Wake up to the world says Nicholas Holtam

Sleepers Wake, the advent book by Nicholas Holtam, calls us to get serious and pay attention to the spirituality of climate change. Nicholas sets out God’s call here.

Some years ago Gus Speth, an American environmentalist, said that he used to think the top environmental problems were biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse and climate change and that 30 years of good science could fix it. He now says he was wrong. The top environmental problems are selfishness, greed and apathy. To deal with those we need a spiritual and cultural transformation and scientists don’t know how to do that.

When I became the C of E’s lead bishop for the environment, a number of scientists and politicians told me that the faith communities are needed to make the connection between what we have known for 30 years but have failed to act on adequately. Some had in mind that there are 2.2 billion Christians in the world and the church is local everywhere. They saw the church as an internationally connected civil society. They also saw spirituality as our core business, that which connects beliefs and values with how we live, our actions, and that people of faith live for others and not for themselves alone.

Faith is an important resource in tackling the climate and environmental crises. But in the West, there has been a decoupling of religion and culture. The wonderful Eden Project created in a Cornish China clay pit is, given its name, curiously secular yet many of its values are rooted in the Judaeo-Christian tradition. Our art galleries are full of paintings created for religious space. People recognise their importance but have decoupled their beauty from the faith that inspired them. Crivelli’s Madonna of the Candle is a panel from an altarpiece in a cathedral destroyed by an earthquake in 1799, the panels of which are now in museums in Milan, Venice, Florence, Lille and Denver. These panels are treasured and exhibited for our enjoyment and learning, but faith will only nourish the world and fully play its part when earthed in the context of worship and a community.

Pope Francis said a couple of years ago that we will get through the pandemic by caring for one another – love your neighbour as yourself, and neighbour is defined by the stories of Jesus as everyone. We live in our common home where we need to attend to ecumenism, economy and ecology. Pope Francis then said, we will get through the climate crisis by contemplation. Only when we stop to appreciate the beauty of this creation will we not consume it but live reverently within it. Contemplation is the key to righting our relationship with God, one another and creation.

 The context is new but the wisdom is old. This Advent ‘Sleepers Wake’! It’s time to get serious and pay attention to the spirituality of climate change.

 +Nicholas Holtam
Nicholas Holtam retired as Bishop of Salisbury and the Church of England’s lead bishop for the environment in 2021. He is the author of The Art of Worship: Paintings, Prayers, and Readings for Meditation and A Room with a View: Ministry with the World at Your Door. 
Sleepers Wake is his first Advent book. https://spckpublishing.co.uk/sleepers-wake
Photo of Nicholas Holtam ©️ Alexis Maryon.