Here's my magazine article for October:
October is often a month when we think about Harvest Festivals and the natural world. The year started (though it seems a lifetime ago!) with rallies and protests about climate change, and the rise of Extinction Rebellion, and the reminder again of humanity's rôle in looking after the world in which we live.
This has deep biblical roots which go back to the first book of the Bible in the creation story in Genesis 1 and 2. There we learn that God is the Creator “of all that is, seen and unseen” (as we say in the Creed), and that it was good. We also learn that after the creation of humanity, in the image and likeness of God, it became very good. However humanity's position as the pinnacle of creation comes with responsibilities: to rule over the natural world (Genesis 1:26) and to work the ground (Genesis 2:5). The responsibility to work the ground helps define what is meant by 'ruling over' the natural world: we're to work in harmony with it; to look after it; for the good of us and it. Thus we sometimes talk of being 'stewards' rather than 'rulers' of the world. Unfortunately, due to the sinfulness of humanity, described in Genesis 3, we have taken that responsibility to rule over the natural world and turned it into an excuse to exploit the world's resources for our own selfish needs.
The environmental situation was then displaced in the news by the COVID-19 pandemic, but some made a link between the two. The need to reduce carbon emissions which was said to be impossible at the beginning of the year, suddenly became a reality as airports were shut and only essential travel in cars was allowed. Some claimed that the world was fighting back, and that Mother Nature had created the virus in order to heal herself. Whilst a lot of this talk was metaphorical, it shows that you only need to scratch the surface to find pagan ideas latent in our folk memory. In many ancient belief systems the natural world was controlled by (often capricious) gods who needed to be placated otherwise they would send punishments of plague or disasters such as droughts or floods. Supreme amongst these nature gods was the Earth goddess, and 'Mother Earth' often played the key rôle in creating the universe through intercourse with the 'Father Sky' god.
Amidst these ideas the biblical creation narrative stands out as unique. God alone creates all that is and amongst the things it specifies that he creates are sky, water, earth, sun, moon and stars. In ancient beliefs these were often said to be the most powerful of the 'nature gods', but the Bible tells us they are not divine at all, indeed humanity is greater than all of them. Therefore there is no Mother Earth that we have angered and need to placate by our environmentally friendly actions. However there is a Father God, whose love we have rejected by disobeying his commands, including to be stewards of the world. The problem of environmental damage is ultimately a problem of human sin, not just because of our exploitation of it but because our rebellion also cursed creation (Genesis 3:17-18). Therefore the remedy for environmental damage is a Saviour: not in the form of a Mother goddess nor an environmental activist, but in Jesus who invites us to repent of our sins and promises us his Spirit to help us to change; and at whose return all creation will be renewed.
