In light of our focus on the whole creation at the start of this Advent, I decided to talk to a few environmental scientists about climate change to prepare for my sermon today. Each of these scientists is a millennial, like myself, looking at the world we have inherited and asking how we will care for it. I hope that all of us can join in asking this question together.

Climate change– and climate justice– are topics of great controversy in this country. Some people outright deny human impacts on the environment. Others spend their lives protesting it, sometimes suffering arrests, attacks, or worse. Wherever you are right now on the issue of climate justice, I invite you to consider where God is calling us as a community. How God is asking us to care for our world, for plant, animal, and human life.

I first spoke to my brother, Philip, who is a scientist in the field of ecology and biodiversity. His research specializes in salamanders and their habitats. One way Philip told me our human activity affects our environment is habitat fragmentation. Building roads and highways, cities and towns, can interrupt the habitats of animals and the careful balance of existing ecosystems. In the modern era, industry has largely been driven by human interests. The well-being of other forms of life is an afterthought. Our planet has experienced rapid change in the past two centuries as a result of urban development.

The question that Philip and his colleagues are trying to answer is “How can we manage development with ecological sustainability?” In other words, how can we care for human beings, especially those in poverty, in a way that does not further the damage done to our planet? It’s a difficult question, and it’s one we need to be asking before it’s too late. If we don’t change something now, we will continue to lose more and more animal and plant life on this earth. And there is no reason for us to believe that we would be exempt from this destruction.

Another scientist, Sam Giancarli, told me she thinks of climate change as a human rights issue. Even if we could try to ignore the damage being done to animals and plants, we still have to reckon with the catastrophic effects on human populations, especially in the global south. The current diagnosis seems pretty bleak for all of us.

So that is our word of warning. Where is the word of hope? So often in the Bible, hope comes when the wayward children turn away from destruction and return to the good. I wondered if the same might be true for us today. I asked conservation biologist Carrie Paul two questions: 1) Are we doomed? And 2) Is there anything we can do? I was hoping to find a word of hope.

Carrie seems to think we are at a “wake up” moment– there is hope, but perhaps it isn’t the hope we are looking for. She tells me, “We realistically need to understand that the world is going to undergo drastic changes. So some people might think that the world is doomed if they have to live without bottled water or electricity or other things we currently take for granted that might be affected, but we [really] could live without”.

In essence, we have a choice: in the face of environmental crisis, will we opt for the loss of life or the loss of lifestyle? We can make a change, but it will require a re-evaluation of where we are as a society and the things we assume we need to live. It is each of our responsibility to determine how to live in a way that does as little harm as possible. Some young people today are leading the way forward in living lives of radical simplicity, a virtue that is at the heart of the Christian gospel. Living in tiny houses, encouraging one another to live waste-free, they seem to challenge our impulses towards consumption and expansion.

Sam says one of the keys to our survival is our willingness to adapt to our changing planet. We know that some of the effects of climate change are irreversible and we will have to live with it. And we may be inclined to feel hopeless because of this. But we must reject this hopelessness at every turn. Because if there is any hope for us– and I believe that God has promised us that there is hope– we must be willing to take action. Hopelessness is surrender. Hopelessness is defeat. Hopelessness is inaction, but hope is action.

As children of God, we are a people of hope, and we will choose to live into hope. Hope, which can never be indifferent or complacent. Hope, which refuses to cower to fear. Hope, which envisions a better day and races toward it with heart.

Scientists are researching newer, more sustainable fuel sources. Many consumers are opting for vehicles and homes with lower carbon footprints in the hopes of limiting climate damage. There are glimmers of hope on the horizon. God is at work bringing salvation to Her whole creation. We can hope for nothing less.

Because we are all waiting for that baby in the manger who came into the world in darkest night, Jesus, the light of the world.

An Advent response to climate justice is not to ignore the problem because we believe it won’t affect us. It’s not to ask God by our words to save the world while condemning it with our actions. An Advent response is to be moved to compassion for all of God’s good creation. To love the world with the heart of God. An Advent response is to repent of the destruction we are causing. To return to the good. It is to respond to the prophet’s voice and dare to hope. The days are surely coming. The world is shouting the word of warning. Let us go out living lives of hope in this Advent season.