Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
I am writing my first back page letter, just before I go off on holiday. It has been a very interesting first few months in post as the Bishop of Croydon. My thanks to so many of you for attending the Consecration service in late June, it was truly joy filled. Since then, there have been the Ordination services for deacons and priests and more recently the Lambeth Conference, to keep me surprised with the joys and responsibilities of the role.
At the Lambeth Conference the Archbishop of Canterbury used his three keynote addresses to speak to the 650 plus gathering of bishops of our roles and responsibilities as shepherds to lead and care for our flocks, and of the “evils” that prowl our world, like roaring lions endangering people and places, evils that we must both prepare for and help protect against. As shepherds, the bishops, overseers of God’s flock, were directed and charged to be aware of the roaring lions in order to keep our flocks safe. In every address he called the Church to look outwards to tend to the needs of the 21st Century world, a world riven by crises, crises of economics and poverty, persecution and war, of climate change, of worsening international relations and of divisions by culture and belief. Each of these crises present challenges and choices and the decisions we make as we respond to those challenges, because the crises do not offer the opportunity of not making a choice. As Archbishop Welby said, not to choose is to choose.
Each of the prowling lions can be overcome by the choices we make, choices for the good of people and place, choices to make and build strong relationships, to offer loving serving to the needs of those affected, and to the needs of the disaffected – those who feel the church is not doing or saying anything or enough. However, the one lion that he said that we may not be able to overcome, if we do not act now is that of climate change. We were all reminded daily of the climate change challenge as we walked past brown lawns and used the item that no English person keeps far from them – an umbrella – as parasols and sought out trees to sit/hide under. We were all glad that the conference was held in glorious sunshine but recognized that this unseasonal unlimited sunshine was resulting in wildfires and drought right here in the UK. The cost of climate change is in dried rivers and reservoirs, dried up crops, and in other countries starving livestock and the crisis of food availability. Often, we in the UK, look and see the crises that others in the world face from afar, and we empathize but often do not really understand. This climate change crisis, however, is not far away, and as our energy bills rise and rise the crisis is already in our backyard.
In Southwark, we have been looking at our environmental policies, and ways in which we can change our practices so as to move to net zero by 2035. We have committed to becoming an Eco Diocese, and that involves parishes too, monitoring our environmental impact at both parish and Diocesan level and then looking at ways we can become more environmentally sustainable. This is not a desire but an expectation, and we have a diocesan JPIC team working on the ways we can fully live the fifth mark of mission, and truly treasure the earth, better understand the issues and how we can play our part of bringing about changes for the better.
In September we will be entering into a new term and also into the seasons of Creationtide and Harvest, dedicated to God as Creator and Sustainer of all life. Throughout these seasons and through the year, we can all think and work in ways that will keep back and prayerfully defeat the prowling lion of climate change as it affects and impacts on our local and global worlds. In all that we do, we will continue to keep Christ at our centre, and the care of his kingdom our priority.
