Members of Christian Climate Action have chained themselves to a cross today, Good Friday, on the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral. In an act of worship and grief for the crucifixion of the world, as the climate emergency worsens, they are calling on the Church of England to do more to tackle climate change.

James Grote, 69, a Baptist Minister, Sue Parfit, 84, a Church of England Priest, Sue Hampton, 69, a writer, and Deborah Wilde, 71, a retired teacher, chained to the wooden cross. Four other people held a banner reading ‘Don’t Crucify Creation’ and held up the cross. The group sang in worship before they were each carried off the steps by Cathedral security.

James Grote, 69, a Baptist minister, said:

‘On Good Friday we remember the suffering and dying of Christ on the cross and how God, in Christ, suffers with us today.  As members of Christian Climate Action we are praying for all those who suffer and die through the climate emergency, from flood, drought, heat, disease and so on. But we are also asking for forgiveness because this is our doing as human beings.  We are causing the climate emergency through burning fossil fuels, cutting down forests and massive consumption.

‘We need to change how we are living. We need to Stop Crucifying Creation.  As Christians, as the Church, we need to speak out in the name of the God of love. It’s not too late, there is hope. This is Good Friday, but Easter follows on. We believe in resurrection and new life but we have to act now.’

Sue Parfitt, 84, an Anglican Priest, said:

 ‘This is an act of worship. We are identifying with Jesus on the cross, arriving at the moment he is put on the cross and staying there until he is taken down. We are here in silence, grief and in worship to identify with the suffering Jesus, and the suffering around the world in the Climate Emergency.’

Dr Susie Peeler, a Retired Lecturer, said,

‘As a Christian I believe that this is God’s earth; He created it and brought everything into being. He entrusted this wonderful diverse gift to us. We have broken His trust by destroying it with our ceaseless greed for fossil fuels threatening our extinction. I’m here to ask the church to have courage, as Jesus did on this day, and speak up for the earth against the dominion of fossil fuels and to lead us all to become a more humble, more caring, more just society.’

Sue Hampton, 69, a writer, said:

‘As we focus on the crucifixion of Jesus, we want to remember victims all around the world of a climate crisis inflamed by our entitlement and by the failure of governments to embrace the radical change needed to protect life on Earth. Our act of worship is a way of calling on the church to act and speak out now in Christ’s name.’

CCA’s Stop Crucifying Creation document:

• Acknowledges the work that is already being done by the Church of England to tackle the climate crisis and get its own house in order.
• Calls for the church to go further in protecting creation in the face of climate breakdown.
• Calls on the church to find its courage to speak out prophetically and persistently about climate change and those who are causing the most damage.
• Asks the Church to return to its roots of prayer, confession and building loving community as we face climate breakdown.

During March, more than 100 members of Christian Climate Action (CCA) contacted the new Archbishop of Canterbury asking her to meet with CCA to discuss the document.