Reflections from the Chair - November 2021

15th November 2021

This month Rev Mike Haslam reflects on the climate emergency and the role of chaplains within this.

It doesn’t take most folk very long to realise that I love the wildness of creation, running up mountains, swimming down rivers, even occasionally just stopping and listening, listening so that you can hear each larch needle as it falls to the forest floor.

However little connection we have with the wild, almost all of us can see the sky, glimpse the glories of sunrise or sunset and watch the ever-changing cloudscape. In the sky and every detail of creation, I sense the presence of God, power and vulnerability, mercy and vengeance, beauty, love, and wildness beyond our control.

For any of us who love creation, listening to the sound of sheer silence, raging against the storm, running into the sunrise, or marvelling at each microscopic detail, the question is, ‘What next?’.

We might think [or hope] that we take only photos and leave only footprints, we might think that we are doing well when we turn down the thermostat or buy a hybrid or recycle or don’t tread on an insect [I’ve heard them all and done them all]. Well, we are, and each little thing, each act of love, matters. Yet Jesus offers us sacrificial love, life-changing love and calls us to the same. That begins with little things but doesn’t necessarily end there.

In research for CCE, Newman University found that young people hoped for more leadership, and more action, from their chaplains on the Climate Emergency. Are we just doing the easy things and tinkering around the edges, or are we responding to Christ’s sacrificial, life-changing love and offering similar love and sacrifice to cherish and heal God’s creation? Join us for our next webinar on the climate emergency with Dr. Josh Hunt and explore how we can dig deeper into the environment.

Register here: https://bit.ly/CCEDigDeeper