It’s important that we recognize that humanity has only achieved this systemic destructive capacity in the past ~ 250 years with the rise of carbon-derived energy. There’s hope to be found here — Christians have pursued authentic humanity for nearly two millennia without it. Now that we’ve realized how completely we have enslaved the earth, we must set it free. Four responses:1. The church must cultivate lifestyles that do not depend upon dinosaurs.

2. We must suffer with the world and admit fault.

3. We’ve got to begin speaking the language of creation and destruction.

4. And we’ve got to embark upon the mission of God in its fullest sense.

We’re to live as a people who honor our creative God among fellow humans so twisted that they actively (perhaps ignorantly) destroy themselves and other creatures. As a church, we must find ways to subvert these structures, learning to live sustainably and peacefully in a culture that rejects both. At the same time, it’s our duty to prophetically engage the systems and authorities that enable and encourage this ecopression. But here’s the trouble — many of us still contribute to the problem! Above all, we can’t “set ourselves apart” by breaking away. The church must suffer with the world, acknowledging that we’re a part of the problem and will face the same consequences for our negligence as everyone else. As Lynn White argued in his touchstone essay, “The Historic Roots of our Ecologic Crisis,” Christianity is a prime contributor to the problem, but the church must be a part of the solution. Species extinction fits perfectly into God’s story of creation, fall, Israel, cross, the inaugurated kingdom, and the kingdom-to-come. It’s important that we locate it in this context. This crisis is a result of humanity-gone-wrong, creation fallen, and life destroying itself. Jesus entered into this broken world and conquered death to breathe life back into the groaning creation. He offered us but a glimpse of what the completion of the Genesis project will look like. Today, we must submit to his kingdom and take up this mission of holistic restoration, telling the story everywhere we go and bringing it to life. We don’t have a map from “here” to “heaven,” but as Tom Wright argued in the “Future of the People of God” lectures, we’re to improvise. This could mean ditching our cars, reducing our energy consumption, buying green energy, begin recycling and precycling (choosing goods based on their socioecological impact), and any number of other things. But all of this hinges upon our reverence toward God, our respect for his beautiful spirit-filled world, and our willingness to take up Jesus’ mission of helping creation to fulfill its potential until he comes to finish the job. Shalom. [ Aside: There’s a similar conversation going on at http://www.OrganicJesus.org. ]