Good morning. One of my favourite Stanley Spencer paintings shows Jesus throwing himself on the ground, on all fours, in order to place his eyes and nose within a few inches of some field daisies. It is Spencer’s imaginative way of picturing those wonderful words “Consider the lilies of the field, not even Solomon in all his glory was clothed like one of these” And that is just one of the many sayings of Jesus which reveal his great love for the natural world.
Yesterday the Pope published his long awaited Encyclical on the environment. He sees the relationship each one of us has with creation as a profoundly spiritual matter. It is not just about economics, or saving the most vulnerable communities in the world, crucial though that is, it is about getting our whole relationship with nature and one another right.
It is important not to be sentimental about nature-rural poverty is a terrible thing, which has blighted human history and from which billions still suffer. Technological developments, with all their downside, can lift people out of that backbreaking toil. But our ancestors knew that they had to treat nature with respect for its own unfolding rhythms, working in partnership with it, coaxing it rather than plundering it. Indeed any landscape you look at will be the result of a respectful interaction between humans and natural processes over many thousands of years. That is very different from the kind of ruthless exploitation or disregard for the consequences of our behaviour that has characterised a fair amount of our behaviour over the last two centuries. That is why a key Christian concept is that we are stewards of the earth. It is not ours to do what just we like with. We are accountable-to one another and to future generations -accountable both for the economic policies of our governments and our own consumer habits.
Most human beings find refreshment through nature, whether it is just looking at a flower, walking under a tree, sitting on the grass during a lunchtime break or looking up at the sky to see the swifts swooping and darting. Many experience this as something spiritual. A key imperative in the Encyclical is our shared responsibility to safeguard it for others. We are blessed with a good earth; it nourishes and sustains us. We have a responsibility to ensure that those who come after us continue to have that blessing.
The Encyclical is hard hitting about the complacency and lack of will in both Government policies and our own lifestyles in the developed world but is not finally pessimistic. As it says. “Humanity still has the ability to work together in building our common home” We are still capable of “choosing what is good and making a new start.”