements of birds and fish are likely to be followed by migrations of those peoples most affected by climate change. There are many countries where crop failure causes local population movements but what if their land ceases to be productive altogether? Globally there are numerous places where human bones have indicated previous habitation but no longer due to the severity of the climate. Ireland, with its temperate climate, may be viewed as a relatively secure place to live and perhaps attractive to displaced populations. The Indian sub-continent is already struggling to cope with its population so it may be time for us to start learning to speak Bangladeshi Bengali!

What has the Bible to say to all this?

Quite a lot. It starts with the promise that there will always be enough food (sharing it is our problem) “While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.” (Genesis chapter 8 verse 22)

The Lord anticipates our fears and addresses them in language we can understand. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling. 

(These illustrations from nature show God’s power to protect His people)

The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts. The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.

(The Psalmist extends the illustration to include the nations raging around the people of God in Jerusalem)

Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.” (Psalm 46)

It is not just for Jerusalem but there is a global aspect which will be eventually realised when He is exalted among the nations.

This week we have been able to listen to the Pope pondering and this gives us the chance to ponder the Pope. No other religious figure commands such authority or influence over his people. As a result his brand becomes the flavour of his time.

He could be called the “big picture Pope”. His message is for all. Those in his church and those outside it. It is firstly a pastoral message not a doctrinal or liturgical one. It gets its creditability in good measure from his acknowledgment that he is a sinner. He identifies with hurt people and sees his church as a place of healing the wounded. He describes it as a field hospital after battle.

On evangelism the Pope reckons that failure in this area is due to people being closed to God. He thinks they do not hear Jesus knocking on their door. He adds somewhat mischievously that when Jesus knocks from within we do not let him out!

Interestingly a number of commentators have quaintly mentioned that the Pope remains a Catholic! He is using language more familiar to other churches in this his second interview where he tackles a wide variety of subjects. His desire is not only that his clergy should be poor (his first interview) but that they get involved with sinners in their need without losing the way themselves.

He also wants that within his church local disputes should be settled locally. This seems to indicate a move in the direction of independency of the local church within the overall structure of Rome.

What does the Bible say to all this?

When Jesus was knocking on the door it was of course the door of a church which had excluded him “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me” (Revelation Chapter 3 verse 20). As the church is people not premises it could be said that Jesus knock never goes unanswered. There are always those who hear his voice. He never knocks in vain.

Certainly as believers we would have to agree there are times we who have embraced the Saviour do not “let Him out” and our guilty silence we confess as sin.

On the message he advocated, “Proclamation in a missionary style focused on the essentials, on the necessary things: this is also what fascinates and attracts more, what makes the heart burn, as it did for the disciples at Emmaus”. St Luke records the conversation that made the hearts burn “beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (St Luke chapter 24 verse 27).

It is the plot-line of the Bible. It was the promised Messiah, His birth and now his death and resurrection. They had plenty to speak about on the road to Emmaus. May we proclaim Him as the sinner’s friend who died that they may be forgiven and rose that we might know with certainty that it is all true.

It would be hard to motor from Dublin to Aberdeen, Scotland, as we did last week, without noting the presence of flags.

In Ireland they adorn anything from lampposts to blocks of flats. In Scotland they were more evident on cars and houses.

In both countries the “Union Jack” was being flown to denote an allegiance for the British Crown. The statement they made was that this allegiance was to be preferred to another allegiance denoted by the other flag.

In Ireland the tricolour’s primary colour is green which is flown next to the flagpole and represents the Gaelic tradition. The other colour is Orange representing William of Orange and has come to symbolise those who esteem his memory. The white separating the two colours symbolises a truce where both are linked together.

In the Union flag the red cross of England and Wales is bisected by the two saltire crosses of Ireland (red) and Scotland (white). The Scottish cross appears against a blue background whereas the other crosses have a white background. Again the symbolism is one of unity and inclusion.

However at present the Scottish saltire cross (a white St Andrew’s cross on a blue background) has been extracted from the Union Jack and is being used as the flag of independent Scotland. The vote on independence is one year off by which time there will doubtless be plenty of flags of both variety on display!

The unity and inclusion symbolised by the flags is seldom a reality but rather an aspiration. Instead flags can so easily stake out territories and become symbols in the power struggles of our time.

What would the Bible comment on these things?

All three flags are used by people who would claim a connection to Christianity.

The Irish flag with its message of joining people of different opinions together bears the contradiction of symbolising unity whilst recalling the victory of William of Orange. It is hard to have reciprocal love for ones neighbour while waving a symbol of his defeat! The irony is that whose who wave it most are those who would espouse the Orange least!

The aspirations of the Union Jack by focusing on the cross have chosen the symbol which epitomises the love of God (Romans Chapter 5 verse 8). It is the agape love which seeks the good of others before self. It speaks of sacrifice for ones country and indeed has been waved in many battles to encourage loyalty and commitment.

The irony here is to see it being used by a largely agnostic people to represent their country before the world.

Shed of their values they become tools of dissention within the land. A re-focussing in faith on the Christ who bore the cross in order to make a way for we sinners to find reconciliation with God is the starting point. Out of our being forgiven the way opens for us to see things differently. “From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation” 2 Corinthians 5 verses 16/18.