Readings:
Job 38:1-7;
Psalm 104:1-10;
Hebrews 5:1-10;
Mark 10:35-45

Collect:
Almighty God,
you have created the heavens and the earth
and formed us in your own image.
Teach us to discern your hand in all your works,
and to serve you with reverence and thanksgiving;
through Jesus Christ our Lord,
who reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
supreme over all creation,
now and forever. Amen

Reflection

The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) meets in Glasgow the week after next. Representatives from all over the world will be meeting to discuss how we (not they) can reduce our carbon emissions.

It’s a bit clunky to get around, but the COP26 website sets as the main goal of the Conference to “secure global net zero by mid-century and keep 1.5 degrees within reach”. The “net zero” refers to carbon emissions, and in line with the so-called Paris Agreement (COP21) which took place in 2015.

I’m tempted to say, “Ain’t that grand, but what’s that to do with me?” Like so much of our national and international politics, much of the discussion and so many of the images are remote from my personal daily experience, even my imagination. And the truth is we each rely all too easily on our personal assessment of the issue to determine what we’ll do about it, if anything at all. The unfortunate truth of it is that if it doesn’t touch me, then I don’t do anything – at least that’s what our behaviour betrays about what we think.

And then we read God’s response to Job and Job’s friends (cc 38-41), which comes “out of the whirlwind”, in other words, that which is way beyond anyone’s control. Before the catastrophes hit Job and family, and make no mistake they are serious catastrophes, Job’s life was well ordered, good and everything was under control. The story-teller offers us an image of everything rosy – in life, in business, in the family, everywhere, which is then turned upside down. How then are they to live with disaster? How can Job possibly get his head around everything, absolutely everything gone?

Job’s so-called friends try to tell him it’s all his fault. He resists. Says no. They think they know better, but all they do is lead him down the destructive path of self-loathing. But this is not a story about blame.

In answer to Job’s predicament, the reading today starts, and continues for four chapters, with a series of unanswerable questions. Job was not there when the foundations of the earth were laid, and by extension, nor were the readers or hearers of this story. Our scientific knowledge is certainly well advanced now, but we were not there. And while we today know a great deal about the answers to some of these questions, we misunderstand them when we think of these only as questions about how: “How was it made?”, and “What happened?”

These questions to Job, and by extension to us, are rather about vocation: “What is all this for?” And: “What do we do with it?” Only now does Job realize that the totality of creation is way beyond human understanding. It is not ours by possession. It is ours as gift, and Job’s response is to repent. Today we might remember that our individual and our corporate consumption of creation, our continual taking that which is good and returning only waste, represents our disrespect not only for that which we use, but also for the Provider of this good creation. We too need to repent, in other words, we need to change. We need to change direction, change our ways and change our consumption. Only then will we appreciate the good we’ve been given and not leave only pollution.

Barry Lotz