Above: Pacific Church Leaders - group photo Tues 22 Nov 2022

A number of years ago, quite to my surprise, one of the ministers in the local minister’s association suggested, without success, that we have Carols by Candlelight after December 25 and not before. His point was that before Christmas we should focus on Advent and sing hymns of preparation and anticipation. Carols are sung after midnight Christmas Eve.

Well we are in Advent and in this season we focus in the immediate and the far off future. In Advent we are invited to look forward with hope and expectation to the coming reign of God and to prepare for Christmas. This is a season of the ‘already and not yet’.

Focussing on the creative tension between the immediate and the anticipated in Advent leads us to place our hope in the goodness of God and to reflect on our own place in God’s activity. 

This narrative of faith shapes the life of the Christian church and invites us to take seriously the realities around us. We pray for the settings where we want to see God’s intervention and the accompanying life of God’s Kingdom and pray for the people of today in such places. 

Last week I was listening to a church leader from Tuvalu describing the fears of his nation as they see the sea levels change and as a result live with a future uncertainty.  We also heard the fears of other Pacific church leaders and of their powerlessness to stop and address the changing climate. 

These conversations served as a reminder that the already of this moment and the anticipated future are intrinsically linked.  Our actions in the present interact with the fears of people of the Pacific in the future. When we do not take action to address climate change their fears increase. The rising level of sea water is something that is not caused by the people of the Pacific and yet is their reality. 

If we care about the ‘not yet’ risks of climate change then our actions in the present must be shaped by the risk of a future environmental disaster. 

At one level it is easy for us to pray and turn this crisis over to God. At another, such praying is an opportunity to be participants in the answering of our prayers.  

Maybe what is needed is a Climate Advent with a new care for creation. Addressing the right now (preparation) and beginning to work to change the not yet (anticipation).  

Rev. John Gilmore

President