Joseph, Noah, and Christian Hope in the Face of Climate Change

***

Speaking of the Anglican church, this past Monday, my bishop issued an open letter on climate change. That letter began thusly:

“The Archbishop of Canterbury has recently said that “As Christians we’re called to protect God's creation, and the billions of people whose lives are at risk”. Speaking about climate-related migration he said “In the past…civilisations have…risen and fallen, as a result of movements of people. What we are seeing in climate change is something that will move people on a scale that we have never dreamt of in the history of human kind." We do not all assess the scientific evidence concerning the climate crisis in the same way. But as a public leader and as your chief pastor I cannot in good conscience ask you to ignore that evidence. I am deeply troubled by the climate crisis, as a great many, perhaps as most, of you are. I know that you are gravely concerned for the suffering of millions of people already caused by climate crisis, especially in the Southern Hemisphere.”

Notice the two points Bishop Geoff is making, first, there continues to be public disagreement about the evidence on climate change, though that evidence is now overwhelmingly clear that anthropogenic climate change is indeed happening. Second, he is concerned that while we sit and debate the evidence, millions of people in poorer regions of the world are already suffering from the effects.

When you consider that the average Canadian emits over 19 tonnes of carbon per year, which coincidentally is one of the highest emissions levels on the planet, while the average Kenyan emits approximately 0.2 tonnes of carbon per year, it is clear that we have a disproportionate responsibility to take action on this problem.

We are facing a global climate emergency. I don’t say this to be alarmist, I say this because as people of the gospel, it is our responsibility to look at the realities of this world and declare the great “nevertheless” of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

The story we heard read to us earlier today about Joseph is a story that can guide our thinking as we go forward into a century that will be characterized by increased climatic disturbances. The story of Joseph begins, as you may recall, with a dream. Joseph dreams that he will be placed in a position of authority over his entire family. Already the favourite son, this extra bit of hubris proves to be a step too far for his brothers, and they conspire to eliminate him. One day, they catch him out in the pasture, throw him into an empty cistern and eventually sell him into slavery.

Joseph finds himself sold into the house of Potiphar, where, after an unfortunate run-in with his master’s wife, he is thrown into prison. It doesn’t look like Joseph is going to be lording it over his brothers anytime soon.

In prison, Joseph encounters some other inmates who have strange dreams, and Joseph is able to interpret them correctly, one, the cupbearer, will be returned to favour in Pharaoh's court, while the baker will be executed.

These events come to pass just as Joseph had predicted, and we begin to think that perhaps his earlier dream will come true yet as well. But alas, the cupbearer betrays him and “forgets” to help get him out of prison. Luckily for Joseph, a while later, Pharaoh begins to have dreams that deeply trouble him. Dreams that none of his magicians can interpret. The cupbearer suddenly remembers the prisoner who had correctly  Joseph offers this interpretation - there will be 7 years of good harvests followed by 7 years of famine. Joseph then offers some advice - prepare in the good years so that you are not caught unawares during the bad years.

Notice that Joseph actually has no evidence that this drought is coming, yet Pharoah, being a prudent leader, decides that the prudent thing to do during the good times is to prepare for the bad. Most of you probably think that this is a wise thing for our governments to do as well - yet for some reason, we have been unable to convince our governments to exercise the prudence of Pharaoh. What Pharaoh did to prepare for an ecological crisis with hardly any proof is not being done by the governments of our day who have unanimous consensus about the proof from the scientific community.

Pharaoh puts Joseph in charge of this massive project, and for 7 years he gathers grain from across the land of Egypt. We are told that there is so much grain that they quit keeping track of it all. You could imagine that there were some in Pharaoh’s court that probably thought the good years would last forever, especially as bumper crop after bumper crop poured into the granaries. But, just as God had promised, after the seven years of abundance, a famine began. Not only was there a famine in Egypt, but there was famine in the surrounding lands too.

Now the wisdom of Joseph’s preparations begins to reveal itself as the people of Egypt and of the nations surrounding it swarm to them for grain. All goes well, at first, but then we come to the chilling passage we read earlier.

“There was no food, however, in the whole region because the famine was severe; both Egypt and Canaan wasted away because of the famine. Joseph collected all the money that was to be found in Egypt and Canaan in payment for the grain they were buying, and he brought it to Pharaoh’s palace. When the money of the people of Egypt and Canaan was gone, all Egypt came to Joseph and said, “Give us food. Why should we die before your eyes? Our money is all gone.”

Then bring your livestock,” said Joseph. “I will sell you food in exchange for your livestock, since your money is gone.” So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and he gave them food in exchange for their horses, their sheep and goats, their cattle and donkeys. And he brought them through that year with food in exchange for all their livestock.

When that year was over, they came to him the following year and said, “We cannot hide from our lord the fact that since our money is gone and our livestock belongs to you, there is nothing left for our lord except our bodies and our land. Why should we perish before your eyes—we and our land as well? Buy us and our land in exchange for food, and we with our land will be in bondage to Pharaoh. Give us seed so that we may live and not die, and that the land may not become desolate.”

So Joseph bought all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh. The Egyptians, one and all, sold their fields, because the famine was too severe for them. The land became Pharaoh’s, and Joseph reduced the people to servitude, from one end of Egypt to the other.

In a not entirely unforeseen turn of events, the political mechanism by which Egypt was preserved from the famine turns out to bring with it an even greater evil - the mass enslavement of the working class to the political elites.

I say not entirely unforeseen, because the failure of imperial technocracy was foreshadowed early on in the Joseph saga for those who have ears to hear. Joseph’s first attempt to announce his dream-fueled ambition of political dominance gets him thrown into an empty cistern by his brothers. Centuries later, the prophet Jeremiah will take up the symbol of the empty cistern as a word of judgement against the people of Israel and their abuse of the land. Cisterns were a technology the Israelites learned from their neighbours as a way to irrigate their land and make it more productive. The problem with that, is that irrigation agriculture is devastating in hilly terrain, it washes away the soil - it is a technique for the plains. The Israelites had been told to rely on Yahweh for the rains, but as they watched their neighbours get rich using these technologies, they had adopted them and attempted to replicate their wealth. The result - the kings became rich and the poor were disenfranchised. Eventually they were sent into bondage and exile in Babylon as Jeremiah decries the very technology that had landed them in this predicament.

In the Joseph story, we see the beginning of this cycle of technological and political mastery over nature and people that will be the doom of Israel. Joseph’s turn to technological mastery allowed Egypt to weather the climate crisis, but it enslaved the entire land. For those of you who know their bibles, you know what comes next. Eventually a different political party comes to power, and suddenly Joseph’s family is amongst those who are enslaved. Joseph’s offer of salvation through political and technological means is a false offer, and becomes the occasion for God’s mighty intervention in the events of the Exodus.

But Joseph’s story is not the only story of ecological crisis in the book of Genesis. Earlier in the book, Noah is similarly given special knowledge that a climate crisis is coming - in his case, a global flood. He too begins to prepare for this crisis, but unlike Joseph, is unable or unwilling to persuade the political elite to do something about it. Instead, Noah built an ark. The ark is also a technological solution, but the logic of it is different than the imperial logic that Joseph deployed. Noah’s ark is expansive enough to fit all the creatures of the earth to preserve them from harm. There is an inclusive space of preservation that is created that gives all living things a hope and a future. Whereas Joseph’s solution had offered a plan to overcome the crisis, it had stripped the people of a hope and a future - reducing them to slavery while empowering those already wealthy. Noah’s ark offers the promise that within the saving love of God, there is a hope for the future that honours the integrity of every living thing.

So now I want to turn this discussion over to you. We live in biblical times. There is a climate crisis on the horizon, indeed we are already feeling its effects. In some ways, this crisis is new and brings with it some original challenges, but in other ways, this crisis is the same as every other crisis the church has had to face in its long history in the world. We are people of the gospel. We believe that in Jesus Christ we have been given a hope and a future. In fact St. Peter likens Christ’s saving work to the ark of Noah, through our baptism into Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, our future has been secured. This is the great hope that the church has to offer to the world, regardless of 

***

Speaking of the Anglican church, this past Monday, my bishop issued an open letter on climate change. That letter began thusly:

“The Archbishop of Canterbury has recently said that “As Christians we’re called to protect God's creation, and the billions of people whose lives are at risk”. Speaking about climate-related migration he said “In the past…civilisations have…risen and fallen, as a result of movements of people. What we are seeing in climate change is something that will move people on a scale that we have never dreamt of in the history of human kind." We do not all assess the scientific evidence concerning the climate crisis in the same way. But as a public leader and as your chief pastor I cannot in good conscience ask you to ignore that evidence. I am deeply troubled by the climate crisis, as a great many, perhaps as most, of you are. I know that you are gravely concerned for the suffering of millions of people already caused by climate crisis, especially in the Southern Hemisphere.”

Notice the two points Bishop Geoff is making, first, there continues to be public disagreement about the evidence on climate change, though that evidence is now overwhelmingly clear that anthropogenic climate change is indeed happening. Second, he is concerned that while we sit and debate the evidence, millions of people in poorer regions of the world are already suffering from the effects.

When you consider that the average Canadian emits over 19 tonnes of carbon per year, which coincidentally is one of the highest emissions levels on the planet, while the average Kenyan emits approximately 0.2 tonnes of carbon per year, it is clear that we have a disproportionate responsibility to take action on this problem.

We are facing a global climate emergency. I don’t say this to be alarmist, I say this because as people of the gospel, it is our responsibility to look at the realities of this world and declare the great “nevertheless” of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

The story we heard read to us earlier today about Joseph is a story that can guide our thinking as we go forward into a century that will be characterized by increased climatic disturbances. The story of Joseph begins, as you may recall, with a dream. Joseph dreams that he will be placed in a position of authority over his entire family. Already the favourite son, this extra bit of hubris proves to be a step too far for his brothers, and they conspire to eliminate him. One day, they catch him out in the pasture, throw him into an empty cistern and eventually sell him into slavery.

Joseph finds himself sold into the house of Potiphar, where, after an unfortunate run-in with his master’s wife, he is thrown into prison. It doesn’t look like Joseph is going to be lording it over his brothers anytime soon.

In prison, Joseph encounters some other inmates who have strange dreams, and Joseph is able to interpret them correctly, one, the cupbearer, will be returned to favour in Pharaoh's court, while the baker will be executed.

These events come to pass just as Joseph had predicted, and we begin to think that perhaps his earlier dream will come true yet as well. But alas, the cupbearer betrays him and “forgets” to help get him out of prison. Luckily for Joseph, a while later, Pharaoh begins to have dreams that deeply trouble him. Dreams that none of his magicians can interpret. The cupbearer suddenly remembers the prisoner who had correctly  Joseph offers this interpretation - there will be 7 years of good harvests followed by 7 years of famine. Joseph then offers some advice - prepare in the good years so that you are not caught unawares during the bad years.

Notice that Joseph actually has no evidence that this drought is coming, yet Pharoah, being a prudent leader, decides that the prudent thing to do during the good times is to prepare for the bad. Most of you probably think that this is a wise thing for our governments to do as well - yet for some reason, we have been unable to convince our governments to exercise the prudence of Pharaoh. What Pharaoh did to prepare for an ecological crisis with hardly any proof is not being done by the governments of our day who have unanimous consensus about the proof from the scientific community.

Pharaoh puts Joseph in charge of this massive project, and for 7 years he gathers grain from across the land of Egypt. We are told that there is so much grain that they quit keeping track of it all. You could imagine that there were some in Pharaoh’s court that probably thought the good years would last forever, especially as bumper crop after bumper crop poured into the granaries. But, just as God had promised, after the seven years of abundance, a famine began. Not only was there a famine in Egypt, but there was famine in the surrounding lands too.

Now the wisdom of Joseph’s preparations begins to reveal itself as the people of Egypt and of the nations surrounding it swarm to them for grain. All goes well, at first, but then we come to the chilling passage we read earlier.

“There was no food, however, in the whole region because the famine was severe; both Egypt and Canaan wasted away because of the famine. Joseph collected all the money that was to be found in Egypt and Canaan in payment for the grain they were buying, and he brought it to Pharaoh’s palace. When the money of the people of Egypt and Canaan was gone, all Egypt came to Joseph and said, “Give us food. Why should we die before your eyes? Our money is all gone.”

Then bring your livestock,” said Joseph. “I will sell you food in exchange for your livestock, since your money is gone.” So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and he gave them food in exchange for their horses, their sheep and goats, their cattle and donkeys. And he brought them through that year with food in exchange for all their livestock.

When that year was over, they came to him the following year and said, “We cannot hide from our lord the fact that since our money is gone and our livestock belongs to you, there is nothing left for our lord except our bodies and our land. Why should we perish before your eyes—we and our land as well? Buy us and our land in exchange for food, and we with our land will be in bondage to Pharaoh. Give us seed so that we may live and not die, and that the land may not become desolate.”

So Joseph bought all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh. The Egyptians, one and all, sold their fields, because the famine was too severe for them. The land became Pharaoh’s, and Joseph reduced the people to servitude, from one end of Egypt to the other.

In a not entirely unforeseen turn of events, the political mechanism by which Egypt was preserved from the famine turns out to bring with it an even greater evil - the mass enslavement of the working class to the political elites.

I say not entirely unforeseen, because the failure of imperial technocracy was foreshadowed early on in the Joseph saga for those who have ears to hear. Joseph’s first attempt to announce his dream-fueled ambition of political dominance gets him thrown into an empty cistern by his brothers. Centuries later, the prophet Jeremiah will take up the symbol of the empty cistern as a word of judgement against the people of Israel and their abuse of the land. Cisterns were a technology the Israelites learned from their neighbours as a way to irrigate their land and make it more productive. The problem with that, is that irrigation agriculture is devastating in hilly terrain, it washes away the soil - it is a technique for the plains. The Israelites had been told to rely on Yahweh for the rains, but as they watched their neighbours get rich using these technologies, they had adopted them and attempted to replicate their wealth. The result - the kings became rich and the poor were disenfranchised. Eventually they were sent into bondage and exile in Babylon as Jeremiah decries the very technology that had landed them in this predicament.

In the Joseph story, we see the beginning of this cycle of technological and political mastery over nature and people that will be the doom of Israel. Joseph’s turn to technological mastery allowed Egypt to weather the climate crisis, but it enslaved the entire land. For those of you who know their bibles, you know what comes next. Eventually a different political party comes to power, and suddenly Joseph’s family is amongst those who are enslaved. Joseph’s offer of salvation through political and technological means is a false offer, and becomes the occasion for God’s mighty intervention in the events of the Exodus.

But Joseph’s story is not the only story of ecological crisis in the book of Genesis. Earlier in the book, Noah is similarly given special knowledge that a climate crisis is coming - in his case, a global flood. He too begins to prepare for this crisis, but unlike Joseph, is unable or unwilling to persuade the political elite to do something about it. Instead, Noah built an ark. The ark is also a technological solution, but the logic of it is different than the imperial logic that Joseph deployed. Noah’s ark is expansive enough to fit all the creatures of the earth to preserve them from harm. There is an inclusive space of preservation that is created that gives all living things a hope and a future. Whereas Joseph’s solution had offered a plan to overcome the crisis, it had stripped the people of a hope and a future - reducing them to slavery while empowering those already wealthy. Noah’s ark offers the promise that within the saving love of God, there is a hope for the future that honours the integrity of every living thing.

So now I want to turn this discussion over to you. We live in biblical times. There is a climate crisis on the horizon, indeed we are already feeling its effects. In some ways, this crisis is new and brings with it some original challenges, but in other ways, this crisis is the same as every other crisis the church has had to face in its long history in the world. We are people of the gospel. We believe that in Jesus Christ we have been given a hope and a future. In fact St. Peter likens Christ’s saving work to the ark of Noah, through our baptism into Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, our future has been secured. This is the great hope that the church has to offer to the world, regardless of the crisis it faces, and this is the hope that we offer now. But along with that hope, we also need wise action. In both the stories of Noah and Joseph, preparations were taken for the coming crisis - what preparations are we taking today? What might those preparations look like? But, in both stories, those preparations do not stop the catastrophe - and it appears that we have run out of time to stop climate change completely, so what will our response be when it comes? Will we place our faith in technological solutions? It seems that in both stories, technology has a role to play. Will we support centralizing solutions that amass power and control in the hands of corporations or governments as seen in the Joseph story? Or will we look for local options that give us the opportunity to preserve creaturely life in all of its integrity in the manner of Noah? As people come to this country, displaced because of ecological devastation in their homelands, will we create space for them and give them fertile land to grow and prosper? Or will we shut our doors to them and just ensure the survival of our own families? On each of these questions, Christians may disagree, but we are united by a faith in one who has guaranteed a hope for all who call on his name - in what ways does this commitment to the gospel of Christ guide us as we think biblically, with the help of Noah and Joseph about the years to come in a world who’s climate we have damaged quite severely? crisis it faces, and this is the hope that we offer now. But along with that hope, we also need wise action. In both the stories of Noah and Joseph, preparations were taken for the coming crisis - what preparations are we taking today? What might those preparations look like? But, in both stories, those preparations do not stop the catastrophe - and it appears that we have run out of time to stop climate change completely, so what will our response be when it comes? Will we place our faith in technological solutions? It seems that in both stories, technology has a role to play. Will we support centralizing solutions that amass power and control in the hands of corporations or governments as seen in the Joseph story? Or will we look for local options that give us the opportunity to preserve creaturely life in all of its integrity in the manner of Noah? As people come to this country, displaced because of ecological devastation in their homelands, will we create space for them and give them fertile land to grow and prosper? Or will we shut our doors to them and just ensure the survival of our own families? On each of these questions, Christians may disagree, but we are united by a faith in one who has guaranteed a hope for all who call on his name - in what ways does this commitment to the gospel of Christ guide us as we think biblically, with the help of Noah and Joseph about the years to come in a world who’s climate we have damaged quite severely?