In 8 billion years our sun will become a red dwarf star, expand, and, in the process, incinerate Mercury, Venus and our planet Earth. That is if a comet or asteroid doesn’t hit us first, or if we don’t do the job ourselves with biological or nuclear warfare, or a climate catastrophe and environmental collapse. At some point in the future, the planet Earth and all that is on it will be gone. Done. Ended.
Okay, so that is the bad news. Isn’t it interesting that even when I say that something will happen 8 billion (that is eight billion) years in the future, our anxiety level goes up. That is so far into the future that our minds really can’t grasp it, but what we can grasp is destruction, death, end of the earth.
We, as human beings, are survivors. Right down to our DNA we are made to survive, to think our way out of difficult situations, to be creative in the face of challenge, to find both physical and emotional strength in the midst of disaster, to rise above the worst of situations using the brains we have been given and by supporting one another in the communities we naturally form. We are survivors, so that even when a disaster is slated to happen 8 billion years in the future, we are on alert, anxious, wondering how to respond.
Indeed, with our ingenuity and creativity, we might escape to another habitable planet in another galaxy. But there is good news closer at hand -- good news that helps now in any situation in which we may find ourselves.
That is the good news that Jesus came to proclaim in word and action – the good news of God’s love for us. The apostle Paul writes to the Romans: “I am sure that nothing can separate us from the love of God.