Pilgrimage for the Planet

Inspired by Christian Climate Action and the Laudato Si Movement, on Saturday 14 September we held our second 'Pilgrimage for the Planet' along the Thames Path in Greenwich, beginning at the Cutty Sark and ending at the Thames Barrier.

There were over 40 pilgrims of various Christian denominations from North, South, East and West London, Kent and Surrey. They included members of the Chinese Catholic Community, religious Sisters from different Congregations (Columban Sisters, Missionaries for Africa, Little Company of Mary Sisters and Sisters of St Andrew), Fr Kevin Robinson from Our Ladye Star of the Sea in West Greenwich, Laudato Si Animators and members of Christian Climate Action. We were also delighted to see once again the group of Zen Buddhists who had also joined us the previous year.

This year's message from Pope Francis for the Season of Creation, entitled 'To Hope and Act with Creation,' reminds us that "to hope and act with creation means to join forces and walk together". It was our theme for this year and was central to our pilgrimage.

So, before we began walking, we stood together in prayer and talked about "hope" and what Nature can teach us about it. We realised that at this time of ecological collapse, "hope is complicated", as Brian McLaren expresses so well in his book 'Life After Doom'. We considered how Nature, with its characteristics of resilience, courage, endurance, perseverance and patience "performs hope" everyday, and we reflected on how it can inspire us to perform hope each day, whether or not we can see an outcome.

We were conscious of this later as we walked past the concrete works and marine aggregates and witnessed evidence of nature living in "defiant joy" in harsh surroundings.

As we walked beside the River Thames, we remembered the great gift of God's Creation that is Water and we paused at different points to reflect on Creation's Song, Creation's Cry and Creation's Call.

We stopped at 'Tribe and Tribulation', a totemic sculpture by Serge Attukwai Clottey with sound recordings from three former slave forts. Clottey is a Ghanaian artist from Accra, which is also on the meridian line. It was here that we reflected on Creation's Cry as we listened to a moving recording of Rev Jon Swales prayer for the UN's COP 27 climate talks.

We witnessed hope in action in the shining beacon that is the Ecology Park with its community restoration work. This used to be toxic, contaminated wasteland but now mimics the original marshland of the Greenwich Peninsula. Here we reflected on Creation's Call, and we were invited to "Listen, Linger and Love" and enter into an imaginative dialogue with a non-human member of creation.

We saw more evidence of restoration work and 'Hope in Action' in the reed beds that have been planted along the way to provide important wildlife habitats and encourage biodiversity.

Eventually the Thames Barrier was in sight, a visible reminder of how vulnerable we are, especially those communities in the global south who are already impacted by rising sea levels because of global warming.

We prayed and listened to 'Everyday God' and then had a beautifully worded meditation led by Buddhist monk Sean. Afterwards, we listened to a recording of Ben Okri reading 'Broken' which is a powerful poem from his book 'Tiger Work'.

We finished by handing out cards with suggestions for actions, and our final song was 'Let Justice Roll Down like a Mighty River'.