Communion Forest plants a seed

The devastation was unreal. The trees that had shaded us, protected us, gave us oxygen and life, were destroyed in one summer.

Five years ago, the spongy moths invaded our forests and ate through the trees until the dust settled. The moths, whose usual appetite was oak, were so invasive that they digested the coniferous trees on our property as well – the hemlock, spruce and pine.

This was the first personal moment for me when I felt heartsick and helpless to save trees I have known since birth. I had taken them for granted.

Two years later, at the 2022 Lambeth Conference, the Anglican Communion put forth a call to action on the environment and sustainable development with specific requests, including: “Join in the Communion Forest initiative, to protect and restore forests and other ecosystems across our planet, and commit to promoting tree growing at the time of confirmation and other key life and faith moments, as a symbol of spiritual growth.” (4.1.5)

The call was overwhelmingly accepted. The initiative was blessed and supported by clergy and laity from around the world on the grounds of Lambeth Palace, and a tree was planted. As a stark reminder of the environmental crisis around us, the grounds and gardens of the palace surrounding the tree were brown and dry, resulting from 40C weather, a summer of intense heat that resulted in wildfires raging across the land and around the world.

I was moved by the call, its hope for our present and future – a movement of Anglicans that had the potential to transform the world through prayer, faith and action. One affirmation of the call particularly spoke to me:

“Humanity needs a spiritual and cultural transformation. We must see the world differently: repenting of and rejecting an extractive worldview, which regards the earth and all nature as something to be exploited, and embracing instead a relational worldview, at the heart of Christ’s teaching. This is espoused especially by Indigenous peoples, who see the profound interdependence of all creation.” (3.3)

I love our homeland, our trees, our wetlands, our ecosystems. And I love how our Church moves into action for the most vulnerable and unprotected. For the past three years, dioceses, provinces and local churches around the world, including three Ontario dioceses – Niagara, Ontario and Ottawa – have committed to encouraging parishes to develop activities that support and sustain tree growing and ecosystem conservation.

Since January, the Bishop’s Committee on Creation Care and I have engaged wholeheartedly in conversations about joining the Communion Forest movement here in our diocese. Once a seed is planted, it is amazing to see how it matures into a beautiful sprout. Nature takes its course, but it needs the sustaining support and love of a community to help it grow.

A small sub-committee has sprouted to encourage further conversations and interest in feeding and tending to this movement through our local churches, parishes and deaneries. There is a groundswell of anticipation of how we can support the biodiversity of not just our church lands but our communities, of how we can partner with other Anglican provinces across the world to support reforestation, protection and preservation of all ecosystems.

It doesn’t take a long walk around your own neighbourhood to see the effects of human-caused climate change. As a Church, we lead by example; we gather our resources to support and provide for our communities. When we tend our own grounds, we provide shade and food.  When we tend our communities, we provide love. We are called to be caretakers of God’s garden, and I have faith in this spiritual call to all of us to share in this ministry, one seed at a time.

Information about the Communion Forest in the Diocese of Toronto in time for parish preparations for the Season of Creation, to be held Sept. 1 to Oct. 4, will be posted on the Creation Care page of the diocese’s website, www.toronto.anglican.ca.