Reflection for St Francis Day: We Must See The World Differently
A quote from St Francis of Assisi: “If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men.”
A meeting of Anglican bishops from all over the globe in 2022, came up with the following calls with regard to Creation:
1.1 We have been gifted a world of breath-taking beauty, astounding abundance and intricate interconnection. It is a world God declared good and loves.
Our earth, and all that it contains and nourishes, is in trouble.
1.2 Yet, this is still God’s world and God calls us to respond as Easter people: bearers of hope
2.4 …. With crisis comes opportunity: for the Church to listen to God’s voice, to imagine how the world could be different, and to help build towards God’s Kingdom.
2.6 ... Member churches of the Anglican Communion are involved in every part of the environmental emergency. We are the people facing devastation in disaster-stricken communities. We are all the polluters, especially in wealthy countries. We are people living in poverty and on the margins. We wield power and political influence. We are experiencing loss and damage of our land, homes and livelihoods. We are investors with financial capital. We are first-responders to disasters and those who accompany communities on the journey of recovery and resilience
3.1 For ourselves and for future generations we need to act now, urgently and at scale.
3.2 However, actions are difficult to sustain unless there is also the transformation of hearts and minds from which such action flows. The climate emergency is not just a physical crisis – it is also a spiritual one.
3.3 Humanity needs a spiritual and cultural transformation. We must see the world differently: repenting of and rejecting an extractive world view, which regards the earth and all nature as something to be exploited, and embracing a relational worldview, espoused especially by indigenous peoples, which sees the profound interdependence of all creation.
Blessings
Ceri
