Judith Russenberger

Proper 25, last Sunday after Trinity

25th October 2026

Reflection with readings below

The theme of today’s readings is God’s command that we love our neighbour. In the passage from Leviticus this is further elucidated. To love one’s neighbour is to show them justice, not to bad-mouth or scape-goat them – and certainly not to kill them. To love one’s neighbour is not hate them, nor bear a grudge nor exact vengeance on them. But to love one’s neighbour is to point out when they are doing the wrong thing, lest you and they suffer. I would suggest this requires tact, empathy and honesty – are you sure that you understand what the wrong is and what is the cause? And finally that we should love our neighbour as ourself.

Indeed the words of the Psalmist reminds us that God’s wisdom is designed for our wellbeing and happiness, and that by follow the commands of God, we will grow and flourish like a tree by a stream.

Today’s gospel is a familiar one. Jesus is being interrogated by the religious authorities: what is the true meaning of the Law? What is the greatest commandment? And Jesus boils it down to two – to love God wholeheartedly, and to love your neighbour as yourself. This answer points to the interconnectedness of the relationships between God, the individual and the community. Our faith is not a purely individualistic relationship between God and me. It is a three way relationship that has to involve not just God and me but the rest of creation. This can feel challenging if not impossible. There is so much in the world that is not good, that is not caring and loving. Sometimes it is hard to know where or how to be loving.

This week, the government approved the license for the Jackdaw gas field on the basis that it would ensure the security at least 6% of our gas needs because it would be coming direct from the North Sea to our homes, because it would ensure jobs in Aberdeen, and because we would benefit from the taxes on the gas company’s profits. But on the other hand, the gas burned will release those very carbon emissions that are fuelling the climate crisis, that are causing the extreme weather events such as the glacial landslide in Nepal, this summer’s European wide drought and heat waves, and this weekend’s storms battering the UK. These extreme weather events have diminished harvests and increased food prices. The rising cost of oil and gas are equally impacting the cost of living for so many people – especially those who cannot afford home insulation, double glazing, electric vehicles and heat pumps. These extreme weather events are also contributing to the decline in biodiversity as birds, fish, plants and animals struggle to cope.

Who then is the neighbour we are commanded to love? It can be both our next door neighbour and the wild birds visiting our garden. It can be both the oil rig worker in the North Sea and the Pacific Islander. It can be both the farmer in East Anglia and the cocoa farmer in Ghanaian.

On the other hand my neighbour is also the bee that pollinates the fruit tree so that I can enjoy a juicy apple. It is the plane tree that cleans the air I breathe. It is the train driver who ensures I have a train to get me home, and the farmer who grows the potatoes I eat for supper.

I think I come back to networks and community. To love my neighbour is to make those choices that contribute to a world in which everyone thrives, a world in which the common good overrides profit, a world in which we can are all be grateful for what we receive. Envisaging what that world looks like, how it would function and what would be prioritised, will help us work out how best we can act in loving God and in loving our neighbour. This envisaging is not something we can do alone: it needs to be done as communities and with wisdom that comes from paying attention to God. We need to talk with and listen to each other, with family and friends, in churches, in communities, within companies and industries, local authorities, nations and internationally. One such forum would be citizens assemblies; another would be AGMs.

Leviticus 19:1-2,15-18

Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them: You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.

You shall not render an unjust judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great: with justice you shall judge your neighbour. You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not profit by the blood of your neighbour: I am the Lord.

You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your neighbour, or you will incur guilt yourself. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbour as yourself: I am the Lord.

Psalm 1

1 Happy are they who have not walked in the counsel of the wicked, *
nor lingered in the way of sinners,
nor sat in the seats of the scornful!

2 Their delight is in the law of the Lord, *
and they meditate on his law day and night.

3 They are like trees planted by streams of water,
bearing fruit in due season, with leaves that do not wither; *
everything they do shall prosper.

4 It is not so with the wicked; *
they are like chaff which the wind blows away.

5 Therefore the wicked shall not stand upright when judgment comes, *
nor the sinner in the council of the righteous.

6 For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, *
but the way of the wicked is doomed.

1 Thessalonians 2:1-8

You yourselves know, brothers and sisters, that our coming to you was not in vain, but though we had already suffered and been shamefully mistreated at Philippi, as you know, we had courage in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in spite of great opposition. For our appeal does not spring from deceit or impure motives or trickery, but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the message of the gospel, even so we speak, not to please mortals, but to please God who tests our hearts. As you know and as God is our witness, we never came with words of flattery or with a pretext for greed; nor did we seek praise from mortals, whether from you or from others, though we might have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, like a nurse tenderly caring for her own children. So deeply do we care for you that we are determined to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you have become very dear to us.

Matthew 22:34-46

When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” He said to him, “’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question: “What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” He said to them, “How is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord, saying,

‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
until I put your enemies under your feet”’?

If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?” No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.

Walking in the dark

October 2026

The balance of the days shifts as the nights lengthen, the clocks change and we tip over into a time of winter and darkness.

What might the dark say to us about God?

If God is the creator of all that exists, and if there is nothing created that does not exist in God, we surely find God’s creative genius in the dark?

And if so, will we not find that the dark can be a positive space?

Yet often we see the dark as something dangerous and forbidding, something to be avoided. We often link darkness with our fears and failures. But if the dark is also where God is, could we use the dark to deepen our relationship with God?

Dark allows us to see things we would not otherwise see – the moon and the stars, the blooms of night time flowering plants, numerous nocturnal creatures including bats and moths. Dark is the natural habitat of many creatures. Dark is restful, enabling sleep. Dark allows seeds to germinate and sprout. Dark allows things to mature, including both wine and cheeses. Dark enhances our perception of our senses. We seem to hear better, to experience smell and taste differently; we may even see more consciously in the dark.

Psalm 139:12 says “even the darkness will not be dark to you, the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.”

Let us then embrace the dark and find enrichment in this season.

Darkness

your grand circle engulfs

all the small bright circles

of the world. None

can withstand you:

meteors trailing their lights

through space, this slim

candle on a shelf.

All selves

belong to you, began

in you. You place

a hand on my shoulder, shift

hand to wrist, feel my pulse.

Your gentleness moves

me to belief: in

darkness.

Alan Payne, after Rilke

The Other

There are nights that are so still

that I can hear the small owl calling

far off and a fox barking

miles away. It is then that I lie

in the lean hours awake listening

to the swell born somewhere in the Atlantic

rising and falling, rising and falling

wave on wave on the long shore

by the village that is without light

and companionless. And the

thought comes of that other being who is

awake, too,

letting our prayers break on him,

not like this for a few hours,

but for days, years, for eternity.

R S Thomas

The Peace of the Wild Things

When despair for the world grows in me

and I wake in the night at the least sound

in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,

I go and lie down where the wood drake

rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things

who do not tax their lives with forethought

of grief. I come into the presence of still water.

And I feel above me the day-blind stars

waiting with their light. For a time

I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

To know the dark

To go in the dark with a light is to know the light.

To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight,

and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings,

and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.

Both by Wendell Berry

Prayers of desperation

24th October 2026

They have turned back to the iniquities of their ancestors of old, who refused to heed my words; they have gone after other gods to serve them; the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken the covenant that I made with their ancestors. Jeremiah 11:10

You Lord, are the source of all good things:

We praise you.

You call us to tend and care for your creation:

May we strive to do your will.

You have made us as brothers and sisters with all that lives:

May we live together in peace.

A reading from 1 Kings 19:9b-10

Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’ He answered, ‘I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.’

How long O Lord, how long?

Temperatures are rising, the climate is changing.

The scientists tell us why, and the meteorologist forecast danger –

But politicians close their ears and oil giants close their eyes.

None will turn and repent.

How long O Lord, how long?

Temperatures are rising, the climate is changing.

Harvests fail and farmers struggle –

rising costs of fertiliser whilst drought diminishes yield.

But politicians close their ears and supermarkets close their eyes.

None will turn and repent.

How long O Lord, how long?

Temperatures are rising, the climate is changing.

The Earth struggles and planetary boundaries are strained –

deforestation and biodiversity loss accelerate.

But politicians close their ears and we consumers close our eyes.

None will turn and repent.

How long O Lord, how long?

Temperatures are rising, the climate changing.

The poor struggle as bills rise and pay looses its value.

The vulnerable are overwhelmed and support dwindles.

But politicians close their ears and big tech companies close their eyes.

None will turn and repent.

How long O Lord, how long?

O Lord,

in a world where change for the better seems impossible,

where protest is silenced and justice is denied,

how do we find the courage and energy to continue?

O Lord,

in a world where change for the better seems impossible,

where our cries are blanked, our concerns ignored,

how do we find the opportunities to speak truth to power,

the means to provide healing and care?

Ever loving and merciful God,

enfold us in your love,

fill us with your Spirit,

and surround us with companions.

Help us to hear your words of wisdom,

to see your path of salvation,

and to know Jesus as our constant guide.

Amen.

Counting on … day 111

23rd October 2026

Poisoning our planet

In this chapter Goulson reflects on the impacts of pesticides – including herbicides, fungicides etc – on the environment. These do not just target the pest the farmer has in mind but anything and everything else they come into contact with, both directly and via the food chain. Based on the work of extensive research, Goulson tells us that the conclusion is that ‘applying about 4 million tonnes of over 1000 different pesticides to our planet every year … is poisoning everything.’ (P68 Eat the Planet Well)

One example he quotes is research that explores how fipronil and imidiacloprid which are banned for use on crops but is used in flea treatments for cats and dogs, passes via pet hairs used to build nests into the chicks of bluetits and other small birds leading to death and deformities.

Goulson also draws our attention to a yet other consequences of pesticide use. When pesticides are used to kill weeds in arable fields there success has the unintended consequence of removing the essential food supply for moths, butterflies, their caterpillars etc, diminishing their numbers and the biodiversity dependant upon them.

Counting on … day 110

22nd October 2026

The Impact of fertilisers

Having explored agriculture in terms of carbon, land-use and water, Goulson next turns to fertilisers and pesticides and their effect on our food and our environment. Fertilisers are used to improve crop yields by improving nutrient levels in the soil. Wood ash, guano and other manures, blood, ground up bones, etc have been used to increase levels of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium in the soil. Organic farming uses techniques such as growing nitrogen fixing crops – clovers, beans and peas – well as adding animal manure, plant compost and sea weed, and ploughing in sacrificial green cover crops.

Non-organic farms now use primarily synthetic fertilisers made from fossil fuels (which is why the price of fertilisers is currently rising as fuel prices rise because of the conflict in the Middle East).

Synthetic fertilisers have certainly contributed to a significant rise in crop yields but they have also caused pollution. In their production and use they release substantial greenhouse gases. They cause poisonous algal blooms as they leach into water ways, killing of aquatic plants and creatures. These consequences of fertiliser use are known as eutrophying emissions.

As with other issues, some foods are more reliant on fertilisers than others. When it comes to meat and animal products – which again are at the top end of the table – much of that fertiliser is uses to produce animal fodder).

Counting on … day 109

21st October 2026

Limited water and land

“Aside from contributing to climate change, food production has substantial environmental impacts that tend to receive a lot less attention. Most obviously, it takes up an awful lot of land, and its extent continues to grow. Pristine, biodiverse habitats such as rain forests continue to be converted into dull, pesticide-soaked monocultures of soy beans or oil palms, or overgrazed, arid pastures.”

But “One way to reduce our global footprint is by consuming foods that require less land….vegetables, most fruits and wine….”(P47 Eat the Planet Well)

However it is not just land that crops need but water too. How much crops need varies across the range whilst the availability of water across the globe also varies. Sensibly one wouldn’t grow thirsty crops in areas of low rainfall or where there isn’t a guarantee of sufficient water from rivers or aquifers. (These latter cannot supply infinite amounts of water). And climate change is rapidly changing how much water might be available and when.

Agriculture may not be an issue in taking too much water from limited supplies, it may also have a detrimental effect on those very water supplies as the run off from the land can carry with it pollutants from pesticides and herbicides, from fertilisers and from slurry.

Again it is meat and dairy that are the main large consumers of water with fruit, vegetables and pulses being much less needy. However olive oil and nuts – together with cheese – can use even more water per kg of food produced. Some olive and nut orchards rely heavily on irrigation and their produce is best avoided, whilst others are grown in regions where farmers can simply rely on rainwater – Goulson recommends rain fed olives from Portugal and southern Spain, as well as walnuts (they need no irrigations) and Brazil nuts – ditto as they grow in rainforests. W

Climate change may yet require further shifts in where such foods are grown. But eating more plants and less meat and dairy is a good move.

Counting on … day 108

20th October 2026

Local foods

Food miles of themselves don’t add that much to the carbon footprint of the food we eat – about 6% on average, notes Goulson. Although this is much larger for foods brought in by air. Whilst only 0.16% of global food miles are by air, this is seldom indicated on food labels but a good guess would be that perishable foods from the southern hemisphere – such as asparagus, strawberries and berries sold out of season – have come this way.

Local as a term is not that precise! Do we mean food grown or produced within say a 5 mile radius, or food that is regionally grown and produced, of food that is grown in the UK?

Goulson highlights – as have many other experts – that the UK is only about 60% self sufficient in food, rising to 75% of we just consider foods that are well suited to our diet (bananas and citrus fruits are best grown in warmer climes). Disappointingly we only grow 50% of the vegetables we eat and a mere 16% of fruit.

Why do we import food that could be easily grown in the UK? Sometimes it is because other countries can benefit from cheaper labour – Spain has many temporary agricultural workers who come from North Africa and are paid a pittance. Other countries may have less restrictive regulations than in the UK around the use of pesticides or animal welfare which again may reduce the price – but at what cost? This is not to say that UK standards are always the highest – the EU has banned the use of neonictinoids but these continue to be used in the UK under repeatedly issued ‘emergency’ permits.

Goulson concludes that ‘the ethics of the shopping decisions you make re fiendishly complicated. Every food item you buy has influence, funding a particular grower or system of production along with its associated chemical inputs, plus all the transport, processing and packaging costs.’ (P46 Eat the Planet Well).

One advantage I can see for buying food that is locally grown and/or produced, is that it can help strengthen the resilience of local farmers and local communities.

Counting on … day 107

19th October 2026

‘Carbon, Cows and Climate Change’

In this chapter Goulson focuses on the carbon footprint of different foods. Research clearly shows that beef has the largest footprint, and that of all the foods we eat, it is almost always those that are plant based that have the lowest. Having explored the whys and wherefore, he concludes “there is no question that livestock farming as practiced up to the present has resulted in vast deforestation, air and water pollution, and soil erosion, and contributed hugely to greenhouse gas emissions…there is no scenario in which livestock are carbon neutral.” Further he notes “More than 75% of the world’s agricultural land is devoted to rearing animals, yet they contribute just 18- of our calories and 37% of our protein intake. Growing crops to feed animals to feed people is a hugely inefficient way of feeding people, and there simply isn’t the space on our planet for us all to have a meat-rich diet.” (P39 Eat the Planet Well Dave Goulson)

His conclusion is that we shouldn’t eat meat from animal that have been mass-reared indoors or in crowded feedlots but rather should choose outdoor reared meat and eat less meat.

There are various ways of eating less meat such as meat-free Mondays, or meat-free weekdays. The former has its own website! https://meatfreemondays.com/calculator/

And enticing looking recipes – https://meatfreemondays.com/our-recipes/

Proper 24, 20th Sunday after Trinity

Reflection with readings below

Today’s reading from Isaiah sounds like the fulfilling of the scenario posited by the Song of the Vineyard which we heard a couple of week’s ago. Isaiah is describing what he sees as God enabling a foreign power to come in and defeat the nation of God’s people – either a punishment or as the inevitable consequence of the failure of God’s people to follow and be faithful to the ways of God. The last lines – ‘I form light and create darkness, I make weal and create woe; I the Lord do all these things.’ – are nevertheless a reminder that God is always wanting to re-establish well being. The word ‘weal’ has the meaning of wellbeing, welfare and prosperity – and often is used to refer to the wellbeing of the common good. Hopefully this reading reassures us that whatever humans do to harm each other and the planet – and the woe that they cause – God still desires and seeks our ‘weal’, wellbeing.

The Psalmist too reasserts that God’s gospel is that of salvation – the healing and restoration of the planet, its inhabitants. Their thriving reflects the glory of God – so the Psalmist then urges us to praise and worship God just as the trees, the fields and the seas already do. The natural environment naturally follows God’s will but humans need constantly to be called back to that wisdom. Humans seem all to ready to follow the ways of idols – be that free-market economics, racism, global domination, or just simple greed.

As Christians we are called to reflect the image of God, adhering to the wisdom and way of God. We are in this called to love our neighbours – both neat and far, human and creaturely- so that in the healing and flourishing of Earth, God is glorified.

A recent Green Christian workshop on ethical purchasing laid out the rational for us as Christians to think -and research factually – about where the things we buy and the services we use, have come from, who has laboured to make and deliver them? Have they been fairly paid? Has care been given for their safety? How nature has been handled – has nature been cherished or trashed? Has consideration been given to the sustainability of any extractive processes? Has consideration been given to any pollutants that might be released or waste discarded? Who has profited most from the purchase? Have taxes been appropriately paid?

This thought process is clearly one in which we are checking that are actions are compatible with loving our neighbours, and are in line with God’s wisdom.

Is this what is at the heart of today’s gospel story? The Pharisees and the Herodian see money as just money albeit money that may bear a graven image on one side. But Jesus understands that money is more than just coin. It has something that has a back story: how has it been earnt? Does it represent the fruit of exploitation or fair trade? What does it represent – just or sharp practices? Who will it benefit? The one who needs it or the one who already has more than enough?

The question of money, of where it comes from, of who uses it, and of how it is used, is just as valid today. The Green Christian talk was given by the campaign charity Just Money. One of the main focuses is on challenging us to think about our money and in particular the banks we use. Does our bank use our money (and all banks do use the money that passes through their coffers both to make more money and to enable other businesses to function and expand) to enable good businesses to flourish or do they enable to continued trading of business that cause harm? Do, for example, the banks we use enable renewable energy projects or do they fund the continued expansion of the fossil fuel industry? Do they, for example, protect and enhance biodiversity or do they fund business that continued to deforest the Earth? Do they, for example enable social housing projects or energy hungry dat centres?

Are our lives a ‘work of faith and labour of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ’? Do we need to review where our money comes from, how it is used and why effects it has on our neighbour?

Isaiah 45:1-7

Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus,
whose right hand I have grasped

to subdue nations before him
and strip kings of their robes,

to open doors before him–
and the gates shall not be closed:

I will go before you and level the mountains,

I will break in pieces the doors of bronze
and cut through the bars of iron,

I will give you the treasures of darkness
and riches hidden in secret places,

so that you may know that it is I, the Lord,
the God of Israel, who call you by your name.

For the sake of my servant Jacob,
and Israel my chosen,

I call you by your name, I surname you, though you do not know me.

I am the Lord, and there is no other;
besides me there is no god.
I arm you, though you do not know me,

so that they may know, from the rising of the sun
and from the west, that there is no one besides me;
I am the Lord, and there is no other.

I form light and create darkness,
I make weal and create woe;
I the Lord do all these things.

Psalm 96:1-13

1 Sing to the Lord a new song; *
sing to the Lord, all the whole earth.

2 Sing to the Lord and bless his Name; *
proclaim the good news of his salvation from day to day.

3 Declare his glory among the nations *
and his wonders among all peoples.

4 For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised; *
he is more to be feared than all gods.

5 As for all the gods of the nations, they are but idols; *
but it is the Lord who made the heavens.

6 Oh, the majesty and magnificence of his presence! *
Oh, the power and the splendour of his sanctuary!

7 Ascribe to the Lord, you families of the peoples; *
ascribe to the Lord honour and power.

8 Ascribe to the Lord the honour due his Name; *
bring offerings and come into his courts.

9 Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness; *
let the whole earth tremble before him.

10 Tell it out among the nations: “The Lord is King! *
he has made the world so firm that it cannot be moved;
he will judge the peoples with equity.”

11 Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad;
let the sea thunder and all that is in it; *
let the field be joyful and all that is therein.

12 Then shall all the trees of the wood shout for joy
before the Lord when he comes, *
when he comes to judge the earth.

13 He will judge the world with righteousness *
and the peoples with his truth.

1 Thessalonians 1:1-10

Paul, Silvanus, and Timothy, To the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:

Grace to you and peace.

We always give thanks to God for all of you and mention you in our prayers, constantly remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labour of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. For we know, brothers and sisters beloved by God, that he has chosen you, because our message of the gospel came to you not in word only, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction; just as you know what kind of persons we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for in spite of persecution you received the word with joy inspired by the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the believers in Macedonia and in Achaia. For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place your faith in God has become known, so that we have no need to speak about it. For the people of those regions report about us what kind of welcome we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead– Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath that is coming.

The Gospel

Matthew 22:15-22

The Pharisees went and plotted to entrap Jesus in what he said. So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin used for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. Then he said to them, “Whose head is this, and whose title?” They answered, “The emperor’s.” Then he said to them, “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” When they heard this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away.

Lament for lost biodiversity

17th October 2026

My eyes grow dim with weeping. Each day I beg your help; O Lord, I reach my pleading hands to you for mercy. Soon it will be too late! Psalm 89:9, 10a

You Lord, are the source of all good things:

We praise you.

You call us to tend and care for your creation:

May we strive to do your will.

You have made us as brothers and sisters with all that lives:

May we live together in peace.

A reading from Luke 18: 9-14 (The Message)

He told his next story to some who were complacently pleased with themselves over their moral performance and looked down their noses at the common people: “Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax man. The Pharisee posed and prayed like this: ‘Oh, God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, crooks, adulterers, or, heaven forbid, like this tax man. I fast twice a week and tithe on all my income.’ “Meanwhile the tax man, slumped in the shadows, his face in his hands, not daring to look up, said, ‘God, give mercy. Forgive me, a sinner.’” Jesus commented, “This tax man, not the other, went home made right with God. If you walk around with your nose in the air, you’re going to end up flat on your face, but if you’re content to be simply yourself, you will become more than yourself.”

Response:-

Suffering God,

Full of grief, I pour out my sorrows;

Full of mourning, I bewail my loss:

Bluebells that cannot keep pace with climate change,

Ash, elm and chestnut trees felled by disease,

Frogspawn that succumbs to unseasonal cold,

Butterflies deceived by unseasonal warmth/ rain.*

Suffering God,

Full of grief, I pour out my sorrows;

Full of mourning, I bewail my loss:

Wetlands that are no longer wet,

Curlews that have nowhere to feed,

Streams overwhelmed by fertilisers,

Rivers polluted by sewage.

Suffering God,

Full of grief, I pour out my sorrows;

Full of mourning, I bewail my loss:

Glaciers receding up mountains,

Alpine plants pushed over the edge,

Mountain hares with nowhere to go,

Moorlands and tundra burnt to a cinder.

Suffering God,

Full of grief, I pour out my sorrows;

Full of mourning, I bewail my loss:

Oceans with no whales,

Savannahs with no elephants

Coral reefs with no coral,

Icecaps with no ice.

Merciful God,

Forgive us our greed and our complacency,

Our folly and selfishness.

Forgive us when we have failed to see our errors,

have chosen to overlook our faults.

Forgive us when we have not listened to the facts,

preferring to believe our own stories.

Forgive us when we have ignored the plight of others,

caring only for number one.

Restore in us a right mind and a right spirit.

Strengthen our hands and our hearts to care for your world.

Embolden our will to love our neighbours as ourselves.

Free up our grasp on wealth and resources

that all may benefit from your bounty.

Release us from our pride and self assurance

that we can truly worship you,

our creator, redeemer and sustainer.

Amen.

The Grace

Each year has different extremes of weather