Green Lent. . .

Over at the Church of England the faithful are being urged to turn their attention from Jesus and His atoning work or from catechetical renewal or from any calls of repentance from sin to other pursuits.  They are called to use the forty days of Lent to calculate the carbon footprint of the meal they just ate, to switch to a renewable power supply, or to plant a tree.  This is not the purple Lent or even the unbleached muslin Lent but a green Lent. Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, issued this 40-day challenge to Christians to engage in God’s plea for us to “Care for Creation”.   Their environmental focus will be accompanied by a set of 40 short actions they might taken, sober reflections to accompany their acts, and prayers to pray to help them become more environmentally conscious.  How wonderful!

It is so mundane and ordinary to focus upon the Passion of our Lord or turn your attention to the basics of the Christian faith and creed or to struggle harder to resist the impulse to sin and to live the holy and righteous lives we were given in baptism.  Much better to take those forty days of purpose and focus them on the greater cause of climate change, environmentalism, and the protection of nature from the onslaught of mankind humankind.  Yes, we would all do well to consider joining our English cousins in this noble pursuit during the season of Lent.

Perhaps some might want to tell me how they plan to heed the call and take up the green flag in their march toward the Holy Zion of nature's pristine perfection?  I would most appreciate some practical hints on how this might be done.  Sadly, my pastoral formation took place so long ago and within the limitations of a more orthodox Christianity so I am not so acquainted with these more modern expressions of Lenten piety.  I can well imagine that her majesty will be whipping out the calculator on her phone to tally up the carbon footprint of her own meals and looking into solar panels and windmills at Buckingham and planting trees -- all the while singing the great Lenten hymn All Things Bright and Beautiful.  It would do well for us Anglophiles to follow her lead.