Friday 12 December 2025
He will give rain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and grain, the produce of the ground, which will be rich and plenteous. On that day your cattle will graze in broad pastures; and the oxen and donkeys that till the ground will eat silage, which has been winnowed with shovel and fork. (vs 23-24)
Background
For those of us from a farming background, this is an idyllic picture: the seed grows, the herds eat, the working animals flourish and the ground is fertile. All, however, is contingent on rain, getting the right volume at the right time. On these off-shore islands of Europe, we tend to complain about too much rain, but it is so welcome in more arid parts of the world.
The impact of climate change means rain is increasingly uncertain for farmers and others who work the land. When it comes, rain promotes almost immediate growth in the Middle East, bringing to life seeds lying dormant in the ground. The desert indeed blossoms like the crocus, as Isaiah joyfully points out later (35.1).
The United Nations Climate Change conference (COP 30) took place earlier this winter in Brazil, a country where the Amazonian forests are under threat from unscrupulous loggers and those clearing the forest for the grazing of cattle. It was disappointing that carbon reduction targets are not being met, and, sadly, that there are still those around who see climate change as a hoax. Are the 'silver-covered idols and gold-plated images' to which Isaiah refers in verse 22 taking precedence over life itself?
The theme for this week's Word in Time is 'Vision and Promise', but we might be forgiven for thinking that this feels more like ‘Nightmare and Threat’. And, if we feel that way, how very much worse it is for those whose harvests are destroyed by drought or flood. How painful it must be to watch your cattle and other animals die of thirst because wells and streams have dried up – or, conversely, to see them swept away by floods.
In paragraph two of his encyclical, ‘Laudate Si', the late Pope Francis called the earth ‘our common home’ and he reminded us that "we have forgotten that we ourselves are dust of the earth, our very bodies are made up of her elements, we breathe her air and we receive life and refreshment from her waters."
To Ponder:
- How do you feel about challenging public representatives when they come to your doorstep at election-time? Might you get together with friends and hammer out questions to ask aspiring politicians on climate change and what they propose to do about it? Draft your own vision for the created world.
Prayer
Loving God, the earth is yours and everything in it. Help us to treasure it as you do and to live more simply so that others may simply live. Amen.
Bible notes author: Gillian Kingston
Gillian Kingston is a local preacher on the North Tipperary Circuit of the Methodist Church in Ireland and an ex-Vice President of the World Methodist Council. She was the first Lay Leader of the Conference of the Methodist Church in Ireland. Married to Tom, a retired Methodist minister, and with four adult children, she is also the besotted grandmother of seven beautiful granddaughters and one handsome grandson.