When was the last time you experienced awe?

Or ‘took a step back’ to ‘view the bigger picture’ and were overcome by something beyond yourself?

‘The overview effect’ is a phenomenon experienced by astronauts when they look at the world from space. It is characterised by an overwhelming sense of awe and a new appreciation of the interconnectedness of earth and life on it. One astronaut, Edgar Mitchell described coming to new awareness that the molecules found in the bodies of the vast deeps of space in which he was travelling were the same as those which made up his body - prototyped in the stars - and that we are, in fact, ‘stardust’.

Until mid-July, a phenomenal touring artwork, the Gaia earth installation by Luke Jerram, hangs in the nave of our church as part of the Oxford Festival of the Arts and this Sunday at 3:30pm we will hold a special Climate Sunday service under the shadow of the artwork to renew our commitment to caring for all God’s creation.

The installation hopes to help us glimpse something of the overview effect of which the astronauts speak and, through tapping into our sense of awe, to reignite in us a renewed commitment to combatting climate change.

You may remember that at the recent confirmations, Bishop Steven used a new additional promise for the first time as part of the commission. In it he asked, and we responded:

Will you strive to safeguard the integrity of creation, and sustain and renew the life of the earth?

With the help of God I will

This new promise which we each make as part of living out our baptismal faith is not simply a topical one but also a deeply essential expression of what it means to be good stewards of the earth which has been entrusted to the care of humanity.

It is a profound a moving truth that, as we are reminded on Ash Wednesday, we are dust and to dust we shall return. But the awe inspired by taking God’s view of the earth reminds us that this also means we are, in fact, star dust and that the hands which both flung stars into space and also surrendered to cruel nails are those in which all creation, including our planet and each one of us, are held in eternity.