By Rab Burnett
Rab Burnett asks questions we are all, whatever our age, asking ourselves as ‘our world unravels’. Rab is a Pax Christi Scotland member, a Laudato Si Animator, a member of the Bishops Conference of Scotland Care of Creation Office, a member of the Scottish Laity Network, and grandfather of six. What could any of us tell future generations of what we have done to make the world a better place?
The theme for Pope Leo XIV’s message for the fifth World Day of Prayer for Grandparents and the Elderly was ‘Blessed are those who have not lost hope’.
In these days of genocide and ecocide, what is the hope that I, at 75yr old, can offer my six grandchildren?
I have a bookmark that has photos of each of my grandchildren and the following words from the poem Hieroglyphic Stairway by Drew Dellinger.
it’s 3:23 in the morning
and I’m awake
because my great great grandchildren
won’t let me sleep
my great great grandchildren
ask me in dreams
what did you do while the planet was plundered?
what did you do when the earth was unravelling?
surely you did something
when the seasons started failing?
as the mammals, reptiles, birds were all dying?
did you fill the streets with protest
when democracy was stolen?
what did you do
once
you
knew?
I first came across the poem in Lorna Gold’s powerful Climate Generation: Awakening to Our Children’s Future, a book that challenged and motivated me to ‘do something since I knew’.
I have been involved in awareness raising and marched with those who have ‘filled the streets with protest as democracy is being stolen’ and I have wept as genocide unfolds daily and our government and too many church leaders say they hope, and pray, it will stop.
But, as Pope Francis said, this is not a Christian understanding of hope.
It is not a passive virtue, which merely waits for things to happen. It is a supremely active virtue that helps make them happen.
It is that Active Hope that the late Joanna Macy shared and witnessed to. A way of engaging with the world that shapes our choices and actions – to support the future we hope. For the followers of Jesus it is way to reflect on the signs of the times and discern the ways the Spirit is calling us to be Sowers of the Reign of God.
Listen to the full version of Hieroglyphic Stairway: