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University SDA Church- East Lansing

Week of Prayer

Jermaine Gayle

The Prayer of Jacob and the Time of Trouble Part 1

The Prayer of Jacob Under Religious Persecution Part 2

Daniel’s Prayer and the Conflict with the Law of the Land

Elijah’s Prayer and The Issue of Climate Change

Christ’s Prayer and the Shaking

Elijah's prayer and the issue of climate change.

Loving Father in heaven, we ask in a very special way, dear Lord, that you be our teacher.

We Come before you, dear Lord, pleading for your presence to be in our lives, to be in the circle.

Help us, dear God, to be faithful to you no matter what.

We've been talking about this night after night, and dear Lord, as we get closer to the end of times, what we're asking for, dear Lord, is that you may revive our prayer lives, revive our spiritual lives, revive our faith and help us dear Lord to trust in you.

Only you is our prayer in Jesus name, amen.

Friends, back in 2015, the 10 Commandments went green.

The 10 Commandments went green back in 2015 because Pope Francis had released an encyclical called Laodicea and he released his 10 Commandments for climate change.

What does this have to do with what we're talking about tonight?

Well, I'm going to give you some very interesting details about these green commandments, these green commandments that were talked about.

In fact, the encyclical became so popular that some of the news channels picked it up and they were talking about this Green Commandment, this new 10 Commandments that were deemed the Pope's 10 Commandments on climate change.

A book was published not long after that, roughly about a year in 2016, and the book was titled The 10 Green Commandments of Laodicea.

And this was published by an author, and I'm hoping I get his name right, it is Jostram Isaac Karithadem.

And he, in his book, wanted to explain Pope Francis' views on the issue of climate change and why there were 10 Commandments and what these 10 Commandments were.

And in his book he quoted, he said this, as is evident in the fourth Green Commandment, and this is from again the same statement released by the Vatican, evident by the fourth Green Commandment, Pope Francis describes the destruction of our common home as a what friends it is in other words Pope Francis is saying it is a sin to be destroying the planet and drawing also from the rich magisterium of ecumenical patriarch Bartholomew in this regard So this is what he had to say.

Ecological sin is the rupture of relationships with the natural world, our fellow human beings, and the Creator and calls for a part on the part of humanity.

So in other words, there is ecological sin and therefore there must be ecological repentance.

First of all, he says ecological conversion calls for a return to the Creator.

The ecological crisis is at the deepest level, a rebellion against God as source and mystery of all created life and our willful misuse of God's creation.

So first you have ecological sin, then you need ecological conversion.

I'm hoping we can work through them very quickly.

The Washington Post picked up the issue and they went on to say, we're going to need to have ecological practices.

So we go from ecological sin, then we go to ecological conversion, and then we get to what?

Ecological sin, ecological conversion, repentance, and then ecological practices.

Do we solve climate change through technocratic solutions and policy, or do we solve it through new cultural, even spiritual approaches?

1 without the other is not going to be enough, in other words.

So how do you solve the problem of climate change, according to the Washington Post?

Well, you need to have a spiritual strategy and you need to have a literal strategy as well, in addition to it.

And therefore tackle the issue of climate change through both means.

We have ecological sin that we have ecological conversion and then we have ecological practices.

And then the practices would include some spiritual practices according to the Washington Post.

I'm not making this up this is right there you read them the screen.

Then it goes on a shared day of rest at a what everybody?

A minimum might slow the pace of consumption curb emissions or ease the burden of so many people working weary weekends, but slowing down even for a day may also be at the heart of a cultural change.

So what are the ecological practices that they're recommending?

At least, at a minimum, a day of rest to solve the ecological sin in order for us to be converted, right?

There's an ecological conversion, so the ecological conversion, at least to the ecological practices, would mean then we must have a day of rest.

Convincing society that a more substantial way of life is not only good for the planet but also good for them.

A green Sabbath may be the right idea for one's soul and for the world.

So the ecological practice that they're recommending for the ecological sin that we've committed in response to ecological conversion is to have a what kind of Sabbath everybody?

Now I don't know what Bible you're reading but you don't find this in the Bible.

The author of that same book, The 10 Green Commandments, he says, the Christian observance of Sunday as the day of the Lord has profound what, everybody?

We go from ecological sin, then we go to ecological conversion, we have ecological practices, and the recommendation is to have a green Sabbath and then all of a sudden Sunday is the ecological, has ecological significance.

So what is the solution to the ecological sin?

Our mission and there's a movement that was started as a result of this so this was this was released by the the Pope 2015 then we go through 2016 the book was published and then we go through these major news outlets that covered it CNN included and then the Green Sabbath movement was started.

There is a Green Sabbath movement to protect the planet, keep the Sabbath.

Our main focus, and this is from their website, the Green Sabbath movement, is education and advocacy.

Our mission is to spark a mass movement of observance of a weekly day of rest.

Shabbat, Sabbath, a green Sabbath, a weekly Earth Day on which impact on the environment is minimized as much as possible.

Again, a Green Sabbath, a rest day, which has ecological significance, and specifically Sunday.

We believe that Our Sabbath days must become a time of active avoidance of environmental vandalism, a time for programmatic, congregational, and individual reflection on how we are undoing creation.

Whether commemorated as a what everybody secular spiritual or religious act, green Sabbaths properly practiced offers a weekly investment in family, local community, a weekly interruption of the suicidal econometric fantasy of infinite growth, a weekly divestment from fossil fuels, a weekly moment of rewinding, rewill, what was that word?

I'm reading the screen at the back of my eyes, I don't know, I'm getting older, apparently.

So yeah, so there again, they're recommending this idea of a green Sabbath in order to solve the, again, what everybody?

The ecological sin that we've committed, which warrants the need for an ecological conversion, which results in ecological practices, and The practice that is being recommended is a Green Sabbath.

Series

Week of Prayer

Elijah’s Prayer and The Issue of Climate Change

Transcript

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

Last Day Events

A World in Crisis

1h 4m

Jesus on Prophecy

55m

The Elijah Dilemma

40m

Bryan Choi Weekend

01 The Two Sieges

40m

Chaos, Coronavirus, and the Christian Response

47m

Walk Humbly

49m

Breakout Session #2

Following Christ Through the Crisis

1h 20m

Origin Stories: Creation vs Evolution

Racial Divide or Divine Unity

57m

Wilderness Wandering

Water From A Rock

39m

Back to the Mission

Tears of the Remnant

59m

Righteousness by Faith

Righteousness by Faith and the Three Angels Messages

58m

Plenary

The Black Wall Street

1h 8m

Sound Doctrine