For the beauty of the Earth

by the Revd Canon Dr Charlotte Bannister - Parker

Ever since I was a child, For the Beauty of the Earth has been my favourite hymn. The older I get, and the more of the Earth I have been lucky to see, the more I appreciate the hymn’s sentiment:

For the beauty of each hour / Of the day and of the night

Hill and vale and tree and flow'r / Sun and Moon and stars of light

Lord of all, to Thee we raise / This our sacrifice of praise

Next Sunday (26th June) we will be singing John Rutter’s 1978 reworking of the hymn that has become a ‘hit’ anthem. Rutter’s anthem to our precious planet is part of an exciting celebration of the Earth which is descending on St Marys – literally - next weekend. Our church is the latest stop on the worldwide tour of “Gaia”, a truly breath-taking art installation.

Created by the artist Luke Jerram accompanied with music by Dan Jones, this amazing sculpture uses a giant sphere and state of the art imaging and lighting to suspend a hyper-realistic replica of Earth from the ceiling of cathedrals, museums and churches all over the world. This promises to be a utterly unique experience.

From the dawn of time, we could behold only as much of the beauty of the Earth as we could see standing somewhere upon its surface. All of that began to change 70 years ago with the advent of the Space Age. Memoirs and quotes of those who go into space, from the earliest Soviet cosmonauts to the Apollo astronauts to more recent ISS dwellers, all contain a sense of awe and wonder. Seeing the whole world all at once, these women and men are struck most especially by two things about the Earth: its almost indescribable perfection, yet also its fragility.

The American engineer and astronaut Karen Nyberg wrote,

“Every single part of the Earth reacts with every other part. It’s one thing. Every little animal is important in that ecosystem.

[Seeing the planet from above] makes you realize that, and makes you want to be a little more proactive in keeping it that way.

If I could get every Earthling to do one circle of the Earth, I think things would run a little differently.”

‘Gaia’ has been touring the world seeking to bring such revelations to those of us who will never go into space. One mother said, “I was immediately moved to tears and my daughter said to me, ‘Why are you crying?’ I said to her, ‘I am not crying I am humbled’ .” Others praise how “all of your sense are involved.” One young visitor proclaimed that, “We need to save the world. It’s our only home and we have to look after it.”

Please come along on at 3.30pm on Sunday 26th of June to sing and praise ‘Gaia’ in our special service of celebration. As we contemplate the 30 degree weather today –- record breaking heat for this time in June -- it strikes me that this service will be not just a celebration of the beauty of the Earth but also a contemplation of how threatened and fragile is our precious blue home.