From ‘Focus on Faith’, Stretton Focus, May 2014
Among the earliest religious activities that we know about are those concerning the weather and the seasons. Even today we hear prayers asking for weather which suits human activity, whether that is harvest, fertility, or good skiing. In the Bible the weather often takes a hand, notably the story of Noah and the flood. How that must have resonated with some people earlier this year.
Noah’s flood was initiated by God seeking to punish a society which was ignoring him. Noah needed plenty of time to build his ark – just acquiring and getting the timber transported must have been a major task. The residents of the Somerset Levels had no such preparation time. It can be argued that they were let down by society which promised them an ark but failed to deliver.
Fingers are also pointed at global warming, climate change driven by human activity. There are of course deniers, including some well-known politicians. The weight of scientific evidence points the other way but it sometimes looks as though eminence outweighs evidence. Noah did not have that problem.
We seem to be able to affect the weather through decades of collective action while at the same time we cannot affect it as individuals. Changing the way we heated and powered homes and factories in the 1950s and 1960s got rid of the smog in our cities so it is clear that individual interventions have value if they are part of a collective activity.
The idea that weather and faith have no relationship is generally accepted today. But it is worth asking if there is anything in our relationship with the weather which tells us something spiritual ? Ancient peoples used to think so and if there isn’t why do we still pray for kinder weather.
The spiritual part of this relationship is about humility. Cruel weather may be a reality but it is also a metaphor for many challenges our faith faces. We must find the spiritual strength to recognise and address the really big issues affecting life. We must approach our future with humility, that is the lesson from our faith; because with humility there lies the route to benefiting all human life. Like Noah we need to take the time to truck timber.
Roger Wilson
