Climate Justice Session Six – The Healing of the Nations
Climate Justice Session Six – The Healing of the Nations
Session six looks at a passage from the book of Revelation and explores the hope the we have for climate justice.

Session six looks at a passage from the book of Revelation and explores the hope the we have for climate justice.

Watch our Global Sisters and Brother’s Story

This film was created for a particular moment on the climate justice journey (ignore the very end slide) but the message remains: we need to change our actions to avoid out-of-control climate change. It includes the voices of people from around the world suggesting the many personal and political actions that we might take to make the difference needed for the future and flourishing of God’s glorious earth.

The film begins and ends with images of the trees and the seasons. We began our series with the trees and plants of the garden in Genesis and now we end it with the trees of Revelation. 

The Passage: Revelation 22: 1-2

Read the passage twice – have someone read it aloud and then individually in silence.

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. Nothing accursed will be found there any more. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him; 4they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign for ever and ever.

Discussion Questions

  1. What jumps off the page?
  2. List the nouns/ naming words in this passage.
  3. How does this vision relate to the restoration of creation?
  4. What, if any, hope does this passage provide for the struggle for climate justice?

Action

Plan what actions you can take together in the cause of climate justice. Visit www.christianaid.org.uk/climate for inspiration and ideas.

Reflection Question

What is your most prominent reflection or learning from our climate justice homegroup sessions?

Prayer

Merciful God,

If I must speak, let it not be my words.

They stick to my tongue, to my hands

 I trip over unclean lips

And I cannot face my shame.

If I must speak, let it not be my words.

They are brittle and hard, fall short of tears

Refuse to root in this stony soil.

If I must speak, let it be my sister’s words, my brother’s words

Their blood cries out from holy ground

You called them beloved when I did not.

If I must speak,

let it be Christ’s words

Whose weeping revived the dead

Who was buried a seed

Raised a tree

And whose leaves will heal the nations.

(Hannah malcolm, Rage and Hope: 75 prayers for a better world)