Have we angered Mother Earth?

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.

Halloween: Harmless fun? Trick or treat?

Here's my magazine article from October 2013.

“It's just harmless fun” is a phrase that we'll be hearing a lot over the next few weeks as people defend the activities around Halloween, but is it true?

The origins of Halloween are in the Druid and Celtic feast of Samhain which celebrated the end of harvest and the beginning of the dark period of winter. The boundary between this world and the world of the dead was thought to dissolve and the dead returned to earth and created havoc by playing tricks on people and damaging crops. When Christianity arrived in Britain, it attempted to 'Christianise' these and other similar celebrations around the world by talking instead of the 'hallowed' saints who have died. 1^st November became All Hallows (Saints) Day, and the day before, 31^st October became All Hallows Eve or Hallowe'en. However, despite this the pagan and occult origins of the celebrations never went away.

Today the celebrations of Halloween have little to do with Samhain, for many it's just a laugh, an opportunity to dress up and perhaps to get some free sweets. We might possibly object to Halloween because of its celebration of fear, and of causing fear; the anti-social problems and potential risks for children through 'trick-or-treats'; or the overcommercialisation of it. But there is something a lot more dangerous about Halloween than these.

Christianity teaches that the supernatural exists and that there are evil and malevolent spiritual forces in the world. Halloween celebrations both underestimate and overestimate the power of those forces. By trivialising their power and making it the stuff of funny costumes it may encourage people, especially children, to 'play' with ouija boards, tarot cards, horoscopes and other occult practices. This connects people with sinister forces beyond their control, forces whose only aim is destruction.

On the other hand, Halloween is the celebration of evil over good, of darkness over light. Christianity teaches that through his death on the cross Jesus defeated all evil powers, although they won't be finally destroyed until Jesus comes again. In the meantime, they are active in the world and although they are more powerful than we are, they are nowhere near as powerful as God is. In Jesus, good has triumphed over evil and light has defeated darkness. As we say in the baptism service as we give the person their baptism candle: “God has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and has given us a place with the saints in light. You have received the light of Christ; walk in this light all the days of your life.”

The 'treat' of Halloween is really a 'trick' to make us both forget the power of evil and also to think it more powerful than it is. Fun it may be, but harmless it most definitely is not.