We need a revolution of love now

18th July 2019


Philip Young, Network Norfolk columnist,  argues that if we follow God’s command to love one another, we would stop causing so much damage to our planet
 

We need a revolution of love right now. To love one another and to love and care for our beautiful planet is what needs to have priority in our national and international life
 
It is 50 years ago since we saw those beautiful pictures of planet Earth sent back by the Apollo astronauts. Over the subsequent fifty years more and more of us are waking up to the damage caused by our human activity
 
We are realising that we are running out of time to stop and reverse our damaging behaviour. We are already experiencing climate change with rising temperatures and the resulting damaging extremes of weather. It is a great sadness that species are becoming extinct at such an alarming rate, but one of the species under the greatest threat is our own
 
Thank God that Extinction Rebellion, David Attenborough, Greta Thunberg, and many scientists are sounding the alarm bells and urging us to take radical action right now while we still have hope of halting and even reversing some of the damage
 
Human beings act best together when our actions spring from love. God is love and it is urgent that we as Christians, in solidarity with everyone else, love the planet and each other. If we love God, then we love what he/she has made, and we care for all creatures including ourselves
 
We need a revolution of love in our politics too. A politics dominated by love for each other and our planet is becoming an urgent necessity. If we destroy the planet we live on, then we destroy ourselves and politics becomes redundant. We have a Climate Emergency and the time to act radically and change our polluting habits is now
 
Above all, as we contemplate those stunning images of the Earth, we need to love our connection with our beautiful home and realise that we are all brothers and sisters, which includes all creatures great and small
 
Love as if your life depends upon it
 
Love is what makes sense to all our actions – for when we love we are acting as children of our living and loving God

 
pictured above is a view of the Earth as it appears over the lunar horizon taken from the Apollo 11 Command Module on July 19, 1969. The photo is copyright-free and courtesy of https://www.nasa.gov

Philip is an Anglican, Quaker, and a member of the Third Order of Franciscans, and now lives in Felixstowe. Until July 2014 he was the Diocesan Environmental Officer for the Norwich Diocese. In June 2017 he stood as an Independent Candidate for the General Election in the Suffolk Coastal Constituency.  He is now Associate Priest at St. John and St. Edmund in Felixstowe and a freelance writer on spiritual and political matters. He is available to run Quiet Days, give talks, presentations, or to preach and can be contacted at philipyoung@btinternet.com. Philip is developing a new website www.revolutionoflovenow.com
  

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