An Intern Reflection by Philip Hurrell
What can I say about my time with A Rocha? It’s been fundamentally transformative – in more ways than I could have anticipated or describe in a short post! I know I will draw inspiration from this experience for a long time to come. Here, I have found joy, hope, humility, struggle, authenticity and rich community. Among many things, it’s been the renewing of hope and faith that I’m most excited about.
After nine years of studying and working in the UK architectural world, I was ready for a break to refocus and rest. My wife Emma and I decided the internship with A Rocha would be a great space to get back to the soil and reconnect with each of our farming childhoods. We also wanted to catch some of the vision of A Rocha for “Inspiring Hope” and grounding it in faith. Emma decided she would like to work with the agriculture team whilst it seems I picked the lesser known internship – grounds and maintenance.
This may not seem like it fits into the more obvious creation care themes demonstrated by the other internships, but maintenance and making sure that our human habitat lasts is intrinsic to caring for creation and natural habitats.
Through my time at A Rocha and the work we’re involved with, I am coming to appreciate that my relationship with and dependence on the natural world for food, clothing and shelter is far bigger than I imagined, logically leading me to want to protect it and help it flourish.
Much of my thinking around climate change has been based on fear for the unknown and a recognition of the impact of humans on the natural world. The understanding of my relationship with nature has been around my actions being bad for the environment, and the notion that I need to reduce my impact actually suggests it would be better if I did not exist in order for nature to truly flourish. This has led to me live from a place of fear and guilt. It’s not about doing less bad, it’s about doing more good. Sustainability has been about continuity and maintaining a broken economic system through a less bad approach. We need a new system, or maybe it’s an ancient way we have lost sight of.
If I’m honest with myself, I think my faith has been, to some extent, lived out from a place of fear and guilt, through a lack of understanding and recognition of my communion with God through my passions and my gifting. It turns out that fear and guilt are not life giving; they do not encourage me into the fullness of life; they do not inspire creativity. They often, if not always, lead to denial and resignation. The same can be said about framing climate change through that lens.
A Rocha is modelling a different way and I’ve loved being a part of this community. It is a community that recognises the brokenness of our system and ourselves, but lives from a place of hope with a posture of grace and gratitude. We can live more fully through intentional community with each other and with the natural world – grasping the wisdom of ecological systems and mutually beneficial relationships that acknowledge and celebrate the intrinsic value in all things, and thereby encouraging diversity. We can work with nature in the way that we live to the benefit of the natural world and our own well-being. And by doing so, we start to recognise how deeply connected to nature and ultimately the presence and goodness of God we can be, in a manner that is life giving and allows our souls to find rest.
Jeremiah 6:16: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.”
