I think it has been a wise move on the part of the church to have a “Season of Creation.” Through our worship and teaching life, our life as disciples, this season of our Church year spotlights our relationship and responsibility for God’s gift of Creation. This is, of course, an ongoing relationship through the whole year (we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus in our lives all year, not just at Easter) but a specific season helps us focus more deeply and open ourselves to be transformed by God to more faithful living. We all know that we live in a gap between our meager response and the massive change that is called for to heal our planet. We know that even our most diligent personal changes (consuming less, driving less, flying less; recycling; living more simply) must be accompanied by systemic change – alternative energy sources, radical cuts in use of fossil fuels. We know there is resistance, within our hearts and within the structures of our economy, to make the necessary changes. How do we cooperate with God to address this resistance?
One of the speakers at Lambeth was Elizabeth Watuti, Kenyan youth who spoke at COP 26 (video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMvzJu79WG0)
She is the founder of “Green Generation”. She urged us to “feel,” because we need heart if we are going to make the necessary changes to address the climate disaster. I think it is our faith that gives us the courage to feel our lament and loss and fear, to move out of our numbness and denial. Can we acknowledge how deeply we love this earth God has given us, and out of this love, open ourselves to the changes God requires of us?
Time and again at Lambeth, voices from the Anglican communion said “Climate change is caused by the most powerful but the victims are the poor.” Ms. Watuti urgently appealed to us in the Western world: “Use your power to call on governments and business to follow through on their promises to COP 26, to invest in clean energy.”
Here is a challenge to active discipleship, our prophetic call to work for God’s justice: to write to our elected representatives, handwritten is most effective, to urge systemic change. We can drive the growth of political will to care for Earth.
At Lambeth we planted a tree to launch “The Communion Forest,” a “global initiative comprising local activities of forest protection, tree growing and eco-system restoration undertaken by provinces, dioceses and individual churches across the Anglican Communion to safeguard creation.”
See https://www.communionforest.org/ I challenge each church, each community of disciples in the Diocese of Kootenay to find creative ways to participate in this Communion Forest, to engage in practical acts of hope. We as the Anglican Communion, a global Church, have the capacity “to care deeply and act collectively.”
Yours in Christ,
+Lynne
