29th July 2026
Saving or conserving water is good at any time – emergency or not.
Some eco houses have proper grey water systems that collect waste water. We have a basin in each wash basin, and a jug on the floor. Water from hand washing is collected and is used to flush the toilet of poured in the jug for later toilet flushing. The toilet flush is used when a good flush is needed.
28th July 2026
With a few to having a degree of resilience should a crisis cut off our supply of water, we keep stored about 12 -14 litres of water (for a household of three). Rather than opting for a stock of plastic bottled water, we use a mixture of glass bottles and Demi johns, refilling each as we empty them, and rotating them so that they don’t have water more than about a day old.
We use the water for drinking, cooking and washing up. If the water supply was cut, we would use this bottled water purely for drinking and rely on the water in the header tank in the roof space for washing up etc.
27th July 2026
Collecting washing machine water for the garden.
Over the next few days I plan to share a few ways in which our household is trying to be more resilient in the face of the climate – and other associated -crises.
Last week Thames Water introduced a hosepipe ban which didn’t come as a surprise given a) how hot it has been and b) how little rain we have had these past few months.
Routinely we try to minimise our use of water – water is a scarce and valuable resource. But now that our several water buts have run dry, we have moved one but so that we can use it to collect the water from the washing machine – 50 litres (5 buckets) per wash. At the same time we switched from us in a laundry liquid to an eco egg which produces less soapy water. This water is then used on plants in the garden – fruit bushes, squash plants, rhubarb etc.
27th July 2026
“According to the Natural History Museum’s Biodiversity Intactness Index, the UK ranks 189th out of 240 countries and territories for how intact its nature and biodiversity remain. Just 53% of the UK’s original nature is left intact – far below the Index’s safe limit of 90% and the global average of 79%. Each of the four UK nations sits near the bottom of this ranking, with England at 47%, Northern Ireland at 50%, Wales at 51%, and Scotland at 56%.” (1)
Worryingly the government’s State of Nature Report suggests this decline is still ongoing: “…more indicators are deteriorating or showing no change than improving, over both the long and short term.” And: “No indicators which are deteriorating in the long term, are showing improvement in the short term.” (2)
19% Across the UK species studied have declined on average by 19% since 1970.
16% Nearly one in six species are threatened with extinction from Great Britain
151 of 10,008 species assessed have already become extinct since 1500 (3)
Scientists warn that if we don’t reverse this decline imminently – the Kunming Montreal framework target is protect 30% 2030 – it will become near impossible to reverse.
Conversely if we don’t manage to turn the tide by 2030, the prospects for improving biodiversity are good.
To make a bit of a leap, I’m going to interpret increasing biodiversity as meaning restoring nature. But this too may not be clear cut. To restore nature could mean:
“In simple terms, restoration means bringing more nature and biodiversity back across different ecosystems, from forests, peatlands and agricultural land, to freshwater, marine and urban ecosystems.
Restoration is a process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged, or destroyed. This could be through rewetting wetlands and peatlands, improving degraded soil and agricultural land by adding natural features such as hedgerows and trees, recreating lost natural forests, removing invasive species, planting native vegetation, removing obsolete barriers from rivers, increasing tree coverage in cities, and much more.” (4)
It could mean restoring landscapes to their wild, pre-human state:-
“At Rewilding Britain, we define rewilding as the large-scale restoration of ecosystems to the point where nature is allowed to take care of itself. Rewilding seeks to reinstate natural processes and, where appropriate, missing species – allowing them to shape the landscape and the habitats within. It’s focused firmly on the future although we can learn from the past.
“Rewilding encourages a balance between people and the rest of nature so that we thrive together. It can provide opportunities for communities to diversify and create nature-based economies; for living systems to provide the ecological functions on which we all depend; and for people to reconnect with wild nature.
“Our vision is at least 5% of Britain rewilding, with 25% returned to broader mosaics of nature-friendly land and marine uses — including farming, forestry and fishing. We see this expansion reversing biodiversity loss and enabling nature to bounce back, helping us adapt to climate change as our complex ecosystems find their own answers.” (5)
Or it could be a pragmatic approach:-
However what I want to suggest is that however we set about restoring nature and reversing biodiversity loss, we cannot address this issue in isolation. If we consider why biodiversity has been in such sharp decline, why it is that we have lost to so much of our natural environments, we will see that these losses are linked to:-
Unless we can address these issues to, no amount of planting native trees, or sowing wildflower meadows, or reintroducing lost species, is going to work. Restoring nature and improving biodiversity has to involve us in reviewing and reforming our whole way of living.
For example, we need to review the way we farm and therefore what we eat. Our current agricultural system is designed to produce increasing amounts of meat and dairy, with the parallel need to produce – or import – more animal feed, which necessitates the intensive farming methods that are widespread. If we wish to reduce that scale and intensity of livestock production we need to eat less meat and dairy products and instead adopt diets that are rich in tasty, diverse UK grown fruits, vegetables, nuts and beans.
We may want to look at how land is farmed. Would it be better for nature – and for us as communities – if we had more smaller farm units, employing more people and less heavy equipment? Would it be better to have more hedgerows, more ponds and pockets of woodland? Would it be better to have more publicly accessible green spaces?
Yes there would be a cost – food prices would go up – and that might mean reducing the lower rates of taxation, but that cost would surely be less than the costs of the continued loss of biodiversity and the resulting negative impact on climate change, on floods and droughts, on the fertility of the soil, on clean air and clean waterways, and of the loss of essential pollinators leading to depleted harvests.
These are all serious issues that we need to consider as a society and which we need to address collectively.
(2) ditto
(3) https://stateofnature.org.uk/
(4) https://www.restorenature.eu/en/faq-on-nature-restoration#What is nature restoration
(6) https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/our-cause/nature-climate/nature-conservation/nature-is-our-future
26th July 2026
Reflection with readings below
I do realise that my reflections may be deemed to minimalise or skip over tough words that are presented to us in the Gospels. But there are some which I feel cannot be taken at their face value as they run counter to the overriding gospel message that God loves us unceasingly and unconditionally, that everything that God has created is good, is blessed and is of value – and therefore God will not hate nor destroy.
Indeed in the letter to the Romans, we have the famous words of Paul: “that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
What the scriptures do reveal is how easily we humans can make mistakes, how easily we can separate ourselves from God’s wisdom – ie that which we find in God’s word, God’s law and in studying the Book of Nature. When we ignore this wisdom and pursue a different path – often one that seeks self gratification rather than the common good (and here we should remember common includes human and non human interests) – then suffering and destruction ensues.
The need for God’s wisdom is clearly articulated in today’s readings. It is God’s wisdom that will embed God’s kingdom here in earth as in heaven. In today’s gospel Jesus gives us a series of images or metaphors by which to imagine the kingdom of heaven. The first four delight our imagination.
The kingdom of heaven is something that will grow beyond our expectations! It will become home to more than we can imagine.
In the kingdom of heaven small things cause huge changes.
The kingdom of heaven once encountered will become our heart’s desire.
The kingdom of heaven is beyond value.
But the fifth parable, that of the net cast into the sea? How do we make sense of it?
Parables do not have a fixed meaning, but rather niggle at our thought processes time and again, often challenging our traditional view points. Is the kingdom of God the net or the sea? That’s one ambiguity! If the latter, then why the net and vice versa? What do the fish represent?
Does this parable mirror that of the parable of the wheat and tares? Might the sea, like the field, be the space where ‘good’ and ‘bad’ behaviour co-exist in the short term – but where ultimately only good behaviour (that which is in line with God’s wisdom) will prevail. As I reflected last week, sometimes actions to do what is right, are curtailed by systems which currently prohibit or reduce the scope to do what is right.
Seeing the ‘bad fish’ as systems and practices that are not aligned with God’s wisdom that will ultimately be ‘cast out’ maybe a useful reading of this parable. Certainly until we loose such systems and practices, we cannot claim that God’s kingdom has come on earth as in heaven.
Jesus’s final words point to the importance of people who have studied and focused their attention on learning God’s wisdom so that the whole household – the whole community – can benefit. Such learning and the sharing of such knowledge is critical in supporting and enabling the incoming of the kingdom of God. Improving our knowledge and using it to transform unjust systems – even of our actions seem as small a scrap of yeast – is our challenge as followers of Jesus.
1 Kings 3:5-12
At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, “Ask what I should give you.” And Solomon said, “You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant my father David, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you; and you have kept for him this great and steadfast love, and have given him a son to sit on his throne today. And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David, although I am only a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. And your servant is in the midst of the people whom you have chosen, a great people, so numerous they cannot be numbered or counted. Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil; for who can govern this your great people?”
It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. God said to him, “Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches, or for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, I now do according to your word. Indeed I give you a wise and discerning mind; no one like you has been before you and no one like you shall arise after you.”
Psalm 119:129-136
129 Your decrees are wonderful; *
therefore I obey them with all my heart.
130 When your word goes forth it gives light; *
it gives understanding to the simple.
131 I open my mouth and pant; *
I long for your commandments.
132 Turn to me in mercy, *
as you always do to those who love your Name.
133 Steady my footsteps in your word; *
let no iniquity have dominion over me.
134 Rescue me from those who oppress me, *
and I will keep your commandments.
135 Let your countenance shine upon your servant *
and teach me your statutes.
136 My eyes shed streams of tears, *
because people do not keep your law.
Romans 8:26-39
The Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.
What then are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us, will he not with him also give us everything else? Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all day long;
we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.”
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Matthew 13:31-33,44-52
Jesus put before the crowds another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”
He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.”
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
“Have you understood all this?” They answered, “Yes.” And he said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”
25th July 2026
“Never have we so hurt and mistreated our common home as we have in the last 200 years. We are not God. The Earth was here before us and was given to us. The exploitation of the planet has already exceeded acceptable limits and we still have not solved the problem of poverty. We must regain the conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for others and the world, and that being good and decent are worth it.” Pope Francis, Laudate Si
When I am tempted to meanness,
Show me your ways, O God,
and teach me your paths.
When I fail to care for your creation,
Show me your ways, O God,
and teach me your paths.
When I am too busy to stand and stare,
Show me your ways, O God,
and teach me your paths.
From Rhythms of Remembering, Hannah Ward and Jennifer Wild, with permission
Pause for reflection
“But ask the animals what they think—let them teach you;
let the birds tell you what’s going on.
Put your ear to the earth—learn the basics.
Listen—the fish in the ocean will tell you their stories.
Isn’t it clear that they all know and agree
that God is sovereign, that he holds all things in his hand—
Every living soul, yes,
every breathing creature?
Isn’t this all just common sense,
as common as the sense of taste? Job 12:7-11
To know you in all things –
Weave a web of your presence around us today.
Be with our hands as they work.
Be with our eyes as they see.
Be with our ears as they hear.
Be with our tongue as it speaks.
Be with our feelings and our thoughts.
Be with the people we meet.
Be with the trees we walk by and the grass we walk upon.
Be with the birds we hear and the creatures we see.
Be with the things we make and the things we take.
Be with the decisions we address.
Be in and through, over and under all,
so that doing and hearing and seeing, speaking and making and being,
we may glimpse your glory, hear your voice
and joyfully work with you
to create a new heaven and a new earth.
May the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
and the love of God,
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit
be with us all.
Amen
24th July 2026
When ecosystems flourish they are rich with biodiversity. Conversely diminishing biodiversity causes ecosystems to fail. Currently biodiversity globally is in decline. In 2022 world leaders met to address this issue and the outcome was the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). The headliner was that the national signatories undertook to restore for nature 30% of land and of sea by 2030 – abbreviated to 30by30. This is a huge undertaking – a highly necessary one – but perhaps not surprisingly it is something nations now struggle to meet.
The whole planet is one large ecosystem in which water flows, plants grow, fish swim, birds fly, carbon circulates, rocks erode etc etc. Is this a thriving ecosystem? Nine key measures have been identified by which to assess the health of the earth’s ecosystem – and are known as planetary boundaries. One of these boundaries measures fresh water. If we consumer such water at a slower rate than it is replenished by the earth’s ecosystem, we can be assessed as living within the limits of that planetary boundary. If we consume fresh water at a faster rate, then we are assessed as living beyond the limit of that boundary. Not only is this (and we have indeed exceeded this planetary boundary) damaging to the earth’s ecosystem it is also threatens our survival too (or rather the survival of the most vulnerable people).
The other eight boundaries are – climate change, biosphere integrity (which assesses both biodiversity levels and the rate at which we extract resources such as timber, cereals etc), landuse change (balance between natural and human use), nutrients (particularly nitrogen and phosphorus), ocean acidification, aerosols in the atmosphere, ozone depletion, pollution of novel entities (manmade compounds such as plastics). Of these nine planetary boundaries, we are now living beyond the safe limits of seven – only with respect to ozone depletion and aerosol levels in the atmosphere, are we living within safe limits.
What we also know is that these nine areas are interconnected. Accelerating climate change adversely impacts biodiversity and freshwater systems. Out of balance landuse impacts both climate change and biodiversity. And so on.
However we have so often seen ourselves as humans as being above and outside these ecosystems. We are the ones who instead control and manipulate ecosystems to maximise our gains. We are the ones who determine what is good for humans and what is not, who select what should grow and what should be uprooted, who take without giving back. It is this failure to see ourselves as part of and dependent on the multiple layers of ecosystems, that has brought us to situation where we are living outside the safe boundaries of the planet.
Another way of viewing this is by looking at the date of Earth Overshoot Day. This day marks the point in the calendar when we have used up a year’s worth of the planets renewable resources (eg freshwater, clean air, fish, timber ……..) This year Earth Overshoot Day is July 30th. After that we are living in the red. This means for example, vis a vis freshwater, that we will be drawing on our capital of fresh water – water taken from aquifers that cannot be replaced. This means that some people will live with inadequate water supplies, and their crops and livestock will die. This means that wild animals, birds and insects will die.
If this were a financial issue, we would be obliged to pull in our horns, to spend less and save more. But as we don’t pay – financially for many of these goods and services – there doesn’t seem to be any formalised way in which the global community is addressing this debt crisis. We should also note that this debt is not being shared equally. A large number of the people from the poorest and most remote communities are bearing the bulk of the pain, whilst a far small number of people are continuing to live ever increasing lives of wealth – lives, in effect, of decadence. Where do I fit in? It could be as a middle class white western person be in the latter group.
To return to the 30by30 target, it seems obvious that it cannot be tackled in isolation but needs to be part of lifestyle revolution that recognises and works with the understanding that all ecosystems are interdependent and that humans are just one feature of each ecosystem of which they are a part. I don’t think this observation makes the challenge any easier but it would ensure a greater likelihood that any policies of reform would actually work.
I don’t know of any country that is taking a wholistic approach. Here in the UK the likelihood that we will restore biodiversity to safe, sustainable levels by 2030 seems highly unlikely. Not least because it is not being approached as part of a national ecosystem.
For example, to restore 30% of land such that nature can flourish, cannot happen without also looking at landuse – how much land can we safely use to graze livestock and grow fodder, as well as growing enough grain, fruit and vegetables to feed our population? If – as we would – have to reduce us the amount of land used to produce meat and dairy products, will we also look at our diets? Will we switch to a diet rich in plants and low in meat and dairy?
Again will we at the same time look at how we use water? Changing how we use the land could have a positive impact on our use of fresh water supplies. But we should at the same time look at how water is used by industries, and especially by data centres. Conversely will we note that restoring nature across wide tracts of land will improve water retention by the land, improve flood resilience, reduce loss of water via evaporation during heat waves etc? Will we note that restoring nature across wide tracts of land will improve access to green spaces which we know improves mental and physical wellbeing? Will we note that plant rich diets will significantly improve people’s health?
It is surely within the capacity of human kind to restore a right relationship with the planet’s ecosystems such that not just our lives but the lives of those with whom we share this planet, can flourish sustainably?
19th July 2026
Reflection with readings below.
We have heard in previous weeks of Paul wrestling because, although he know what he should do, he does what he shouldn’t do. We have heard Jesus and the Pharisees puzzle why a ‘good’ person chooses to mix with ‘bad’ people – and that it is those who are ill who need the attention of the doctor. We have considered that sin might be ignoring – or being ignorant of – and pursuing the opposite of, God’s wisdom. And we have considered systemic sin – sin we are sucked into not by choice but because it is a sin that embraces the whole system or structure within which we live.
For example, God’s wisdom tells us to welcome the stranger but we in the UK live within a system where the current law makes many strangers unwelcome – and indeed turns them away. This system makes it impossible to fully fulfil God’s word. This is not to say we shouldn’t repent of the sin, nor that we shouldn’t try to do as best we can to welcome the stranger, nor that we shouldn’t try to change the system. However as individuals are ability will be limited.
The parable from today’s gospel may be one way of exploring the issue of systemic sin. We believe and trust that the world which God has entrusted to us, is inherently good.But we are also acutely aware that systems have grown up within our societies that are not inherently good. Systems that have different objectives from those desired by God. Think of our economic system. God’s desire is for the flourishing of all people alike, for the flourishing of the natural environment, for flourishing biodiversity. Our economic system is predicated on the objective of maximising profit. It is not concerned with who gets the profit but the systems bent is such that once someone has wealth they will tend to grow richer, whilst someone who hasn’t will start off from a disadvantage. The system is also bent in favour of things which have a clearly identifiable monetary value – it favours building houses which have a market determined price, rather than the value of family life. It favours things that can be bought and sold – it favours oil and gas which have a market determined price rather than clean air, for air is too fluid and uncontainable to be bought and sold.
It would be lovely to be able to completely uproot the economic system that we have and get rid of its systemic evil. But to do so would – at least in the short term – lead to loss of jobs and livelihoods; it would cause the collapse of shops and supply chains leading to theft and rioting; it would lead to power cuts, the failure of water supply and sewage systems, the collapse of social care infrastructure etc etc.
This stickiness should not prevent us from trying to prune and reshape – and overcome and replace – the economic system we have inherited.
Last week, members of synod debated a motion calling on the Church Commissioners to restore and protect 30% of the land they control for nature – for the restoration and conservation of biodiversity. The motioned failed even though it is clear to everyone that we have already lost so much biodiversity that it threatens the health and wellbeing of our future. Declining biodiversity will lead to more flooding, poorer soils, more disease, less protection from the elements, poorer harvests, less happiness.
The motioned failed because the way we farm the land is tied up within an economic system that can put a price on a tonne of wheat but not on sky full of swallows, that can put a price on a pint of milk but not on a stretch of clean river, that can put a price on a plank of wood but not on the life of an oak tree.
The motion failed because farm tenants are paid to grow crops, not to supply clean air; to rear cattle, not to maintain flood plains; to produce eggs, not to protect pollinators. The motion failed because farm tenants have to maximise profits to pay rents, and because the Commissioners have to maximise returns on investment to finance the Church. The motion failed because we as consumers want cheap food or – as is often the case – because the economic system does not pay us enough to pay a fair price for fairly produced food. The motion failed because we as consumers don’t want to pay for clean air, for fertile soils, for flood management etc. Or maybe because there is no way as consumers we can buy these life-giving products? The motion failed because as consumers we want to eat more meat and dairy rather than eating more plant based items – and therefore require a land-use pattern which allocates land for livestock rather than nature.
What then should we do? What then is the wisdom of God? The people of Ancient Israel took on board God-given laws that required that the land have time to rest and recover, that fields and trees should not be stripped to the bone, that the harvest should be shared with the vulnerable. The prophets passed on God’s wisdom about caring for the land, caring for the vulnerable, and being in a good relationship with God and with all that God has created. Jesus taught the importance of questioning the rules and traditions we grow up with, about sharing what we do have, about avoiding greed, about caring for the vulnerable and for those society despises. We have the radical example of the early church pooling and sharing their resources.
As Christians we have a wisdom that counters the systems we live within. It is not always a wisdom we can follow as individuals because we maybe so constrained by those systems – the degree of constraint depending upon personal circumstances – but as communities and as the Church we do have more scope to be counter-cultural. We could – surely – mandate the Church Commissioners to use funds to support tenants willing to restore and enhance nature on the land they farm. We could – surely – mandate that the Church Commissioners could accept a lower rate of return on farm investments. But at the same time we would have to accept a smaller distribution of funds for the Church and instead look to our own pockets to make up the shortfall (depending on our means as per the early church).
We could at the same time, look to our own lifestyles – choosing a diet that is compatible with the restoration of more land for nature. We could reprioritise our spending to support nature.
As a Church – as a significant land owner and as a prophetic voice – we could challenge the system that allows the degradation of nature at the expense of profit. We could challenge the system that doesn’t provide every citizen with a fair wage. We could challenge the system that doesn’t ensure every citizen has access to affordable healthy food. We could challenge the system that doesn’t protect the environment for the wellbeing of generations to come.
As individuals and as a Church, we are called to speak out and act to bring in the reign – the rule – of God so that God’s will is done on Earth as in Heaven.
Isaiah 44:6-8
Thus says the Lord, the King of Israel,
and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts:
I am the first and I am the last;
besides me there is no god.
Who is like me? Let them proclaim it,
let them declare and set it forth before me.
Who has announced from of old the things to come?
Let them tell us what is yet to be.
Do not fear, or be afraid;
have I not told you from of old and declared it?
You are my witnesses!
Is there any god besides me?
There is no other rock; I know not one.
Psalm 86:11-17
11 Teach me your way, O Lord,
and I will walk in your truth; *
knit my heart to you that I may fear your Name.
12 I will thank you, O Lord my God, with all my heart, *
and glorify your Name for evermore.
13 For great is your love toward me; *
you have delivered me from the nethermost Pit.
14 The arrogant rise up against me, O God,
and a band of violent men seeks my life; *
they have not set you before their eyes.
15 But you, O Lord, are gracious and full of compassion, *
slow to anger, and full of kindness and truth.
16 Turn to me and have mercy upon me; *
give your strength to your servant;
and save the child of your handmaid.
17 Show me a sign of your favour,
so that those who hate me may see it and be ashamed; *
because you, O Lord, have helped me and comforted me.
Romans 8:12-25
Brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh– for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ– if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.
I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
Matthew 13:24-30,36-43
Jesus put before the crowd another parable: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?’ He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The slaves said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he replied, ‘No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’”
Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen!”
18th July 2026
Trust in the Lord and be doing good; dwell in the land and be nourished with truth.
Let your delight be in the Lord and he will give you your heart’s desire.
Commit your way to the Lord and put your trust in him, and he will bring it to pass.
Psalm 37:3-5
You Lord are the bread of life;
feed us with your wisdom.
Our meat is to do the Father’s will.
guide us in all we do
Whenever we eat or drink
Let it be to the glory of God.
A Reading – Mark 4:3-8
“Listen! A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants, so that they did not bear grain. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up, grew and produced a crop, some multiplying thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times.”
Pause for reflection
For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven,
and do not return there until they have watered the earth,
So may we store water for when and for whoever needs it,
and safeguard those living with the threat of flooding.
As the earth brings forth and sprouts,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
So may we harvest what is needed,
sharing the bounty so no one goes hungry.
So shall God’s word be that goes forth; it shall not return empty,
but it shall accomplish that which is purposed
and succeed in the thing for which it is sent.
May we pay attention to God’s word,
following the ways of wisdom that God desires
for the wellbeing of all creation.
For as the earth brings forth its shoots,
May we protect the fertility of the soil,
not polluting it with chemicals nor stripping it of nourishment.
And as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up,
May we treasure those who tend and farm the land,
paying fair wages and sharing profits.
So the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise
to spring up before all the nations:
May we welcome God’s kingdom with all our being,
following God’s law with hands, hearts and voices.
Based on Isaiah 55:10,11 and 61:11
The Grace
16th July 2026
One of the things I like about the creation story in Genesis 2 is the way it draws in so many different strands. At the centre – or maybe it’s at the perimeter on the edge of the curve – is God. God creates the Earth (and heaven). But the Earth needs water to produce vegetation. So God provides water – not just an initial splash but a stream of water that encompasses the whole Earth – and we now understand how the water cycle keeps that life-giving water flowing. God uses the stuff of Earth to form the first human, and plants together the human and a garden. The former is to serve and watch over the latter; the latter to provide all manner of seeds and fruit for the former. God then uses more of the stuff of Earth to create a multitude of other beings to work alongside the human, and another human as a partner.
This is a story that tells of the interconnectedness and interdependence of all that makes up creation. As the story then unfolds, we see how by separating the different strands, the humans cause the degradation of what has been created. Eve separates what she knows to be God’s will from her consideration of the attractiveness of the fruit. She separates the word of the snake from the the word of God. Both Eve and Adam separate their undertaking to God from their action in eating the fruit. And when called to account both try and separate their responsibility for from the outcome of their actions.
When we separate the interconnectedness of nature (and our own connectedness within that) and rather view things in separate silos, we are bound to make mistakes.
When we separate maximising what we can harvest from the land from the need to care for the soil including all its multiple organisms, we end up depleting the fertility of the soil and destroying our means of growing food.
When we separate the intricacies of the water system from the use of the land, and seek to sap and constrain the former to increase our use of the latter, we end up exacerbating the impacts of flood and droughts to our detriment.
When we separate bugs and weeds from the menu of biodiversity, killing off the latter with pesticides and herbicides, we diminish the robustness of the ecosystem in which plants grow.
When we separate what we choose to eat – beef and dairy by the bucket load, strawberries in January and asparagus in August – from the limitations of the natural environment, we diminish the robustness of the environment which sustains our food supply. And invariably the ones who go hungry are those who are poor and powerless.
Even when we try and address these problems, we typically do so with a blinkered approach. We don’t see the interconnectedness.
Cutting down tropical forests to grow animal fodder for cattle in Europe may provide cheaper meat in the UK but reduces the water levels of the River Amazon, increases local temperatures and releases more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere further driving temperatures upwards, accelerating climate change and exposing people both in the tropics and in Europe to ever more extreme weather events.
Draining peatlands, clearing trees and hedgerows, and straightening rivers may expand arable fields, but when rains come the water will first quickly flood and then quickly disappear, damaging crops first with too much and then with too little water. And not only crops. Households too will face winter flooding and summer water shortages.
Only when we see and acknowledge the interconnectedness and the interdependency of the creation and respond attentively, will we reverse the ecological disaster that has been years in the making. Only then will we understand the intricacies and depth of our part in serving and watching over the garden in which, for our wellbeing, we have been planted.
This week we have seen the Church of England – its governing synod and its Commissioners – fail to understand what is at stake if we do not care for our land holistically rather than seeing it as just a source of income.
This week we have seen the Government issues its own response to the loss of biodiversity, and failing to embrace the needs of the farmer for income, the land for good care, the people for food security, and the Government’s own role in leadership.
This week we continue to see whole swathes of people not having the information that informs about what makes a healthy diet, nor having the necessary income for and access to healthy food, nor having knowledge, or hands-on experience, of how the natural and the farming worlds work.
Can we be part of a move to tell and explore the bigger picture?
The Green Tau 
