St Edmundsbury Cathedral’s Climate Sunday Service

On Sunday, June 25, there will be a special service at 5pm at St Edmundsbury Cathedral that will celebrate God’s creation but also confront the ongoing issue of climate change. 

The Climate Sunday Service, which will replace Choral Evensong, will be led by the Rev Anita Rooney and InHarmony’s Richard Hubbard.

It will include a mix of prayer and music and the choir of St John’s Primary School, in Ipswich, will sing at the service.

The Rev Rooney, Curate at St Edmundsbury Cathedral, said: “In the past, many of us have not been aware of the harm that we have been doing to the planet. We can’t change what is in the past but we can change what is in the future.

“During the service, the congregation will be invited to lay a stone at the foot of the cross as a symbol of letting go of regrets of past actions that cannot be changed, freeing us all to respond in a renewed and positive way to the climate crisis.”

The Rt Rev Dr Mike Harrison, Bishop of Dunwich, who will preach at the service, said: “Of many pressing issues in our time, surely the threats to our ecosystems and environment are primary. Human impact on climate by the wealthiest in our world threatens many of the poorest in our world, who have had no part creating the climate problems which often affect them most.

“Not only so, but future generations stand to be terribly affected in wholly unjust ways by our carbon emissions and ongoing degradation of the material world. Intergenerational solidarity and moral obligation to the poor and future generations are critically important and services such as this one at the Cathedral will be underlining how our Christian faith compels us in advocating for climate justice.”