CHURCHES COLUMN: We owe it to those future generations to look after Earth

Aged 13, I learnt the Classical Greek alphabet, and so I encountered “omicron”.

Think of it as o-micron, or microscopic o, like the little “o” we use in “got” or “not” or “hot”.

We can’t make that little o sound big, loud, or long. Try it.

Little omicron has a big brother, “omega”. As “mega” means big, so o-mega is our “big O” sound, as in go, so and no.

And it is possible to shout that. Try it (with doors and windows closed, please!)

Whereas little omicron – like our “o” – is in the middle of the alphabet, big omega is the last letter of the Greek alphabet. (And z is near the beginning!)

In The Bible, the New Testament was first written in Greek, and when St John writes of the revelation he received from God (in the very last book in The Bible), he tells us that God says: “I am the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last”, reminding us that He was and is the creator of all that exists: the earth and the cosmos, and was there before the big bang. He has entrusted our amazing Earth to us.

Sadly, we are only now

realising the damage we have done, and are doing to it, failing greedily or lazily in our duty of care.

Sadly, I confess my share in this.

Let us all earnestly pray for our beautiful, and what we now realise is our precious, vulnerable and fragile world; for forgiveness for damage done; and for wisdom to protect it for our children and grandchildren who inherit it.

As God said: “I am the Beginning and the End.”

So, in His loving hands, may He keep and protect us in this world and forever.