Mickleham Rectory
July 2007

David Ireland writes…

Dear friends

Like many of you, I have been reading reports of the G8 summit with great interest, largely because of my own concern for the stewardship of our world but also because I remain fascinated by our world leaders’ efforts to please all the differing lobbies at the same time!

During the same period I have been marking RE papers and was struck by the answers of several students when asked to give their response to the question ‘Should we take our responsibility for our world seriously?’ Several gave a similar response, to the effect that if everyone took their responsibility seriously and considered other parts of the world, as well as their own, they would miss out on the chance to be rich.

I wonder how many adults share the views of these young teenagers, and still think firstly of themselves and their immediate needs and give scant thought to the future of our world if we continue to plunder it, as is happening at present? Certainly I am surprised at the number of people who are still ‘in denial’ and claim that issues like global warming are the invention of environmental activists and nothing more sinister.

I still find the concept of our stewardship of the world which many religions, including Christianity, hold to be central to their belief, an incredibly important one. We are, in my view as a Christian, responsible for the world God has entrusted to us and as such must ensure that everything possible is done to treat it with the reverence and respect it deserves. This will inevitably mean that we will have to make considerable adjustments to our own life-styles if we are to tackle some of the issues currently threatening our planet, but the alternative is to bury our heads in the sand …. which may be all we are left with, if we continue to live as if all is well with the world we inhabit.

It is no good our criticising our world leaders for their unwillingness to engage wholeheartedly with the issue if we are not prepared to do so as individuals and members of communities.

He’s off again, I hear you cry. I shall appreciate your comments and views on this subject.

Meanwhile we continue our theme of celebration with the service to mark St Michael’s School’s centenary of their occupation of the current building. This has had to be ‘by invitation’ not because we wish to exclude anyone, but because of the number of people that we can accommodate within the church as opposed to the number that would like to attend. There will be a further event on 6th October at the school to celebrate the centenary, so put the date in your diary now, as it will be open to everyone who might like to come.

I trust all of you will get some chance to relax and reflect in the coming holiday period.

With kindest regards as always,
David Ireland