Guest post by Reverend Grace Thomas (bio below)
On January 17th 2007, fifteen years ago today, a joint letter was penned and signed by scientists and evangelical leaders in the US, in which they stated ‘We declare that every sector of our nation’s leadership—religious, scientific, business, political, and educational—must act now to work toward the fundamental change in values, lifestyles, and public policies required to address these worsening problems before it is too late. There is no excuse for further delays.’
In the autumn of last year, the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Anglican Communion, came together for the first time to make a joint statement. In their statement, they warned of the urgency of environmental sustainability, its impact on poverty, and the importance of global cooperation. Pope Francis, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and the Archbishop of Canterbury together asked people to pray, stating ‘We call on everyone to endeavour to listen to the cry of the earth and of people who are poor, examining their behaviour and pledging meaningful sacrifices for the sake of the earth which God has given us.’
What does a faith perspective offer in a climate emergency? What should Christians be saying and doing?
Full disclosure – I am a CofE priest in England. My response to these statements comes unapologetically from this perspective. The first statement is from the US, which is a very different faith context to here in the UK. So, this is a personal reflection on what faithful response to climate issues can be. It won’t be to everyone’s cup of tea. But it’s all I have to give.
I mentioned in a recent book (1) that I’d had a conversation with a minister who expressed reticence about engaging with ‘green issues’ as they were worried about the time this would take away from mission and evangelism – from the work of getting people into church. It is a fundamental calling of Christians to reach out and grow disciples, but it is also a fundamental calling to steward creation. The former seems to take precedence in a way that sounds dangerously close to a capitalist approach at times – grow quick, numbers matter, income is key and so on. Prioritising growth has, in the secular world, led to a lot of the issues we now face in the climate crisis. In Church, we are now given statistics and targets to meet regarding congregational growth. This, I fear, leads to the very discussion I had with the minister – where creation care is seen as an additional burden, rather than integral to our calling.
This is a complex issue. I am friends with some wonderful Christian activists who, whilst the wider Church has seemed slow and silent, have taken action and raised the profile of the climate emergency and pushed the conversation into the wider sphere. They have been jailed and risked much in their activism and I deeply admire them. But I also know that, sometimes, the rush to activism has left people behind, has antagonised others, and has spoken from too narrow a perspective, and revealed white western privilege and bias. And, my own rush to ‘do’ has pushed me close to burnout.
When I read the two statements above – the one from fifteen years ago, and the one from last year and my gut reaction was – well, nothing much has changed, has it? We have said a lot, but what have we actually done? But, then, I noticed something. A fundamental difference between the two statements, that caused me to pause. The first statement calls, unequivocally, for action. The second, however, calls for us to listen, to reflect and then to respond.
Maybe, what we should be doing, as a Church is much more listening. We need to listen with our whole heart to the earth as it groans and feel that within our soul. We need to stop and give our full attention to the cries of our siblings across the world. We need to put our hands in the soil, inhale the air, wade into the waters, and remember our place within creation and our intrinsic connection to the land, the seas, and to each other.
Alastair McIntosh, a quaker and environmentalist, writes a lot about this and acknowledges that such contemplation, such reconnection with our deeper selves and the earth, will not impact immediately on climate change (2). Indeed, it may be very frustrating for people who see the urgency of the climate emergency and hear this call to listen as another way of pushing action further down the line whilst the earth and many of our neighbours suffer. I understand that and feel it. The Church is very good at talking about things and not taking the radical action that is often needed. I can’t pretend I have all the answers to any of this.
Intentional listening and discernment, however, is not inaction. And, through it may emerge a deeper understanding of what it means to live in a world on the precipice of ecological breakdown. With this, words from the Church may be less weighed down by soundbites and hold greater integrity, and faithful action may become more inclusive, more compassionate, more meaningful and more sustainable.
References
(1) Thomas, G and Coleman, M (2021). Climate action as mission. Cambridge: Grove Books
(2) McIntosh, A (2020) Riders on the Storm. Edinburgh: Berlinn ltd
Biography
Grace Thomas is an Anglican priest in Manchester Diocese, where she is also a Diocesan Environment Officer. She is also a programme lead and tutor at Luther King Centre Theological College. Grace has co-authored the Grove book ‘Climate Action as Mission’ and has also contributed a chapter to Hannah Malcolm’s book ‘Words for a Dying World’. She regularly appears on BBC Radio Four as a Daily Service presenter and on Radio Two as a Pause for Thought contributor. Grace is currently a doctoral student looking at pastoral responses to the climate emergency