Judith Russenberger

Second before Advent

13th November 2022

Reflection (readings follow on below)

“Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right.”

We often hear in the media of giving fatigue. I am sure that there are times when it feels like just another ask to give to another worthy while cause. Or maybe the fatigue comes from realising that this is the nth time we have been asked to give to solve this problem, and our fatigue is also tinged by a feeling that what we give is never going to make a difference. It is the same with volunteering – volunteering fatigue when you feel you’re always who steps up and that others are not pulling their weight. Or you willingness to volunteer may be disillusioned because you feel that the way others are tackling the problem is the wrong way.

Sometimes our commitment becomes jaded because we just can envisage how we can ever make a meaningful difference. We would prefer fast results, quick and easy solutions. We want the future outcome to be clearly visible now. We don’t have the patience or the faith to let situations evolve towards an as yet unknown solution.

When we are impatient or jaded, or indeed, when we are working frantically eyes down, we loose track of the meaning of life. We loose sight of why we doing things and of what our role is in creation. We forget that we are the product of God’s creative being, that our life comes from God and that our lives are to be .over in response to God. We forget that God loves us and desires a deep and loving relationship with us. We forget that God not only loves us, but loves all creation. We forget that God created the world as a whole to evolve and live together in harmony. We forget that God is our stay, our help, our means of strength and wisdom. Time spent with God is not wasted. Time spent in admiration of and coexistence with the beauty of creation is not time wasted. Time spent praising God and recognising where things are going well, is not time wasted. Being patient is not time wasted. Being active for care of God’s creation – for care of God’s beloved – is not time wasted.

Today is a ‘rest’ day for the participants of COP27, a day without formal meetings and agendas. It is a pause before the hard week to come when everyone will be busy trying to pull together strands of discussion, agreements and finances that hopefully will protect the world and all its inhabitants from a worsening future. Pray hard for a good, God-desired, outcome.

Malachi 4:1-2a

See, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble; the day that comes shall burn them up, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who revere my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings.

Psalm 98

1 Sing to the Lord a new song, *
for he has done marvellous things.

2 With his right hand and his holy arm *
has he won for himself the victory.

3 The Lord has made known his victory; *
his righteousness has he openly shown in the sight of the nations.

4 He remembers his mercy and faithfulness to the house of Israel, *
and all the ends of the earth have seen the victory of our God.

5 Shout with joy to the Lord, all you lands; *
lift up your voice, rejoice, and sing.

6 Sing to the Lord with the harp, *
with the harp and the voice of song.

7 With trumpets and the sound of the horn *
shout with joy before the King, the Lord.

8 Let the sea make a noise and all that is in it, *
the lands and those who dwell therein.

9 Let the rivers clap their hands, *
and let the hills ring out with joy before the Lord,
when he comes to judge the earth.

10 In righteousness shall he judge the world *
and the peoples with equity.

2 Thessalonians 3:6-13

Now we command you, beloved, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from believers who are living in idleness and not according to the tradition that they received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us; we were not idle when we were with you, and we did not eat anyone’s bread without paying for it; but with toil and labor we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any of you. This was not because we do not have that right, but in order to give you an example to imitate. For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: Anyone unwilling to work should not eat. For we hear that some of you are living in idleness, mere busybodies, not doing any work. Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right.

Luke 21:5-19

When some were speaking about the temple, how it was adorned with beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God, Jesus said, “As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down.”

They asked him, “Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?” And he said, “Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, `I am he!’ and, `The time is near!’ Do not go after them.

“When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately.” Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.

“But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. This will give you an opportunity to testify. So make up your minds not to prepare your defence in advance; for I will give you words and a wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, by relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your souls.”

Counting on… day 376

12th November 2022

At COP27 it is Adaptation and Agriculture Day.

We stand at a tipping point, O God,

teetering between life and death:

Shall we fall or rise?

“Chose life!”

Shall we retreat into our shells, bury our heads in the sand:

Or shall we step forth into a new age of sustainability?

“Chose life!”

Shall we ignore the science, hide ourselves in the trappings of consumerism:

Or shall we openly embrace renewable lifestyles?

“Chose life!”

Shall we pointlessly mourn the loss of polar bears and elephants, bees and butterflies:

Or shall we live our lives so that all may live?

“Chose life!”

Shall we fly to the ends of the earth while ice sheets melt:

Or value the future by enjoying what is local?

“Chose life!”

Shall we disregard floods and droughts, storms and heat waves, as seasonal blips:

Or acknowledge them as already-present signs of climate change?

“Chose life!”

Shall we close our ears to cries of help from farmers and islanders as their lands disappear:

Or shall we join voices in calling for justice?

“Chose life!”

Holy God,

Prompt us and urge us, encourage and propel us,

to now change our life styles so that all may have life and live!

Amen.

Counting on … day 374

10th November 2022

At COP27 it is Science Day plus a special focus on future generations – what kind of world are we preparing for them?

If we are called us to beat swords into plough shares,

we are also called to turn military jobs into green ones.

If we seek to establish peace,

we must generously offer both love and practical gifts.

If we shift from passive to active travel, from cars to cycles,

we shall need cycle paths and secure shelters.

If we replace petrol engines with electric motors,

we must also turn petrol stations into recharging points.

If we swop meats for a vegan diet,

we must also turn beef farms into arable farms,

sheep fells into woodlands,

dairies into nut fromageries.

If we switch to green electricity,

our pension funds must invest in renewable energy.

If we green our pensions,

surely we will green our banks too.

Creator God, help us to see the changes we must make,

Give us the wisdom to support them,

the energy to achieve them

and the joy to celebrate them.

Amen.

Counting on… day 375

11th November 2022

On the agenda at COP27 today is the subject of decarbonisation. Today’s Guardian reports “Carbon emissions from fossil fuels will hit record levels this year, according to a comprehensive analysis. The finding represents a brutal contrast with the need to cut emissions by half by 2030 to restrict global heating to 1.5C and avoid the most devastating impacts of the climate crisis. The analysis by the Global Carbon Project (GCP) uses multiple streams of data from the year to date to estimate emissions for 2022. It found fossil fuel related CO₂ is on course to rise by 1% to 36.6bn tonnes, the highest ever. More burning of oil products is the biggest contributor, mostly because of the continuing rebound of international aviation after the pandemic.”

How long O Lord?

How many heat waves?

How many droughts?

How many floods?

How many lost coast lines?

How many before we admit our error?

Before we recognise the crisis?

How many lost penguins?

How many missing polar bears?

How many extinct butterflies?

How many disappearing swifts?

How many before we admit our error?

Before we recognise the crisis?

How many car journeys?

How many air miles?

How many beef steaks?

How many tonnes of cement?

How many before we admit our error?

Before we recognise the crisis.

Creator God, we admit our error

and recognise the crises we have caused.

Grant us the wisdom and determination to make amends:

To change the way we live,

To change the way we see things,

To have care for the future.

Amen.

Counting on … day 373

9th November 2022

“Germany wants to help Kenya get from 90% renewables to 100%, its BMZ development ministry says. The two countries have announced a partnership at Cop27, with the details to be fleshed out in December. After Kenya’s power needs are met, it can use the electricity to make green hydrogen, BMZ said. ” Climate Home News

On the agenda today at COP27 is finance. Money is crucial if the world is to shift to a net zero economy.

We pray for all the participants,

the decision-makers and the protestors,

the bureaucrats and the prayerful.

May they have the courage

and the humility to make right decisions.

May they look beyond the short term

to the long term well being of life on earth.

May they seek a climate solidarity pact

not a collective suicide pact.*

May they recognise in each other

their own brothers and sisters.

May they understand the importance

of a family that stays together.

Loving and patient God,

may your will be done.

Amen.

* UN Secretary General Antonio Guterre

Green Tau: issue 56

7th November 2022

The truck system and oil dependency

In the past employees were not always paid in legal tender (ie pounds sterling in

the UK) but with tokens issued by their employer. These tokens could be used as money in stores operated by their employer. This was know as the ‘truck system’. (‘Truck’ has the meaning in old English of exchange or barter). As you can imagine it was easily open to abuse as employers could overcharge on the items they stocked whilst their employees would have nowhere else to spend their pay. The employees were trapped in their employer’s economic system.

In the UK various pieces of legislation were used to curtail the use of the truck system since replaced by further legislation intended to safe guard the rights of employees against abuse by their employers.

Arguably we are trapped in a truck system by the fossil fuel industries and their subsidiaries.
* Look at our homes – the vast majority fitted with a boiler that requires us to buy either oil or gas to use it.
* Look at our roads – filled with vehicles fitted with combustion engines that require us to buy diesel or petrol.
* Look into the sky – airplanes that carry people and goods require the purchase of aviation gas.
*Look out to sea – cargo ships, ferries, even the gas and oil tankers, all require low grade diesel fuel.
*Look at the shelves in the shops – filled with goods wrapped and packaged in plastic that down the lines requires the purchase of oil.
*Look again at our homes – filled with electrically powered gadgets that require us to buy electricity of which 57% comes from fossil fuelled power stations.
*Look at the steel industry – most of its furnaces run on fossil fuels, but even where the furnaces are electrically powered, is there enough renewable power available?

The fossil fuel industry has a stranglehold on our lives and our economies. Whatever the price, we have to pay it if we are to continue with our current lifestyles – with our gas boilers, and petrol cars, our overseas holidays, our reliance on imported food and imported consumer goods ….

Whatever the price, businesses from cafes to ship builders, from hairdressers to clothing manufacturers, have to pay if they are to stay in business. Schools and colleges, museums and sports centres find themselves similarly without choice.

In return for this the fossil fuel industries make larger and larger profits. Share prices go up. Their shareholders gain value. These shareholders that include our banks and pension funds, our insurance funds and our mortgages providers – even some churches have fossil fuel investments. The fossil fuel industry has a stranglehold over our economy. Even governments tread warily. Actually not just warily: governments actively support the fossil fuel industry fearful of what would happen to the economy if the oil flow was cut off.

Does it have to be like this?

Can we as individuals, as an economy, as a nations, as a world, reduce or kick completely our dependency on fossil fuels?

Yes but it will involve massive changes. Investment in new oil, coal and gas production has to stop. Can the fossil fuel industry (be persuaded?) to divert its money into renewable energy?

Can pensions funds and banks etc divert their funds into renewable energy companies?

Can governments divert subsidies to the renewable energy sector or to the insulation of homes, schools, hospitals and community buildings?

Can governments and local authorities divert money to the provision of better public transport and cycle infrastructure rather than road and runway building?

Can industry be encouraged to switch from fossil fuel to renewable energy?

Can the retail industry be encouraged to swop from plastic packaging to minimal or no packaging?

Can households be encourage to invest in heat pumps, solar panels and the like – with grants for those who are struggling financially?

Can individuals be encourage to give up their combustion engines in favour of cycles and electric vehicles – maybe with car sharing schemes?

Can individuals be encouraged to forgo air travel in favour of trains and ferries?

Can individuals be encouraged to minimise the amount of plastic and electrical devises they consume?

Can consumers ask for change from the shops and businesses they buy from?

Can individuals ask for change from their banks, pension fund providers etc?

Can individuals ask for change from their local authority and their government?

It seems we all have a part to play.

Counting on … day 372

8th November 2022

https://www.greenstories.org.uk/anthology-for-cop27/cop27-attendees/monday-7th-november/ This website has specially written stories that envisage who the future world could be. Fictional but hopeful.

Prayer for COP27

Teach them to your children, talking about them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you rise. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land that the Lord swore to your ancestors to give them, as long as the heavens are above the earth. Deuteronomy 11: 19-22

We pray for all the participants,

the decision-makers and the protestors,

the bureaucrats and the prayerful,

influencers and bankers,

for producers and consumers.

May the agreements and the pledges that are made this week

bring justice and confidence,

safety and security for all.

May they seek solidarity and cooperation above all else.

May all that is pledged, be honoured and enacted

for the wellbeing of our world and our futures.

Loving and patient God,

may your will be done.

All: Amen.

Counting on … day 371

7th November 2022 – Prayers for COP27

Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry. James 1:19

We pray for the participants of COP27,

the decision-makers and the protestors,

the bureaucrats and the prayerful.

May they be gifted with empathy,

with patience and with determination

and with a passion for justice.

May they be good listeners and considered speakers.

May they be guided by science rather than politics,

by the collective needs of the world rather than short term self interest.

Loving and patient God,

may your will be done.

Amen.

Third Sunday before Advent

6th November 2022

Reflection (readings below)

Job has been sorely afflicted and his friends bring him little comfort. Job is sure that what he is suffering is not because he has sinned. His suffering is, he feels, undeserved yet real. His friends fail to hear what he is saying and continue to tell him to simply repent and all will be well.

Despite the hardships and trauma, Job is confident of two things – so confident that if he could he would write them in lead with an iron pen! He is certain that God is ultimately in charge of his life and, that God will redeem him. (It is useful to note that redemption – salvation – does not of itself preclude suffering in our lives.)

The Psalmist expresses similar feelings, a conviction that he will be shown loving mercy by God and that his life will have a purpose. The Psalmist confidence comes from his (or her) relationship with God, through prayer and through following God’s law.

Both the passage from Job and the passage from the letter to the Thessalonians envisages an end time when God’s salvation will be made manifest. The understanding of both the resurrection of the dead and of a day of judgement – often linked to the creation of a new world – was a growing belief in Judaism in the era following the return from exile in Babylon, and then in Christianity. It wasn’t a homogeneous belief and, as we see in today’s gospel, there were powerful groups who did not belief in resurrection (and therefore not in an end judgement day either). Scepticism and uncertainty continued amongst Christians too, who were uncertain how or what resurrection and judgement would look like. Early on many Christians thought that Jesus’s return in judgement would happen during their life time and that they would pass straight from this life to the next as enjoyed by the risen Jesus. As time passed, and as those of their communities died without experiencing a resurrection visible to their companions, people were reviewing what they believed, trying to work out a better understanding of judgement and resurrection. So it is that the writer of the letter tries to reassure the congregation in Thessalonica. They are reminded that they are loved by God, that they are – already – the first fruits of salvation, and that they have been sanctified – sealed – by the Holy Spirit and are a living demonstration of the glory of Christ Jesus.

In our current era, many people suffer for no good reason other than that they are victims of a climate crisis that is not of their making. Many others are fraught with anxiety and uncertainty about what the climate crisis portends, how it may affect them and how they should be responding. Some feel the need to take radical action, others to shy away completely from the thought of what might lie ahead. The message from Job would be to stay engaged with God – to pray, to argue, to remain faithful. The message from the Thessalonians would be to sift the stories we hear so as to discern what is truthful, and to continue as committed followers of Christ, remembering that we have Jesus as our guide and exemplar, and the Spirit as our staying power and that both the ‘Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loves us, …. [will] comfort our hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word.’

Today’s gospel reading shows Jesus caught up in just such a dispute between those who believed in the resurrection and those who did not. It is one of a series of debates in the temple precincts where those who oppose Jesus are trying to pick holes in his teaching. Jesus’s answer is succinct: ‘God is the God not of the dead but of the living; for to him all … are alive’. What we humans understand as death is not as God understands it. In each of the gospels the writers record for us the good news that Jesus brought. The good news that showed us how we should live in relation to one another and in relation to God. The good news of Jesus is radical. It challenges our conventional ideas. It challenges the institutionalised ideas of our social and business worlds. It challenges our priorities. It calls for an active and prayerful response.

In the face of the climate crisis and the urgent need for radical justice, the gospel is a timely challenge to us to review our lives and reapply to them the teachings of Jesus. In this the Kingdom season, the call is to work with Jesus in establishing the kingdom of God here on earth.

Job 19:23-27a

Job said,

“O that my words were written down!
O that they were inscribed in a book!

O that with an iron pen and with lead
they were engraved on a rock forever!

For I know that my Redeemer lives,
and that at the last he will stand upon the earth;

and after my skin has been thus destroyed,
then in my flesh I shall see God,

whom I shall see on my side,
and my eyes shall behold, and not another.”

The Psalm

1 Hear my plea of innocence, O Lord;
give heed to my cry; *
listen to my prayer, which does not come from lying lips.

2 Let my vindication come forth from your presence; *
let your eyes be fixed on justice.

3 Weigh my heart, summon me by night, *
melt me down; you will find no impurity in me.

4 I give no offence with my mouth as others do; *
I have heeded the words of your lips.

5 My footsteps hold fast to the ways of your law; *
in your paths my feet shall not stumble.

6 I call upon you, O God, for you will answer me; *
incline your ear to me and hear my words.

7 Show me your marvellous loving-kindness, *
O Saviour of those who take refuge at your right hand
from those who rise up against them.

8 Keep me as the apple of your eye; *
hide me under the shadow of your wings,

9 From the wicked who assault me, *
from my deadly enemies who surround me.

2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17

As to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we beg you, brothers and sisters, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as though from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord is already here. Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the lawless one is revealed, the one destined for destruction. He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, declaring himself to be God. Do you not remember that I told you these things when I was still with you?

But we must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and through belief in the truth. For this purpose he called you through our proclamation of the good news, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by our letter.

Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word.

Luke 20:27-38

Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus and asked him a question, “Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first married, and died childless; then the second and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her.”

Jesus said to them, “Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. Indeed they cannot die anymore, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.”

Counting on … day 371

6th November 2022

For the next 12 days as COP27 takes place, ‘Counting on’ will host a daily prayer. The first comes from Cafod.

God of blessings,
the universe sings of your glory.
Deepen our gratitude for all you have made
and awaken in us a renewed commitment
to care for the earth and each other.

Inspire world leaders at COP27,
with openness to listen to those most affected by climate change
and with courage to act urgently and wisely,
so that our common home may be healed and restored
and all people, and generations to come, may delight in it.

Amen.