Judith Russenberger

Counting on … day 14

20th January 2025

One way of reducing waste, is to repair things. Darning a sock saves a pair going into landfill. Stitching up a hem or a seem to get some more wear out of a skirt or shirt. Sewing a patch on the knee or elbow will add more wear to a pair of trousers of jumper. Sewing a sheet sides to middle will do likewise.

Re-heeling or soleing shoes where that is possible – sadly the design of many pairs of shoes don’t this as an option.

Repair Cafes and repair shops can mend household items such as kettles and toasters. Do ensure that electrical repairs are done by someone appropriately qualified.

Other repairs might simply involve glue, ‘Sugru’ a mouldable silicone substance that can mend a hole in a pot, refix a pan handle or strengthen that weak point on a recharging cable. Gaffer tape mends a hundred things! Be imaginative. Be creative! Give things you use and love an extra lifespan.

About

https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/climate-action-how-increase-repairing-upcycling-buying-second-hand

https://greentau.org/tag/repairs/

Second Sunday After Epiphany

19th January 2025

Reflection with readings below

In the Hebrew Testament there are many references and passages that describe the covenant relationship between God and the people as being like a marriage. Sometimes, as in the writings of the prophet Hosea, God’s people are liken to an adulterous woman who has strayed after other lovers – for which read alien gods and idols (or maybe profit and power). And yet that is not the end but just a phase in the story, for God, the spurned husband, goes out of his way to win back the love of his life. Hosea’s prophetic writing is of restoration and salvation.

In today’s passage from Isaiah the message is of restoration and marriage and delight. And in chapter 61, Isaiah talks of God clothing us like a marriage partner with robes, garlands and jewels.

The idea of God and God’s people being marriage partners is repeated in the Book of Revelation with the marriage of the Lamb and the Bride, celebrated by a great wedding feast. Feasts in both testaments can also point to the heavenly banquet that awaits us all. Again from Isaiah (this time chapter 25) ‘On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-matured wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-matured wines strained clear’.

Weddings and covenants and feasts are times of celebration and new beginnings. And this is surely why John’s Gospel includes this story of the wedding at Cana so early on. The old ways – the past – is represented by the six stone water jars, but for all their ritual they have not enliven this wedding. Jesus’s presence and action transforms the wedding into one of unimaginable delight. This relationship – the covenant – between bride and groom is to be of a different calibre to what has gone before. This is an Epiphany moment – as the Gospel of John makes clear, this was the first sign that revealed Jesus’s Glory.

In the next chapter, John the Baptist describes Jesus as the Bridegroom. Who is the Bride? Who is the marriage partner? Amazingly, surprisingly, it is us! We are the Beloved. The wedding feast is our communion feast and Jesus does not hold back in offering us the best wine! It is a timeless feast – or rather it is a feast that exists outside time and extends throughout all time. In John’s Gospel the Eucharist is not described at the last supper but features in vignettes throughout the gospel. Here at the wedding feast we are invited to share the new wine of the kingdom, to join in union with Jesus, to celebrate our new covenant relationship of love.

Isaiah 62:1-5

For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent,
and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest,

until her vindication shines out like the dawn,
and her salvation like a burning torch.

The nations shall see your vindication,
and all the kings your glory;

and you shall be called by a new name
that the mouth of the Lord will give.

You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord,
and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.

You shall no more be termed Forsaken,
and your land shall no more be termed Desolate;

but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her,
and your land Married;

for the Lord delights in you,
and your land shall be married.

For as a young man marries a young woman,
so shall your builder marry you,

and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,
so shall your God rejoice over you.

Psalm 36:5-10

5 Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens, *
and your faithfulness to the clouds.

6 Your righteousness is like the strong mountains,
your justice like the great deep; *
you save both man and beast, O Lord.

7 How priceless is your love, O God! *
your people take refuge under the shadow of your wings.

8 They feast upon the abundance of your house; *
you give them drink from the river of your delights.

9 For with you is the well of life, *
and in your light we see light.

10 Continue your loving-kindness to those who know you, *
and your favour to those who are true of heart.

1 Corinthians 12:1-11

Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. You know that when you were pagans, you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak. Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says “Let Jesus be cursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit.

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.

John 2:1-11

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.” So they took it. When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.” Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

Prayers for the outpouring of God’s Spirit

18th January 2025

I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. Genesis 17:17

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 Deuteronomy 8:6-9

Therefore keep the commandments of the Lord your God, by walking in his ways and by fearing him. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with flowing streams, with springs and underground waters welling up in valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, a land where you may eat bread without scarcity, where you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron and from whose hills you may mine copper.

As at the beginning, Lord God,

you made us in your image

and wrought with us a special bond,

an everlasting covenant of faith and love.

Continue to breathe your Spirit

into our hearts

that we may truly return that love.

As at the beginning, Lord God,

you have provided us good rich land,

overflowing with the good things of creation –

plants for food, water to drink.

Continue to breathe your Spirit

into our hearts

that we may be truly grateful.

As at the beginning, Lord God,

you created all manner of creatures

– our kith and kin –

for companionship and teamwork.

Continue to breathe your Spirit

into our hearts

that we may be faithful friends.

As from the beginning, Lord God,

you have filled the world with signs

and words of wisdom

so that we may learn and live well.

Continue to breathe your Spirit

into our hearts

that we may be attentive to your instruction.

As from the beginning, Lord God,

you have created a world of harmony

and flourishing

that all may live lives of fulfilment.

Continue to breathe your Spirit

into our hearts

that we may be at one with all creation.

As from the beginning, Lord God,

you have a created your world

as a place for joy and love to thrive

and where happiness will abound.

Continue to breathe your Spirit

into our hearts

that we may ever rejoice and praise your glory.

Amen.

Counting on … day 13

17th January 2025

It is not just businesses that need to change, government also needs to use its power to change the system. “We need the Government to stop tinkering with measures that create tiny insignificant changes and tackle single use waste in the way they finally tackled smoking, helping to make our public spaces litter free as well as smoke free. That requires putting in place systems which significantly disincentivise single-use and makes reuse a convenient and viable option for both businesses and consumers.” (1)

https://www.refill.org.uk/about/what-is-reuse/

Counting on … day 12

16th January 2025

Changing how we consume, reuse and refill products to ensure a sustainable world requires more than just consumer action. It needs systemic change: “big brands and businesses need to be held responsible for cleaning up their act! We need an end to corporates buying too much stock and then encouraging us to buy things we don’t need via sales and Black Friday. We need an end to corporates promoting more and more “seasons”, constantly trying to persuade us that things in our home are no longer in vogue, that our clothes and furnishings are out-of-fashion. It’s corporate behaviour that has created the single use system and we need to change that system – so it’s the corporates that need to change.” (1)

https://www.refill.org.uk/about/what-is-reuse/

Counting on … day 11

15th January 2025

Reducing waste and the pressure we put on the Earth, we should also consider how many single use items we are discarding, including those that we put in the recycling bin.

Plastic yogurt pots can be recycled but that still uses oil to produce the plastic (very little food packaging is made from recycled plastic) and energy to produce it. Could there be a more sustainable way of getting yogurt? One way might be for yogurt to be sold in reusable glass jars – as per milk. Another might be to make one’s own yogurt in reusable pots.

The same is true of margerine tubs – might solid margerine (vegan butter) that comes wrapped in greaseproof paper be better?

And what about refilling and reusing wine bottles, beer bottles etc? We do it with milk and fruit juices.

And what about avoiding single use coffee cups and plastic bottles of water? Tap water is free! And coffee tastes better in a proper cup.

Four different types of refull/ reuse consumer practice

What Is Reuse

Counting on … day 10

14th January 2025

When I was growing up, households typically had a metal dustbin that that dustmen could lift into their shoulder tipping the contents into the truck. Now domestic dustbins are twice the size with wheels and are designed with handles which the dustbin truck latches onto in order to empty the bin. But not only do we have a much bigger dustbin, each house also has at least two large recycling boxes and a food recycling bin too. In 2022/3, annual waste per household varied from 450kg in the South West of England and 600kg in the North East. (1)

Whilst such waste is only a small portion of the waste we expect the Earth to absorb, domestic waste if something we can control – and curtail. Why not do a survey of what you discard each week?

Could any of it be reused?

Did you need to use in the first place? Might you not need to buy/ acquire it in the first place?

(1) https://www.statista.com/statistics/996467/regional-waste-volumes-england-united-kingdom-uk/

Counting on … day 9

13th January 2025

Bio capacity (the metric used to calculate Earth Overshoot Day) includes both the biological productive land and sea area that provides the resources we need and the Earth’s capacity to absorb the waste produced including pollution.

In this context waste includes sewage, greenhouse gas emissions, excess fertilisers that leak into the water system, exhausts and brake dust from vehicles etc. The limits on the capacity of the Earth to absorb waste and to keep the environment healthy, is something we often forget. Producing waste is just as much about consumption as cutting down trees or catching fish. To live within the resource constraints of the Earth, we need not just to consume less but also to produce less waste.

First Sunday after Epiphany

12th January 2025

Reflection with readings below

Writers of scripture have to try and find ways of describing God, who is by definition beyond our descriptive powers. Today’s selection of readings uses things from nature to approximate to characteristics of God. Powerful like a storm, with strength like a wind or earthquake, with playfulness like hills skipping like young animals. Engulfing or all consuming like a flood. John the Baptist wants to describe the characteristics of the Messiah – God’s chosen one – and gives us the image of the farmer winnowing his harvest with an unquenchable energy.

The passages also tell of redemption and love and of God’s overwhelming desire for the wellbeing of God’s people. In the days when the writings of Leviticus were in use, poverty might force someone to sell themself or a member of their family as a slave, but there was always the possibility that a kinsperson would buy you or your family member back – that the person sold as a slave would be redeemed. This act of redemption is what is being described in Isaiah. god buying us back because we are kin, because we are family.

In the early parts of Isaiah (which was written over many decades) the people of Jacob and Israel lived in times of great peril, with the threat of invasion, death, and slavery. Both nations had lost their way, following the ways of foreign gods – abandoning the one true God. In a sense they had sold themselves into slavery because they had become so indebted to the foreign powers and alien gods. Now in this latter part of Isaiah, the prophetic message is that God will rescue Jacob and Israel, that God will redeem them and restore them once more within the family or household of God – ‘Fear not! I have redeemed you. I have called you by name, you are mine… You are precious in my sight and I love you!’

These words are mirrored by the words from Luke’s Gospel. John is baptising people in the River Jordan – ritual of turning one’s life around – and here is Jesus the one who will make this turning around a reality, and God’s words speak out loud to all who will hear: “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

Isaiah 43:1-7

Thus says the Lord,
he who created you, O Jacob,

he who formed you, O Israel:

Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by name, you are mine.

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;

when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
and the flame shall not consume you.

For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Saviour.

I give Egypt as your ransom,
Ethiopia and Seba in exchange for you.

Because you are precious in my sight,
and honoured, and I love you,

I give people in return for you,
nations in exchange for your life.

Do not fear, for I am with you;
I will bring your offspring from the east,
and from the west I will gather you;

I will say to the north, “Give them up,”
and to the south, “Do not withhold;

bring my sons from far away
and my daughters from the end of the earth–

everyone who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed and made.”

Psalm 29

1 Ascribe to the Lord, you gods, *
ascribe to the Lord glory and strength.

2 Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his Name; *
worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.

3 The voice of the Lord is upon the waters;
the God of glory thunders; *
the Lord is upon the mighty waters.

4 The voice of the Lord is a powerful voice; *
the voice of the Lord is a voice of splendour.

5 The voice of the Lord breaks the cedar trees; *
the Lord breaks the cedars of Lebanon;

6 He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, *
and Mount Hermon like a young wild ox.

7 The voice of the Lord splits the flames of fire;
the voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness; *
the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.

8 The voice of the Lord makes the oak trees writhe *
and strips the forests bare.

9 And in the temple of the Lord *
all are crying, “Glory!”

10 The Lord sits enthroned above the flood; *
the Lord sits enthroned as King for evermore.

11 The Lord shall give strength to his people; *
the Lord shall give his people the blessing of peace.

Acts 8:14-17

When the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. The two went down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit (for as yet the Spirit had not come upon any of them; they had only been baptised in the name of the Lord Jesus). Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, John answered all of them by saying, “I baptise you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

Now when all the people were baptised, and when Jesus also had been baptised and was praying, the heaven was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

Epiphany – waters of life

11th January 2025

With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. Isaiah 12:3

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 Mark 1:1-3, 9-11

The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, as it is written in Isaiah the prophet: “I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way”— a voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’”

At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptised by John in the Jordan. Just as Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.”

As in the beginning the Spirit of God hovered over the waters,

so were the waters parted and the earth came into being.