The Diversity of Sacred Lands in Europe - IUCN

ment. Their intention is the same as that of the prophets in the Old Testament, who
reminded us of our basic relationship with the reality of God and its distortion.
Those voices radically compel us to confront the fact that there are limits beyond
which mankind should not pass. They call for humility when contemplating creation;
they tell us to stop at the border of the holy.
On the European scene, where creation groans under the burden of weighty tarmac,
there are signs that what is holy has not vanished. Even in the midst of everything,
there is a constant dialogue with God. We have church buildings as a sign
of this.
Inside the churches, such pointless and unproductive activities as religious services
go on. They do not have any particular appeal, and are given no public attention.
The markets ignore them. Nonetheless, perhaps precisely because of
them, a cultural place on the landscape remains open, somewhere people take
stock of the fundamental relationships associated with their existence and want to
bow their heads, as they do when they are before something holy.
When people bow their heads before God in church, this is also a matter of confession:
admitting that we cannot listen to the tragic sigh of creation as outside observers.
We are deeply involved, even the Christian Church. As human beings, we
are part of the consumer culture that contaminates everything, and, as Christians,
we have interpreted our faith in such a manner that it has made way for the arrogant
exploitation of creation.
The Church cannot, and is unwilling to, dictate from on high how people should
behave: instead, it invites them to common self-reflection, humility and the courage
to change. In the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church’s Climate Programme,
this invitation can be summarised in just three words: gratitude, respect and
moderation.
Courage
The Church’s approach derives from those fundamental stories about what is holy
that are told in church services. Alongside the first stories in the Bible, another tale
is told, one that gives another view of what is holy. It is the story of Christ, the central
theme of the New Testament. It highlights the fact that the sacred, the reality of
God, is not just beyond this reality, beyond the gates in God’s own domain, but is
also fragmented radically amid humanity as a whole.
The holy is not encountered solely in something that reflects the identity of something
from the outside, something else that is purer and more whole. It can also be
found wherever people have suffered loss, been victims, lost their way, lost their
identity or been broken.
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