About fifteen years ago now, I was interviewed at a Christian Booksellers’ Convention in Doncaster, and I stated there in a group meeting afterwards that I regarded those who warn of the dangers of climate change to our environment as being effectively modern-day prophets. A few were surprised at my voicing such an idea, seeing it as ‘unspiritual’, disappointingly ‘unbiblical’, but I have never swayed from that view. To my mind, it is people with the courage and passion of the extraordinary Greta Thunberg – all too disparagingly dismissed by some who would rather not face up to the challenge – who, as much as anyone, deliver God’s authentic word for our time. As the following poetic intercession, taken from my recent book In A World of Tears and Sorrow, reminds us, the crisis facing today’s world is one that none of us can afford to turn our back on.
Can we see the ice caps melting?
Can we see the ice caps melting
and not even be concerned?
Experts speak of changing climate –
have we really still not learned?
Life on earth exists in balance,
each dependent on the rest,
those who prophesy disaster
do not make such threats in jest.
Can we see our planet pillaged –
creatures hunted, homes destroyed,
species lost to us forever:
so much gone we once enjoyed?
Can we simply shrug our shoulders,
claim there’s nothing we can do?
Those who care can make a difference,
though our numbers may be few.
Faith that turns its back on nature,
looks to heaven instead of earth,
is a destitute religion,
wholly lacking any worth.
All of life on earth is precious,
held by us in sacred trust.
Stewardship is not some extra;
conservation is a must.