Dear Friends,

 

I wonder if any of you recognise the rough sketch above? It is an attempt by me to depict the ‘Green Man’ carving which looks down on Mary (my secretary) and me when we are working in our temporary parish office in the choir vestry at Wraxall church. Green Man carvings, dating from the early Middle Ages, are often found tucked away in the architecture of old churches, a throw-back to pagan times and ancient fertility rituals to guarantee good crops. Ours is at the top of a pillar in the choir vestry – do come and have a look.

Frequently the carvings show a figure from whom sprout all kinds of growth, and reflect a deeply felt human need to pay respect to ‘the life force’, whatever that may be.

 

Christianity, of course, and the Jewish faith out of which it grew, are in no doubt that the source of all life in creation is God. Our dependency on God is reflected in celebrations throughout the year, one of which is Rogation Day which falls this year on May 1^st. Rogation comes from the Latin word ‘rogare’, meaning to ask, and Rogation Sunday was traditionally the day on which the people of the parish would ‘beat the bounds’ of the parish, asking God for a good harvest from the crops, and for his blessing on the animals.

 

It is, however, all too easy to forget how much we rely on the natural world – not only for our crops, meat and fish, but for all natural resources: water, oil, wood – so much more, including of course the very air we breathe. It is terrifying to realise how much we take for

granted, how much we waste, how much damage we are doing to our environment. Just a few statistics:

22 million tons of rubbish are sent from UK homes to landfill sites every year; there has been a 50% fall in the population of birds living in agricultural fields since 1970 (tree sparrows down by 87%); European flights have almost doubled in the past 10 years; households throw away on average two thirds of the food bought from supermarkets; and, as the election approaches, it is estimated that 100 tons of carbon dioxide will be released by each of the main party’s helicopters in the course of election campaigning.

 

Personally, I have found it depressing that the environment has figured so little – hardly at all – in the run-up to the election. We all seem far too concerned with ‘what’s in it for me’, or with alarmist talk about immigration, when this real life and death issue of the future of our planet is at stake. I’m sure that those who are involved in working on the farms within our parish have their own concerns about agriculture and the countryside, and I doubt if they feel that these have been adequately addressed by the main parties.

 

We can’t go on taking our environment for granted. Whether our own contribution to the threatening catastrophe is unnecessarily driving about in a fuel-guzzling 4-wheel drive (are they really necessary if you live on a suburban housing estate?) or taking advantage of cheap flights from Bristol (which bump up emissions of CO2 – and I plead guilty to this) or failing to make the effort to re-cycle – let’s have a hard look at the way we live, and pay our own respects to the Green Man by acknowledging our responsibility for the natural world.

And what about demanding that our politicians do the same, if they are to get our vote?

 

 

With love, Rosey