Discover Creationtide’s connection between faith and care for the environment.
An interfaith reflection on the season of creation
As a Muslim, one of my favourite Christian saints is Francis of Assisi. I have long admired his generous and genuine relationship with Islam and Muslims at the height of the Crusades, and how this was graciously reciprocated by Sultan Malik Al-Kamil, the ruler of Egypt – an example for us now. And so, soon after I came into my post at Faith for the Climate in 2020, I was pleasantly surprised to learn not only about the ecumenical Christian Season of Creation, also known as Creationtide, but that it culminated in the Feast of St Francis of Assisi on 4 October.
Christians of different backgrounds will no doubt have different Bible passages or theological ideas that connect them personally with Creationtide, including the following passage from Psalm 148: ‘Mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars; Wild beasts and all cattle, creeping things and birds on the wing…’
The words of this Psalm remind me of the first time I went on a country walk with Canon Giles Goddard – chair and co-founder of Faith for the Climate and my partner – some years ago now. ‘It’s a chance to enjoy the wildlife,’ he said. I hesitated before nodding.
Growing up in suburban Malaysia, I encountered the equatorial rainforest for the first time when I was 15, when I represented my school at a national youth environmental retreat. Before going into the rainforest, we had to pull up our leech socks and apply insect repellent. During the trek, our guide stopped and pointed at a heap of steaming dung. ‘We’ve just missed a wild boar,’ she whispered excitedly. Luckily, too, because wild boars tend to charge and gore at interlopers that catch them unawares.
When we got back to our campsite, we checked each other for leeches – they often climb up your arms to feast on the blood on your upper back or shoulders. One boy had to be rushed to the hospital because of a freak encounter with an angry scorpion. He was OK, just a bit dizzy for a few hours.
So when Giles excitedly pointed at a cuckoo and some colourful butterflies in a field in North Devon, moments after we had passed a nonplussed flock of grazing sheep, it confirmed my suspicions that between us we understood the term ‘wildlife’ a little bit differently. ‘Wildlife’, to a Malaysian, conjures images that are far less cute and cuddly compared to what someone who grew up in Britain might be used to.
Still, that nature camp made a huge impression on me. It instilled in me a reverence for the rainforest, and taught me that my actions and my being are connected to the planet within a terrifying yet wonderful Divine matrix.
It is partly the reason why, even though I received a scholarship from the Malaysian oil company PETRONAS to study for my bachelor’s degree in Australia, I chose not to continue working with them after graduating. I resigned mid-way through my contract even though it cost a bomb to repay PETRONAS. It was a choice born of moral and spiritual injury. My growing research on the oil industry led me to discover horrors such as the execution of the Nigerian environmentalist and human rights activist Ken Saro-Wiwa through the complicity of the oil and gas industry. Environmental degradation and human injustice are intertwined, and the climate crisis is a direct result of the historic exploitation and subjugation of large human populations all over the world and what should be the abundant natural resources of our planet.
It continues to amaze me that a choice made out of despair has led me to manifold rewards, including my job at Faith for the Climate. Here’s what I have understood from our Christian members about the meaning of the Season of Creation:
We have models who have found, through the way of Jesus Christ, an example of unconditional love for all of Creation, human and non-human, living and non-living. And one of these models is St Francis. I’ve since fallen in love with his Canticle of the Creatures, which goes very well with this line from Psalm 148 quoted above.
Leeches, wild boars, scorpions, cuckoos, butterflies, grazing sheep, assassinated human rights defenders, environmentalists, and indigenous peoples all over the world. Let’s remember all of them and more St Francis’s words:
Be praised, my Lord, through all your creatures,
especially through my lord Brother Sun,
who brings the day; and you give light through him.
And he is beautiful and radiant in all his splendour!
Of you, Most High, he bears the likeness.
Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars,
in heaven you formed them clear and precious and beautiful.
Praised be You, my Lord, through Brother Wind,
and through the air, cloudy and serene,
and every kind of weather through which
You give sustenance to Your creatures.
Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Water,
which is very useful and humble and precious and chaste.
Praised be You, my Lord, through Brother Fire,
through whom you light the night and he is beautiful
and playful and robust and strong.
Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Mother Earth,
who sustains us and governs us and who produces
varied fruits with coloured flowers and herbs.
Praise and bless my Lord,
and give Him thanks
and serve Him with great humility.
Amen.
_____
Adapted from a talk given by Dr Shanon Shah at St John’s Church, Waterloo, during the Season of Creation in 2020