*** UPDATE*** There was a huge response to the Sunday Worship service, with so many people saying how much they'd enjoyed the environmental focus and how good it was to hear different faith voices. See below for the link to hear the service online. ***
'If you believe in God…then you should feel a responsibility to care for His Creation'
– Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh.
With these words, Prince Philip, then International President of the World Wide Fund for Nature, invited Martin Palmer in 1986 to help bring together five of the world’s major faiths to explore how the faiths could become partners with the conservation movements in protecting what Pope Francis calls “our Common Home”.
That initiative laid the foundations for a transformation in attitudes and action on the environment among faith comunities globally over the last 25 years.
Now Interim CEO of FaithInvest and a member of the Pope's Covid Commission, Martin will revisit some of the issues that prompted Prince Philip's invitation to the faiths when he leads the BBC's Sunday Worship programme on January 10.
In the service, Martin will put the horrifying statistic of the death of 160 species across the last ten years into a spiritual perspective.
He will be joined in the 4th century church of St Martin's, North Stoke, Somerset, by Indian writer, poet and opera writer Sangita Lakhanpaul and by Lorna Gold, FaithInvest's Director of Movement. Lorna, who is also Chair of the Global Catholic Climate Movement (GCCM) and a member of the Pope’s Covid Commission, will be preaching.
The programme will draw on insights from major world faiths, but is grounded in the Christian hope of renewal and regeneration with readings from Exodus 3, Psalm148, and Colossians Chapter 1.
The programme was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Sunday January 10. You can listen to the service here.