Action 99: Pray. Green Christian’s co-Chaplain, Andrew Norman, will be leading simple and contemplative-style prayers for 10 minutes at 8am every morning from 1-12 November, based on “Why Faith Matters at COP26”.
+ Register for zoom prayers for COP26 +
(https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZApcuugqDovHdzejfpqPLtc1ZZEfOVVy_gm%20)
This is the last of the Count Down series! For the next two weeks there will be a daily image and prayer relating to the COP26 agenda, ‘Counting On …’
31st October 2021, 4th before Advent
Deuteronomy 6:1-9 https://bible.oremus.org/?ql=502594426 Hebrews 9:11-14 https://bible.oremus.org/?ql=502594518 Mark 12:28-34 https://bible.oremus.org/?ql=502594610
Reflection
The text of Deuteronomy offers the people a quid pro quo: if you obey this command, then your days will be long, all will go well with you and you will multiply – ie dwell in growing number – in a land flowing with milk and honey. Wow! Who would not want that?
And what is the the qualifying command? That you love God with your total being, with the totality of your existence. The lawyerly minded might then ask for clarification: what is it to love God? For the writer of Deuteronomy, the answer has already been given. It is to keep all God’s statutes and ordinances which Deuteronomy details. To love God is to do that which God wants, to live life the way God directs. There is a great simplicity and logic in this. It is what one might expect when we read the creation stories, for they tell us that God created a world that was good, which was full of life and which was created so that that life in all its forms might multiply and flourish. To live in harmony in such a creation is surely to live in accordance with the creator’s intentions.
Yet the fact that something is highly desirable and is straightforward to achieve, doesn’t necessarily mean that is what will happen. We know from reading the rest of the Bible that the people of Israel had great difficulty in sticking to following the ways of God. And we can clearly see when we look around the world now and see suffering, war, greed, destruction, deceit … that humanity still finds this a hard task.
The Letter to the Hebrews uses much of the imagery and ideas of the Pentateuch, envisaging Jesus as the ultimate high priest – the one who mediates between humans (and indeed not just humans but creation too as we will see later) and God. The writer describes Jesus as the high priest of ‘the good things that have come’. Again the message that what God is and does give us, is good! He is also the high priest who, through his own death, has redeemed us for all ‘dead works’ so that we can worship the living God. Again a message that picks up the same message as that in Deuteronomy: the desire that we should be in tune with God. To worship is to recognise the worth God, to offer our understanding of God’s nature. Jesus enables us to worship God not only because he embodies the nature of God in human form, but also because he redeems us from ‘dead works’: those things that come between us and God and between us and the rest of creation – those things that lead to suffering, war, greed, destruction, deceit. Jesus both aids our relationship with God and the resulting enjoyment of what is good in the world, and removes those stumbling blocks that damage that relationship.
The passage from Mark continues on the theme of the kingdom of God and how one might access it. (A few weeks ago we heard of the rich man whose love of his wealth impeded his access). In today’s episode, the dialogue between the scribe and Jesus probe what is involved in coming close to – and entering – the kingdom of heaven. The answer is two fold: loving God and loving neighbour. If we were to return to the creation stories, and in particular that set in the Garden of Eden, we would see that these as the subtext of that story. Whilst Adam and Eve and their companions – all the creatures God had created and which Adam had named – followed that two fold lifestyle, they enjoyed the fruitful life in the Garden. And maybe that too was a land flowing with milk and honey. But when they all respectively failed to love God and their neighbours, their companions, they found themselves living in a place of hardship and pain and enmity.
And isn’t that still where we find ourselves today? As the delegates gather for COP26 and all the non delegates arrive in person or via zoom, we come to a crunch point in the wellbeing of the world. Over the decades and indeed the centuries, we have not loved our fellow neighbours, both our human brothers and sisters, and our creaturely brothers and sisters. We have not loved our common home but have allowed greed and cruelty, envy and ignorance to damage and despoil the land where we live.
Let us pray earnestly that our global leaders will make the right decisions. Equally let us pray that we too as responsible individuals will do all we can to live penitent lives, truly loving God and neighbour with all our being.
Food waste is a big contributor to global warming. Waste can occur anywhere from on the farm, whilst in transit, at the supermarket or in the home. In the home we should aim to use all the food we buy. So here is a recipe for using up raw pumpkin – or squash. It is also cooked in a frying pan rather than in the oven which will use less energy. It is also plant-based – another plus for the environment.
250g self raising flour
60g vegan butter
1 tbsp of chia or camelina seeds
150g raw pumpkin/ squash
4 cardamom pods
Oat milk
Mix the seeds with 3 tbsp of warm water. Mix in the seeds from the cardamon pods.
Cut the butter into,cubes and rub into the flour.
Chop the pumpkin into small pieces.
Mix everything together, adding enough milk to create a soft dough.
Heat a frying pan with a little oil in the bottom.
Roll out the dough and cut into rounds or triangles. Place these in the pan.
Cook for 5-10 minutes or until browning on the bottom. Turn over and cook on the other side.
Enjoy plain or with jam.
Action 99: Look back over all the Count Down actions, pick out your favourites, perhaps find ones you have missed, and be positive that you are part of the change we all need.
30th October 2021
Count me in?
This weekend COP26 starts. The coming together of interested parties from all over the world: government leaders, NGOs, scientists, economists, financiers, environmentalists, charities, development agencies – and if not inside the talks, then certainly present, protest groups – with the target of addressing the climate crisis:-
agreeing and undertaking to implement and finance the action needed to contain the expansion of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere,
to limit further increases in global temperatures,
to enable countries and communities to undertake adaptations to farming and infrastructure, housing and businesses:
to enable populations to live with the already built-in effects of climate change (rising sea levels, droughts, floods, wild fires, heat waves and cold snaps, storms and changing seasons)
and to do so in a way that is fair to all nations and all people.
Looking at past achievements, we are expecting a lot of COP26. If we are expecting a lot from the conference delegates then it must be right to expect a lot of ourselves too.
How far will we go? How far will we go in changing our lifestyle to protect the planet? How far will we go in curbing our consumption of limited resources? How far we we go in be willing to pay the true cost of what we buy?
Change has to begin somewhere. If no one takes the first step, then nothing happens, but if someone makes that first step them change can begin. It can seem really hard to make changes when everyone around you seems to be ignoring the problem and continuing as if no action is needed. How can we make change easier?
Be confident that you are doing the right thing.
Be proud to be a trend setter.
Get the support of like minded people.
Be an encouragement to others.
Raise awareness of why change is needed.
Raise awareness of the consequences of doing nothing.
Find ways in which change becomes satisfying, rewarding, even fun.
Keep focused on why change is necessary.
See the positives you are achieving – and talk about them to others!
Be proud to be part of the change.
Action 98: Make a table decoration as a focal reminder of all that is beautiful about our world.
Speaking out about the climate crisis and what we could and should be doing to avert an even worse crisis is important. We need to encourage and motivate change in the way we live our lives and in the way businesses and governments make use of resources.
Along with all the pumpkins lanterns this jam jar might spark a conversation with friends and neighbours.
For this activity you will need a jam jar, tissue paper, PVA glue and a night light. Cut strips of different coloured tissue paper that are long enough to wrap around your jam jar. Write some short simple messages on the paper.
Apply glue to the outside of the glass jar. Stick on the strips of tissue paper allowing them to overlap a little. Coat all the tissue paper covering with a layer of PVA. This will create a translucent appearance.
You can add an optional handle to your lantern using string or a length of thin wire. Place a nightlight in the bottom of your jar and then place it outside so that passers by can see your message.
What we eat and what we waste all contributes to the size of our carbon footprint. Locally grown food usually has a lower carbon footprint, even more so if we have grown it ourselves! And we are most until unlikely to waste food that we have grown. Today’s project is growing some food that we can eat.
You will need a waterproof container such as a bowl or am empty margarine tub, some absorbent material – I’m using some clean paper serviettes that cafes so often give out with pieces of cake, and some mustard seeds.
Place the absorbent paper in the bottom of the bowl. Pour enough water over the paper so that is all wet.
Sprinkle some mustards seeds over the top. Place in a warm bright place. Each day gently water your seeds.
If you want to grow mustard and cress, sow the cress seeds 2 or 3 days before the mustard seeds as they grow a little more slowly.
Action 97: Make a banner to hang from your window or garden gate to show your hope for a positive outcome of the COP26 conference. Use indelible markers on a sheet or tea towel, or stitch a message or use waterproof paints on cardboard.
Painted lady and bumble bee
damsel and dragon fly:
their lives praise you, holy God.
Wood mouse and pipistrelle bat,
urban fox and badger:
their lives praise you, holy God.
Buttercup and toadflax,
cat’s ear and pimpernel:
their lives praise you, holy God.
Girdled snail and leopard slug,
shield beetle and earwig:
their lives praise you, holy God.
Copper beech and sessile oak,
black poplar and mountain ash:
their lives praise you, holy God.
Yaffle and mistle thrush,
jackdaw and sparrow:
their lives praise you, holy God.
But we humans – blinkered and wasteful,
short-sighted and careless –
do our lives praise you, holy God?
Renew us, your people;
pardon our failings
and bless our strivings
that our lives may praise you.
Amen.
The Green Tau 