“Climate joy” sounds like a contradiction in terms, but nothing’s impossible in the light of Christ’s resurrection. Climate anxiety is everywhere, and growing. A new acquaintance recently said, in astonishment, “You’re a priest, but you taught high school science? Isn’t that a contradiction?” Well, not if God made the physical world, it isn’t! True, it’s not obvious at first what faith has to do with the climate threat. But our faith claims that Jesus’ resurrection isn’t something that just happened to him, but happens to the entire universe, through him. And that includes the climate threat. But how?
This one-Saturday-a-month pilgrimage from Epiphany to Pentecost will take us on in-depth experiences of finding deep joy and hope as the resurrection frees us from our fears and anxieties about the climate. In each pilgrimage way-stop we will stimulated and challenged to find how our faith is applicable to one aspect of the climate issue, there will be time for one-on-one, or small group, or quiet time alone, to explore our personal experiences of that climate issue. Each of the pilgrimage stops will conclude with a brief but moving eucharist—after all, Anglicans value our long history of experiencing the depths of our faith through participation in liturgy.
There will be music appropriate to each way-point on the pilgrimage, community singing and liturgical participation. For the month or so between each way point, we will explore how our faith is deepening, we’ll keep a diary of those experiences so we can share whatever we wish from our notes when we re-gather at the next way point.
The way-points along the pilgrimage will be ‘The Glory of Creation’ (January 30 in Epiphany season), ‘The Sadness of Creation’ (February 20 in Lent), ‘Surprised by Joy’ (April 3 Easter Week), ‘The pilgrim re-Spirited’ (May 8 pre-Pentecost), and ‘The pilgrims return home to action’ (May 22 Pentecost).
All sessions 9.30 to 12.30 on Saturdays at Christ Church Cathedral, easily accessible by bus or SkyTrain, special parking rates near the Cathedral, snacks served courtesy of the Cathedral.
The purpose of this pilgrimage is to ground ourselves in the joy and certainty of the resurrection as we experience it present in the climate issue. Being grounded solidly in the resurrection we will be able to serve our society by enacting that joy with new energy to challenge and lead our culture to a God-vision of the climate challenge as a form of new life in these threatening times. By doing so, we use Christ’s resurrection to defeat the anxiety-vision that is so destructive to hope, as we embody hope and resurrection for the world.