I’m sure that along with many in the congregation, I have been worried by the recent serious decline in the country’s bee population. Some estimates suggest that we have lost a third of that population over the last three years.
In recent months, as I have walked through the woods to Morning Prayer, I have come across a number of bumblebees in difficulty and on more than one occasion have gently moved them off pathways with an encouraging word, usually along the lines of, “Go bumblebee, go!”
Now you may fear that your Curate is losing his marbles but a world without bees would be a very different place. Indeed, as they pollinate 70% of the food we eat, some suggest that humanity could only outlive bees by four years.
If you are interested to know more, I can recommend the ‘Save the honeybee’ campaign by the Soil Association (www.soilassociation.org) which is collecting signatures to ban a particularly strong pesticide- neonicotinoids. Whilst this pesticide has been banned in France, Germany and Italy our own government is yet to act.
Whatever the causes of this decline, it is impossible to deny our connection with our natural world. This connection was famously highlighted by St. Francis of Assisi who spoke of ‘Brother Son’ and ‘Sister Moon’. For Francis the world around us is something to which we are spiritually related and which God wishes to redeem as much as he does humanity.
Such a medieval insight may yet save not only the bumblebee but also ourselves.
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