Diocese of Oxford celebrates God in creation

The Diocese of Oxford is inviting people to send in photographs, poems or prayers that capture the way creation inspires them.

The competition, supported by the Church of England’s Shrinking the Footprint environmental campaign, is being held to mark Creation Tide. It invites people to send in original photos, poems or prayers that best express the spot where they feel most inspired by creation, be it their own back garden or a popular country estate.

David Shreeve, the Church of England's national environment adviser, said: “So often taken for granted, there are many special places where we can find inspiration and by entering this competition you can say ‘thank you’, which is part of the Shrinking the Footprint ethos, reminding us just how inspiring our world is and how we need to conserve it.”

The diocese is running the Inspired by Creation competition throughout September on its website, earthingfaith.org, which was launched recently to help people connect their spirituality with the earth.

Matt Freer, Environment Officer for Oxford Diocese, said he wanted people to share the place “where they find inspiration and a connection with God”.

To help people with their ideas, the Bishop of Oxford, the Rt Rev John Pritchard, has shared his favourite place as a spot in the Lake District.

Bishop Pritchard said: “Many people have a favourite piece of holy ground, somewhere where the veil between heaven and earth seems very thin, whether or not they are fully paid up Christians.

“Mine is in the Lake District where you look down Wastwater to the great mountains of Scafell Pike, Yewbarrow and Pillar. This is where time stands still for me and I am put gently but firmly in my place before the beauty and scale of God. I could look at that view for weeks and never exhaust it.”

Tony Baldry, MP for north Oxfordshire and the Second Church Estates Commissioner, has nominated the churchyard at St Peter’s Church, Burnham, where his childhood mentor is buried.

“Every day for thirty years Miss Winch would walk from Burnham to Dropmore and back to teach in the church school. Ten miles every day, in all weathers,” he said.

“It was a time when every child knew their catechism, the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis. And with the festivals and the seasons she would change the altar cloths.

“I think Miss Winch’s grave is a good place for the Second Church Estates Commissioner to give an account of himself to God.”

Canon Edmund Newell, Sub-Dean of Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford, says: “It's hard not to be inspired by creation. For me, it's the sea that does it. It's where I go to think, reflect, write and pray.”

The winning photos and words will be made available through packs of postcards and other resources. Prizes include a selection of books and energy saving devices.

Find out how to enter at www.earthingfaith.org/inspired