The Hillary Symposium

From the programme: The Rt Rev’d Victoria Matthews was Bishop of Edmonton for 10 years from 1997 to late 2007, and Suffragan (Assistant) Bishop of Toronto from 1994-97. She narrowly missed being elected Primate of Canada in 2007. Announcing the appointment (March ’09) the Primate of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, NZ and Polynesia, Archbishop Brown Turei, said he looked forward to welcoming Bishop Matthews into the church of these islands. “I’m sure that, with all her experience, she will make a good contribution to our life and witness,” he said.

Bishop Matthews, 54 and unmarried, is only the second woman to become a diocesan bishop in New Zealand. The first was the Rt Rev’d Dr Penny Jamieson, Bishop of Dunedin from 1989-2004. Bishop Matthews previously chaired the Canadian Primate’s Theological Commission, and is on the Windsor Continuation Group, which is looking at crucial questionsabout the shape of Anglican common life around the world. She has been in high demand as a retreat leader and guest lecturer, enjoys leading youth pilgrimages to holy places such as Iona and Taize, and has served as a trustee of Yale University. In 2004 Bishop Matthews underwent major surgery for breast cancer. She walked the 800km pilgrimage trail to Santiago De Compostela in northern Spain last year to celebrate a clean bill of health. In her spare time she enjoys hiking and walking her Anatolian shepherd dog Jethro, swimming, and reading history and theology. Her installation as the eighth Bishop of Christchurch took place in ChristChurch Cathedral on August 30 2008.

She moved to NZ 8 years ago, and if you think NZ is sleepy on climate change, try Canada. In Edmonton, people used to say ‘What’s wrong with climate change?’ She was inspired by Sir Edmund Hillary in her 20s, and the glimpse of that inspiration stays with her today.

Nonetheless, the comment that NZ is a land of great integrity and we can make a profit out of this doesn’t sit well with her, and she wondered earlier today whether she was in the wrong gathering. Is it all about ethics or is ethics a side order? Ethics can never be a side order. In many churches this Sunday they’ll be celebrating Environment Sunday, a call to churches to pray and act on the environment. The whole of the Chuirch of England has a campaign called ’shrinking the footprint’. In short, the question is, ‘What’s the biggest possible picture for us to look at?’

Why do Christians or people of faith believe this matters so very much? We don’t own the planet Earth — we’re holders of a sacred trust and caregivers, the appointed stewards of all that has been entrusted to our keeping. From the beginning of Genesis, all the way through the Bible, the message is clear: we are not the owners. Planet Earth, our island home, belongs to God, and to treat what is on loan to us so poorly is profoundly wrong.

We also know that a very high and detrimental effect is caused by the wealthy nations of the world, with their greed and their hoarding, taken out on the poorest nations in the world. This means we’re sinning against the second great commandment of the Judeo-Christian convenent: love thy neighbour. It means we have to do all we can to prevent climate change.

Thirdly, climate change caused by our greed and our waste demands justice. We need to act responsibly and do all in our power to alleviate the damage done already, as well as seeking to live responsibly in the future. If I go next door or down the street and do damage to my neghbour’s property (or ‘environment’), I’m held accountable by the justice system, so why aren’t I held accountable for the damage I do to the planet?

Fourthly, the Sctriptures say that the whole universe is being caught up in God’s plan of salvation and God’s plan for a new creation. It isn’t as though the created order had nothing to do with our identity. We’re linked. Paul uses the image of the ‘whole of creation groaning as a mother groans when about to give birth.’ There are cosmic forces at play here. We don’t understand them, but we know enough for our children to be able to say to us, ‘You knew what you were doing, and you knew it was wrong, and you did nothing.’

So why is it that the human population is having such a difficult time facing up to the ethics of the environment?

For too long, we’ve bought into an anthropocentric view. Thus, too many believe that the nonhuman things in nature are mere instruments for human use (or ab-use). We need a more wholistic understanding of life. There’s another view, the view of deep ecology, opposed to that human-centric view of life, a relatively new understanding that the Earth on which we live shares something that is sacred with us.

That is not as far as you might think from Moses being told to take off his footwear because he is standing on holy ground. It is, however, a countercultural understanding of human life.

There are those who see deep ecology as being outrageously elitist: keeping the world’s pristine ecology accessible to the few who can afford to use it as their playground.

In the end the problem is remarkably simple: we need to change people’s thinking about what is acceptable behavior. Many in this room remember a time when people joked about drunk driving. That changed. A number of people said repeatedly that those jokes are unacceptable — and it changed. People remember a time when domestic violence went unacknowledged. We’ve begun to change our thinking about environmental stewardship, but we’ve only begun. To give an example, Earth Hour here in the square was preceded by a concert with huge speakers, massive lights, attended by people holding their disposable drink containers and takeout food. It was well-meaning — but it missed the point.

We have to make people rethink their lifestyle. We need to speak to the head and the heart and the will, and assist people’s realisation that how they live their life makes a difference to someone on the other side of the world. To live recklessly is more than selfish; it’s sinful and possibly criminal. But telling someone not to do something is less inviting than creating a vision for them to work towards.

We live in a society that cares about and expects health care for every person. We want a cure for cancer, diabetes, arthritis. It’s a time also, however, to heal the environment. To address climate change. To understand that the relationship between creation and creator is meant to be a journey towards wholeness. Perhaps the healing of the environment is the banner to bring folks on board.

Picture a photo: planet Earth, taken from space, with the caption:

What on Earth are you doing, for Heaven’s sake?