Weekly Reflection – Protecting God’s Creation

Father Tim

January can be a difficult month for lots of reasons, certainly the cold weather, dark days and post-Christmas blues can get the better of us. With all the talk of new beginnings and earnest resolutions, it can be hard to get going.

Without wanting to sound like a motivational coach, it can be helpful to find inspiration from the story of God’s creativity at the beginning of the Bible, to inspire us to move forward. Reading how God spoke his word and the powerful beings of creation –earth, light, darkness, sun and moon – came into existence, can help us focus on the amazing truth that we are in relationship with the source of all things. Throughout scripture we hear how God draws people and communities of faith to be caught up in the creative spirit of God and be used in God’s mission of healing, celebrating and co-creating (and yes, that includes us at Wakefield Cathedral!)

Recapturing the truth that we are in a relationship with the Creator of all things and invited to be involved in the mission of God is pretty exciting, although it may sound a little scary or even grandiose. I wanted to draw your attention to a way that you can engage in this vision in a doable way. On New Year’s Eve, Dean Simon sent around our Environmental policy which you may remember we launched on the final Sunday of the Gaia installation in August 2021, entitled Learn, Love, Save. As part of our mission at the cathedral we want to ask you to reflect on the policy and how we can implement a plan to reduce the cathedral‘s carbon output and be greener in our work and mission (you can find the document available to download at the bottom of this post).

Reading polices may not be your thing (you may be thinking hang on, this doesn’t square with the cosmic vision of partnering with the God of all things!) but this is actually a practical way of contributing to our call as Christians to care for the place God has created for us and to show solidarity with those living in places most effected by climate change, because that’s what the policy is about.

By engaging with the policy, you may have some great ideas based on experience, you may have some questions, or you may just be curious to hear more. Please have a read and arrange to chat to (me) Father Tim. We could meet up for a cup of tea or if you wanted to write some thoughts down that would be very welcome too. We hope to form an Eco Group and identify an Eco champion so this might also be something you might wish to find out more about (don’t worry, getting in touch about the policy doesn’t mean you have to sign up for the group!)

We will only be able to tackle the issues in the green policy if we come together as a community, so I would encourage you to have a read and a think and please get in touch.

Best wishes,
Father Tim

Tim.carroll@wakefield-cathedral.org.uk | 01924 373923