20 September 2025

In our Church Hymnary (Fourth Edition), there is a metrical version of the ‘Canticle of the Sun’ which was written by St. Francis. In it, we sing about ‘bright brother son’ and ‘clear sister moon’. We know that the use of these fraternal terms is a metaphor for our closeness to the natural world.

Like us, the sun and the moon were created by God and he holds them in his embrace just as he holds us. In the fourth verse, we sing, ‘Dear mother earth, who day by day, unfolds God’s blessings on our way’.  Here St. Francis views the earth as a mother bringing to birth fruits and flowers to show forth God’s glory.

In his letter to the Romans, St. Paul writes, ‘Ever since the creation of the world God’s eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things he has made.’ Whilst the creation is distinct from the creator, we can see something of the Creator in what he has made.

This is different from viewing created things as being divine deities. In some forms of Paganism, nature is worshipped for itself. The Mother Earth which St. Francis saw as a metaphor for the earth’s fruitfulness, is seen in Pagan groups as a female deity.

Christianity was seen by Pagans as patriarchal. The dominant image for God is the masculine ‘Father’ and although there are feminine images used to describe God like the mother eagle, God is usually referred to in masculine terms.

Viewing the earth as a female deity, Mother Earth, not only embraces a powerful feminine image but also celebrates the nurturing characteristics associated with motherhood. Whereas Christians do not regard the earth as a deity, we are one with the Pagans in respecting Planet Earth and seeing the hand of God in all that he has made.