We are in Creationtide. The Church of England encourages us to think about creation the entire month of September, finishing with a Harvest celebration on 4 October. Last Sunday, we did that using a new Anglican Festival, Creation in Christ. It is one of the things I enjoy about Anglicanism – we are still learning, growing, changing and adding new Festivals.
When it comes to creation and learning and growing, I am often inspired by reading the thoughts of indigenous people from North America and New Zealand. Their relationship with the earth feels different and perhaps more relevant for the times we live in. Here in Western Europe, we seem to have a more utilitarian approach to the earth. It can feed us, provide us with resources and we can use it to our hearts content.
The approach from indigenous people talks about a more enduring and reciprocal relationship: seeing ourselves not as users of the earth, but in relationship with an earth which is like a mother to us. The Maori, the indigenous people in New Zealand, see everything (people, birds, fish, trees, weather patterns) as interconnected, members of a cosmic family.
In North America, the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) say we do not control nature; rather, we live with it, interconnected with all other humans, animals, plants, water and sky. Also, we ought to think seven generations ahead when making decisions—asking how our actions will affect the Earth and future children.
This all seems very wholesome and maybe even logical. Yet truly living as part of creation and not as its master is something that feels challenging. But why does it feel so difficult? I would like to share a quote from Gus Speth, an environmental lawyer from the US. He said:
I used to think the top global environmental problems were biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse, and climate change. I thought that with thirty years of good science we could address the problems. But I was wrong. The top environmental problems are selfishness, greed, and apathy, and to deal with these we need a spiritual and cultural transformation, and we lawyers and scientists don’t know how to do that.
(James Gustave (Gus) Speth, Shared Planet: Religion and Nature, BBC Radio 4, 1 October 2013.)
Perhaps the problem is more to do with our priorities. What matters to us? What do we really care enough about to not mind extra effort and extra cost?
The work of transformation and changing hearts is not what lawyers and scientists do, but those tasks are something that the Church claims as one of its missions. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to change hearts, and the Church has been invited to join in the Kingdom work to allow this to happen. When it comes to the environment, we can not afford to have hearts of stone (Ezekiel 36:26); we need hearts that can care and feel pain and propel us into action.
The task seems daunting, yet essential. That is why every approach that encourages us to see the world not as an object, but as a living organism for which we have responsibility and in which we can find God, is worth embracing. Different approaches work for different people. It is good to read around, chat, enquire, explore. A new Festival like Creation in Christ, where we focus on Christ as a guide to how we should act as part of creation, can be helpful.
When we are faced with the ecological challenges of today, it is easy to feel overwhelmed. Last week it was announced that we will not manage to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees; we have passed that tipping point according to the United Nations Environment Programme (Limiting Overshoot report (UNEP, 2026)). This means that climate risks and impacts have become more dangerous. Yet the report also states that it is still possible to bring temperatures down.
We cannot ignore the ecological challenges we face, especially not if we are thinking about future generations. Feeling overwhelmed is a natural initial response, but that is not where we should stop. One way to feel more empowered is to acknowledge God’s presence and role in creation – because if we see God as always present in creation, working though, with and in creation, then all things are possible (Mt. 19:26, Mk 10:27).
And take heart! If we start from seeing ourselves in relationship with God, each other and nature in a place of humble stewardship, aware of how interconnected we are, we can make a difference.
“Pour ce qui est de l’avenir, il ne s’agit pas de le prévoir, mais de le rendre possible.”
(Antoine de Saint Exupéry, Citadelle, 1948.)
We can work for the future we want for ourselves and our loved ones, by taking care of and living in harmony with nature. We do not have to singlehandedly turn around global warming. There are people across the globe working to change the trend. But we do have to join in, to make sure the next seven generations of children have a beautiful, diverse and healthy home planet – and because we are called to do so, as part of our discipleship to Christ, who is before, in and the end of creation (Colossians 1:15-20).
How? That depends on your personal circumstances. But solar energy, better recycling, cutting down on meat consumption, buying local and organic, using public transport instead of a (hybrid) car, planting trees, lowering the thermostat in winter and putting on a sweater instead, picking up other people’s trash you see left in nature and supporting organisations working for the good of the environment are all within reach.
According to Lucretius, “The fall of dropping water wears away the stone.” (Bishop Hugh Latimer (1485-1555) uses the same image in his Seventh Sermon before Edward VI, 1549: “The drop of rain maketh a hole in a stone, not by violence, but by oft falling.”) No one has to do everything at once. Just do a little, regularly – or alternatively, do a lot if and when you can. It is part of our calling as disciples of Christ to care for creation.
Closing with a prayer from the New Zealand prayer book:
Praise to you, abundant God,
for when we ask, you give;
when we seek, you show the way.
When we knock, you answer.
Praise to you for your unfailing grace.
Make us now your faithful people.
Amen.
(A New Zealand Prayer Book, He Karakia Mihinare o Aotearoa.)
Revd Corinne de Klerk