What interesting and challenging times we live in. Many in both church and society long for and demand a different world order, a different and transformed economy and a new sensitivity to the plight of poor and vulnerable peoples. Likewise so many of us are concerned to reverse damage done and being done to this fragile earth, our island home, God’s gift to all. Please find below samples of thought, worship and justice-centred action. A blessed Pentecost season to all.
A summary of recent statements by global Anglican leaders on environment, assembled by the Anglican Alliance
The Archbishop of Canterbury, along with the Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch, has underlined our moral responsibility to act now both to reduce human suffering and to preserve the diversity and beauty of God’s creation for future generations.
Archbishop Welby also joined faith leaders in signing the Lambeth Declaration, which calls on faith communities to act on the urgent need to shrink society’s carbon footprint.
The launch of Pope Francis's highly anticipated, landmark Encyclical, Laudato si' (Praise be to you) on Care for our Common Home, reflecting on the extreme urgency of action on climate change, which asks the profoundest questions on "what it means to be human" continue to influence and drive many helpful conversations. This Encyclical is a “very substantial and compelling document not just for Roman Catholics but for the whole Church and all people who live together in our common home,” said the Church of England’s lead on the environment, Bishop of Salisbury, the Rt Revd Nicholas Holtam.
The Archbishop of Cape Town Thabo Makgoba, Chair of the Anglican Communion Environmental Network, welcomed Pope Francis’s emphasis on “the ethical and spiritual roots of environmental problems”.
The Rt Reverend Dennis P Drainville, Bishop of Quebec, Canada has pledged to make space for the voices of those too long silenced: indigenous peoples and women worldwide.
Fossil economic debate fuels conversation at the Episcopal Church General Convention
An important discussion concerning fossil fuel divestment occurred at the annual general convention of the Episcopal Church. The debate (which now passed to the house deputies) well summarizes issues, concerns and strategies involved with divestment on ecological, economic and strategic fronts.
The House of Bishops passed two resolutions June 28 and June 29 aimed at environmentally responsible investing and creating a climate change advisory committee. The resolutions now move to the House of Deputies for approval.
Bishops passed Resolution C045, which calls upon the Investment Committee of Executive Council, the Episcopal Church Endowment Fund and the Episcopal Church Foundation “to divest from fossil fuel companies and reinvest in clean renewable energy in a fiscally responsible manner.”
The amended version of C045, one of four resolutions that called for fossil fuel divestment, passed the house in a voice vote after an amendment removed the Church Pension Fund from the resolution.
Catholic organisations call for people to change lifestyles to help environment
More than a dozen Catholic organisations will on Wednesday launch a campaign calling on people to make radical changes to their lifestyle choices – including cutting energy use, eating less meat and buying locally produced food – after the release last week of Pope Francis’s sweeping environmental encyclical.
The plan by CIDSE, an international alliance of 17 Catholic social justice groups from Europe and North America, will be announced at a press conference at the Vatican that will include Peter Turkson, the Ghanaian cardinal who helped draft the papal document, and Naomi Klein, the Canadian author and anti-globalisation activist, who has said that the only hope of avoiding catastrophic warming of the earth requires “radical economic and political change”.
The identity of an indigenous person is often tied to the land, say Indigenous Anglican Bishop Mark MacDonald. “In today’s world, there is an assault on the land, and on our relationship with the land and with the creatures involved. This assault is experienced in a very painful way by indigenous people.”
Many people regard with sadness the historical events during which indigenous peoples were dispossessed of their land. But climate change has resulted in a continuous, present-day dispossession of land, pointed out MacDonald. “What we see now with issues of climate injustice is an ongoing acceleration of dispossession that is threatening in so many ways to indigenous peoples — threatening to their food security and their life security. The people least responsible are most affected.”
What a Wildly Wonderful World! - Prayer Suggestions
With thanks to A Rocha here is a fine assembly of prayers and liturgical texts which celebrate biodiversity. Prayers include rites for gathering, prayers of intercession, a prayer litany and resources including projects for younger worshippers.
God's Family, God's Earth: Christian Ecological Ethics of Ubuntu
by Kapya John Kaoma
An appreciation by Archbishop Desmond Tutu
As the mounting ecological crisis threatens our planet and Africa in particular, Kaoma confidently initiates a global moral discourse needed in our time. Since the escalating environmental predicament is the biggest moral issue of our generation, Kaoma has undertaken an extraordinary scholarly and prophetic task of exploring the role of Ubuntu in addressing this problem. Filled with invaluable lessons and insights, the book challenges us to reassess our attitudes towards the natural world. Planted in both African and Christian traditions, the book alerts us to one existential reality: how we relate to the Earth will determine the future of life on this planet. We are one Earth family, God’s Family. We must protect the rights and dignity of Creation without overlooking those of the poor. The timeliness of this book cannot be overemphasized. We face the monstrous disaster with serious life-threatening consequences.
Because Africa is one of the most venerable continents to the effects of this crisis, we must proactively work to arrest the ongoing disaster. But, the recurring crisis is also a faith issue. The Earth is the Lord’s; thus a sacrament of ecologically interconnected beings held together in Jesus Christ, who, as Kaoma argues, is the Creator, the Life and the Ecological Ancestor of all life. Just as we fought against colonialism, racism and apartheid, we must unite to fight this life-threatening problem.
Future generations will judge the greatness of our generation by our commitment to make the Earth a better place.
I recommend God’s Family, God’s Earth to all those who value the ethics of ubuntu across the globe.
The Most Revd. Desmond Mpilo Tutu
Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town - Nobel Peace Laureate and Honorary Elder
