Reflection: Environmental Crisis and Stewardship

Broadcast on Nevis Radio:

The world is grappling with one of the biggest global crises humankind has ever known. Global temperatures are rising, storms becoming more frequent and more severe, and species extinction rates are accelerating. How on earth can we be positive when we’re faced with that… and everything else that’s going on in the world? 

Prayer helps us with a bit of a perspective shift. 

There is a prayer in the bible commonly called The Lord’s Prayer which is so called because Jesus taught it to his friends. One line in it says:

Give us this day our daily bread. 

In other words, just pausing to give thanks for the little, or maybe lot, we have. 

The practice of giving thanks for daily bread and acknowledging a Creator helps us see the natural world not just as a resource to be used, but as a gift to be cherished. When we pray about creation, we’re practicing gratitude and responsibility – two attitudes crucial for environmental stewardship.

The Genesis account presents humans as gardeners of creation, called to “tend and keep” the earth. This ancient view aligns with modern thought on a sustainable relationship with nature, important for those of us more familiar with Morrisons than the plough.

Celtic Christianity, which has huge influence in our part of the world, offers a rich tradition that speaks powerfully to our current environmental crisis. The Celtic Christians saw God’s presence not just in church buildings but woven through all of creation – what they called “the big book of nature.” Their prayers celebrated the divine presence in everyday natural phenomena: the rising sun, the changing tides, the growing crops. As Celtic scholar John Philip Newell puts it: We see the light of God in everything; the love of God holds everything together. 

Isn’t that beautiful?

St. Francis of Assisi prayed to Brother Sun and Sister Moon, expressing a kinship with nature that modern environmentalists echo. His prayers weren’t mere poetry but reflected a worldview where humans are part of, not separate from, the natural world. 

I’ll be back tomorrow, but I’ll leave you with a Celtic prayer: “The guarding of the God of life be upon you, The guarding of loving Christ be upon you, The guarding of the Holy Spirit be upon you, Each day and night of your lives.”