A little over a week ago the Bureau of Meteorology announced that we’ve moved back in to an El Niño weather pattern. The tropical waters North-East of Australia are cooler than normal, meaning there’s less evaporation and so less clouds across Eastern Australia.
It’s the kind of news that’ll hit us all differently. If you know anyone who’s been flood affected over last few summers, the thought of drier conditions might sound like welcome relief. But with it comes the likelihood of extreme heat, bushfires, and drought.
How might Christians best face El Niño this summer? I’ve been pondering this question – you might have other thoughts to share.
El Niño is a chance to remember our creatureliness.
Modern people are used to thinking about our impacts on the climate, but are slower to admit the way climate affects us. Most of the time, as city dwellers, we feel we can sit apart from the costs of climate – we live in a world of year-round cheap bananas and apples, our workplaces, shopping centres and many of our homes are “climate controlled.” But extreme weather events that trace back to El Niño have a way of reminding us of our dustliness. Psalm 103:13-14 says,
As a father has compassion on his children,
so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;
for he knows how we are formed,
he remembers that we are dust.
So, El Niño helps us to remember what the Lord always remembers. It humbles us.
El Niño is a chance to love our neighbours.
Knowing the likelihood of difficulties to come this summer, it’s worth factoring that in to our plans now, so we can allow the margin to serve. Loving our neighbours who aren’t our friends is generally costly. Having the wherewithal to check on neighbours who are very old or very young, and therefore at most risk in heatwaves; getting amongst serving with disaster relief, should we see significant bushfires; praying for rain – all of these things may feel like impositions if we haven’t prepared ourselves to give up our lives for the sake of our neighbours.
El Niño is a chance to test our dependence.
Dependence is a funny thing – it’s not visible if it’s not called upon. When Jesus invited his followers to behold the flowers and the birds in the Sermon on the Mount, he was reminding us that we have more in common with these creatures than we might want to admit. We humans have, over millennia, developed a massive gap between raw materials and our experience of them in food and clothes. And in that gap, we put a story of self-sufficiency.
El Niño will act as Jesus’ megaphone for us, to teach us to trust. To trust that he knows what we need. To trust that what he gives us is all we need. To depend upon God would be a terrifying thing to do if we could not be confident that God is loving. If we had any reason to think he was fickle or feckless. But, of course, God in order to meet our needs even gave up his Son for us. He’s committed, and he’s powerful.
Do you know why it’s called El Niño? Because South American fishermen in the 1600s noticed the pattern of current temperature around Christmas. The full name they used was El Niño de Navidad, the little boy of Christmas. El Niño is a chance to remember that Jesus has come to be present with us, entering into our hot mess so we can enjoy his reinforcing presence while we wait for our glorification, and the creation along with us.
grace and peace,
Steve