Friday 5 December 2014

Advent Reflections 2: Making All Things New

This post is the second in a series of weekly posts during Advent inspired by "Holy Boy", a Christmas oratorio which we're performing in Acomb on 21st December.

Last week we concluded that we have a God who is passionately committed to redeeming his creation and our great Advent hope is this: that we will be part of his plan to make all things new.
Some Christians have unfortunately misunderstood this promise of a “new heaven and a new earth” to mean that this one doesn’t matter very much and we can pollute it or use up all the resources with impunity. Like a trawler fishing boat dragging a net along the bottom of the ocean to catch not just the mature fish but also the babies and the smaller fry that they feed on, it doesn’t matter if we take everything and leave nothing to replenish what we have taken. It doesn’t matter if our lifestyles need three planets to support us and we are slowly killing off one ecosystem after another without recognising that the natural world has limits. 
But this is not what the Bible says nor how the world actually works: as I have written about before, if there is no home for nature, there will be no nature.
Our culture tells us that “new” things replace “old” ones (especially at Christmas), after which the old is thrown out or disposed of. But we have missed the point that God’s way is to “renew”, “recycle” and “restore” – all better translations of the Greek word used in Revelation (Greek has another word for "brand new", which is not the word used here!) 
So we need to grasp that this world is God’s masterpiece and He delights in it, and the Kingdom we hope for involves this world being renewed to become all that he intended for it from the beginning. Just as God recycles broken, messed-up people into ‘new creations in Christ’ so he will cleanse the whole weary and polluted creation of all the sin and corruption that have affected it, before renewing it into a new creation, centred on Christ.
So let’s look again at the promise of Emmanuel expressed in one of Isaiah’s servant songs:
Look at my servant, whom I strengthen. He is my chosen one, who pleases me.
I have put my Spirit upon him. He will bring justice to the nations.
He will not shout or raise his voice in public.
He will not crush the weakest reed or put out a flickering candle.
He will bring justice to all who have been wronged.
He will not falter or lose heart until justice prevails throughout the earth… And you will be a light to guide the nations. You will open the eyes of the blind.
You will free the captives from prison, releasing those who sit in dark dungeons.”

Isaiah 42: 1-4, 6
God’s chosen servant is one who brings justice, who doesn’t give up until justice has been done and until all the peoples of the world are reconciled (to each other and to God). We who follow Emmanuel inherit this calling. We too are called to protect and steward the weak, and to recognise that when we take everything, the poor are left with nothing: polluted land and water, a changing climate where they are vulnerable to both flood and drought, and no justice. We need to learn not to crush broken reeds but to ensure that they can flourish and regrow.    
The next Advent Reflection, Mary's Song, was published on 12th December and is available here.
See also:

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