‘May the Lord bless you and keep you, may the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you and grant you peace.’
The blessing is from Numbers 6, 24-26, and these were the words spoken by Sarah Mullally, the new Archbishop of Canterbury, as she paused at Chartham in Kent on her historic walk from London to Canterbury this year. Chartham, which should not be confused with Chatham, was where Archbishop Sarah met and blessed members of Christian Climate Action, including Sue Parfitt, one of the first female C of E priests, who has been arrested nearly thirty times for participating in climate protests.
Here at the RRC we’re proud to be doing our bit by mounting an exhibition during September about the work of Christian Climate Action, whose efforts seem particularly relevant after a summer of drought and wild-fires throughout Great Britain. July 2026 saw all of Wales and much of England getting about 3% of average rainfall, and May and June saw nearly three thousand heat-related deaths in the UK, a figure which is close to the 2022 record for heat deaths in an entire year. Numbers count.