Micah Challenge Australia Blog

 

The Micah Challenge blog is a space for discussion and debate about the issues of global poverty, faith, advocacy and justice and the Millennium Development Goals. This blog aims to provoke thought and challenge you to learn more about the issues discussed. We welcome your comments.

Micah Challenge is a global campaign of Christians speaking out against poverty and injustice. Click here to visit the Micah Challenge website.

  • The Cross & Climate Change Part 6: Finished

    Posted by The Hope For Creation Team

    17 December, 2013

    It is finished (John 19:30) Jesus said, “It is finished”. Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. It is perhaps the most remarkable feature of our faith that Christians regard a crushing defeat and painful death at the hands of the most powerful Empire the world had seen at the time as the victory of God over all human arrogance and over the powers of sin and death. Far from being merely an execution post, the cross is a throne on which the crucified Lord of all is elevated and from which he has triumphed over all rulers and authorities (Colossians 2:14-15). It is the site at which the forgiveness and reconciliation of sinners – indeed the restoration to life of those who are dead in their sins – has been achieved. This reversal of expectations – from death to victory, from cross to throne – is so powerful that we understand Jesus’ words from the cross not simply as the exhausted words of a dying man, but as a statement of triumph, the conclusion of his journey to Jerusalem and the cross. The powers of the… read more

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  • The Cross & Climate Change Part 5: Water

    Posted by The Hope For Creation Team

    12 December, 2013

    I thirst (John 19:28) Jesus’ physical thirst, part of the agonies of dying, is a reminder of his humanity and his vulnerability. Like all of us, he was dependent on God’s good gifts in creation – water, air, and soil. And, just as God did not conjure up a legion of angels to defend him from arrest and crucifixion, so too God did not rescue Jesus from this vulnerability, but rather allowed His beloved Son to pass through extreme deprivation and into death. Dependence and vulnerability are two key markers of what it means to be human that God-With-Us, Emmanuel,Jesus came to know intimately, painfully and tragically. Water is a powerful symbol of this dependence and vulnerability. Without water, we perish and die within a matter of hours. Water is, also, a powerful symbol in Scripture for renewed life and the gospel’s message of hope. So exploring the connections between climate change and water open up ways for us to reflect on both our common humanity and also on our Christian hope and our obligation to bear and share “living… read more

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  • The Cross & Climate Change Part 4: Despair

    Posted by The Hope For Creation Team

    10 December, 2013

    My God, My God, why have you forsaken me? (Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34) This is the fourth post in a series on The Cross & Climate Change, focusing on Jesus’ “seven words from the cross”. Earlier posts are: Introduction, 1: Forgiveness, 2: Heaven, & 3: Family. It’s easy – even for Christians – to forget or gloss over the stark and uncomfortable reality of Christianity. Its central event, the heart of faith, is an experience of utter defeat and despair. Although we have come to accept it as a symbol of devotion to Jesus or see it as some sort of residual cultural symbol (worn on necklaces or as tattoos), the cross is a symbol of torture, degradation and death. Just as a gas chamber or gallows might be today. To be a crucified Messiah was to be (in the first century mind) a contradiction in terms. How could a Messiah executed in the most shameful and degrading way the Roman Empire had devised be God’s anointed one, the saviour of his people? And to take it further, how can a crucified God, one who knows suffering… read more

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  • The Cross & Climate Change Part 3: Family

    Posted by The Hope For Creation Team

    5 December, 2013

    Woman, behold your son: behold your mother (John 19:26-27) In this post we carry on the series on The Cross & Climate Change, focusing on Jesus’ “seven words from the cross”. Earlier posts are: Introduction, 1: Forgiveness, 2: Heaven. Even in death, Jesus’ love for his mother ensured that she would be cared for after he had died. And there seem to be few things as basic to our created nature as love and care for family. However, the people of God are a family that goes beyond blood and beyond borders. Consider sea level rise. Global sea level rose roughly 19 cm (±20 mm) between 1901 and 2010. And projections are for further sea level rise of anywhere between 25 cm and 98 cm before the end of the century. This might not sound like much, but Christians in the Pacific island nation of Tuvalu (whose highest point is less than four metres above sea level) are already suffering the effects of sea level rise, with unusually high tides, erosion and salinity affecting their crops. Sea level rise is already causing many of Papua New… read more

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