Uncategorized – Page 116

Green Tau: issue 64b

Ash Wednesday

Ash Wednesday is the first day of Lent, the first day in a journey through the wilderness – through a landscape devoid of creature comforts, where the reality of who we are can be more keenly felt. We begin this journey in a state of grace – having had our sins forgiven – but also marked out as penitents, as those who must make recompense for the harm and injury they have caused. This mark takes the form of ash – the burnt remains of last year’s palm crosses – usually applied as a cross marked on one forehead but also – as I have experienced – sprinkled on top of one’s head as water might be applied in baptism. We are as Christians baptised into both the death as well as new life of Christ, and so are called to be ready to bear what sacrifice that may involve. The words used tell us that from dust we came and to dust we shall return, reminding us of the second chapter of Genesis when God created the first human, the first earthling or groundling, using the dust of the earth, and the Spirit of God which breathed life into that first being. God did not just make the first humans from the dust of the earth, but in the same manner every living creature, so that together this crowd of God-inspired beings might tend and till the earth, maintaining its life to the highest standards of God’s own planting in the garden of Eden.

Ash Wednesday seems a very apt day for bringing to mind all the ways in which we as humans have harmed and damaged the living earth: killing wild and indigenous plants, replacing them with monocultures. Killing off the insects that we need to fertilise many of the crops that provide us with food. Killing directly and indirectly wildlife in such numbers that we are now the cause of the world’s 6th mass extinction. Polluting the soil, the air and the water. Over filling, many-fold, the atmosphere with CO2 and causing the first human induced climate change. Disregarding not just animal,life but also the lives and well being of our human brothers and sisters across the entire globe. Maybe our penance – the penance for those who see the harm we have as humans have caused – is raise the cry, to sound the alarm, to be prophetic, so that others too can be called to account. So that others too can be offered forgiveness and the means of making reparation. Such penance is not easy but it can change hearts and minds.

Let us be prophets this Lent. Let us be prophetic in action, prophetic in the minutiae of daily life and in the investments we make for the future. Let us be prophetic in actions that make God’s word made loud and clear. Let us be prophetic in our words. Let us be prophetic in our listening tuning into the what God is saying to us, both directly and through the voice of creation. And let us be prophetic in praising God, hopeful that in God’s wisdom the future of full of joy and peace.

Counting on day … 1.055

24th February 2023

The way we use streets can be different. We can make them safe places for people to walk and cycle. We can make them safe places for children to play. We can make them places where the air is clean. We can make the, places where people stop and chat to their neighbours. We can make them places full of plants and trees, birds and insects – even little creatures such as hedgehogs.

Counting on day … 1.054

23rd February 2023

Yesterday I joined a poignant observance of Ash Wednesday with others from Christian Climate Action. We held a service of ashing in Parliament Square, using coal dust as we confessed our – and those of society – in allowing our flagrant use of fossil fuels that has and is still causing so much damage to the world we live in – and its future. We called on the government to take action and in particular to overturn its approval for the new Cumbrian Coal Mine. Carrying coal, and to a slow drum beat, we took our lament and our prayers to the Home Office which had granted the Mine permission in December of last year,

Finally we processed to the office of Javelin Global Commodities where we symbolically laid down the coal we had been carrying in our hands. We renewed our resolve to seek a different, better future.

Javelin is a significant partner of West Cumbria Mining, being 34 percent owned by U.S. coal miner Murray Energy, 28 percent owned by German utility E.ON and 38 percent owned by its principal traders, some of whom were previously at Goldman Sachs.Javelin is undertaking to purchase all of WCM’s production output and to sell the coal to steelmaking customers in the UK and Europe, as it “aims to ramp up its coal trading”

Green Tau: issue 64b

Ash Wednesday reflection

The words used tell us that from dust we came and to dust we shall return, reminding us of the second chapter of Genesis when God created the first human, the first earthling or groundling, using the dust of the earth, and the Spirit of God which breathed life into that first being. God did not just make the first humans from the dust of the earth, but in the same manner every living creature, so that together this crowd of God-inspired beings might tend and till the earth, maintaining its life to the highest standards of God’s own planting in the garden of Eden.

Ash Wednesday seems a very apt day for bringing to mind all the ways in which we as humans have harmed and damaged the living earth: killing wild and indigenous plants, replacing them with monocultures. Killing off the insects that we need to fertilise many of the crops that provide us with food. Killing directly and indirectly wildlife in such numbers that we are now the cause of the world’s 6th mass extinction. Polluting the soil, the air and the water. Over filling, many-fold, the atmosphere with CO2 and causing the first human induced climate change. Disregarding not just animal life but also the lives and well being of our human brothers and sisters across the entire globe. Maybe our penance – the penance for those who see the harm we have as humans have caused – is raise the cry, to sound the alarm, to be prophetic, so that others too can be called to account. So that others too can be offered forgiveness and the means of making reparation. Such penance is not easy but it can change hearts and minds.

Counting on day 1.053

22nd February 2023

The Independent reports ‘St Michael with St Mary parish church in Melbourne, Derbyshire, is a fine example of 12th-century Norman ecclesiastical architecture, but one part of the building is distinctly modern. The sunshine that illuminates the church’s stained-glass windows is also shrinking its carbon footprint thanks to a 42-panel, 10kw array of solar panels on the roof.’

One of the first churches to install solar panels was St James Piccadilly, whilst more recently St John’s Waterloo has installed panels that will produce 30 kilowatts per hour in bright sunshine and over the course of a year could generate 28,597 kWh.

A different world is possible!

NB I have put together a series of 40 mini reflections on water (a rerun of a series from a couple of years ago). These can be found in the menu under Lent Reflections, or here https://greentau.org/2023/02/11/lent-reflections-water/

Green Tau: issue 64a

Shrove Tuesday reflection

21st February 2023

Today is Shrove Tuesday. The word shrove derives from the Middle English word shriven meaning “to make confession; to administer the sacrament of penance to,” In the 15th century (and earlier) Shrovetide wasn’t just a Tuesday but was the three days before Ash Wednesday. Three days, including a Sunday, would have given more opportunity for people to formally confess their sins and receive their penance – what they must do to atone for the sins they have committed.

Once shriven – absolved from sin – the penitent was ready to embark on the forty days of Lent: forty days of fasting and observing the penance they had been given. Fasting is holding back for pleasures and often includes food. Not ‘not eating’ but not eating certain foods, typically meat and dairy products. In many countries the days preceding Ash Wednesday are called Carnival. The name comes from the Medieval Latin ‘carnelevamen’ meaning to put away, to not eat meat.

Not wanting perhaps to waste food, or perhaps to enjoy one last pleasure before the fast began, the days before Lent have becomes days for feasting and merriment. Hence Carnival and shrove Tuesday pancakes! For those of us who are carnivores or vegetarians, giving up meat and dairy products for forty days could be a challenge. In the 15th century it may have been less so – Lent coincided with the lean time of the year when winter supplies had largely been eaten and spring foods had yet to appear. Fasting from meat and dairy products may have been a necessity rather than a choice.

But now, as more people swop to plant based diets, the restrictions of Lent can seem less daunting. There is a growing range of plant based foods, recipes, cuisines etc that makes not eating meat no penance. What then is the purpose of fasting? Fasting can be a way of cultivating self discipline. It can be a way of focusing our awareness on the needs of others: some people opt to limit their food intake to the limited amount that many brothers and sisters ensure as a necessity. Some opt to eat only locally grown produce such as the Fife diet as a way of rooting their awareness of local food production. Some might concentrate on foods that adhere to Green Christian’s LOAF principles – local, organic, animal friendly and fairly traded.

Such fasting for Lent shows us how penance can be constructive. It helps us both to address the harm we have caused and to learn new habits to stop us from committing the same sins again. Fasting and penance need not apply just to food. Some people practice a carbon fast, cutting back on activities or use of equipment that has a high carbon footprint. Some might opt out fast from consumerism, and cut back on new purchases, cut out of retail therapy etc. some might fast from work – some of us put work and achievement as a priority in our lives and may wish to spend more time with friends, with family, with nature, with God.

In some cultures past and present, those who were penitent wished to make a clear statement of their decision – their need – to repent and would put on clothing made for sacking, would cut their hair, or go barefoot. Such action strengthened their resolve and was a witness to others for the need for repentance.

If we want to take Lent seriously as a time for re orientating ourselves towards the resurrection and life lived in Christ, then observing Shrove Tuesday as a time to confess our sins and to accepting a penance that will be make good at least some of the harm our sins, is a good starting point. However you may find yourself in a minority with most people deferring such reflection and preparation till Ash Wednesday. Even in the church, Shrovetide has been replaced by ‘pancake day’ and become a day in which to eat pancakes in all shapes and sizes and adorned with all manner of flavourings from the sweet sour lemon and sugar, to the meaty ones of bacon and maple syrup.

Ash Wednesday is the modern Shrovetide.

Counting on …day 1.050

19th February 2023

As an addendum to yesterday’s note, it transpires that our local primary school also has solar panels of which I was unaware!

Keynsham Town Hall & Civic Centre in Somerset, has solar panels installed during a rebuilding project. The 243kWp installation across a number of roofs. Is designed to power the new town hall and council building – saving more than £27,500 per year in energy bills alone.

Colyton Library – a small Devon library with strong community support – has solar panels to reduce their running costs.

University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) installed a 29.6KWp solar panel installation that generates 24.15 MWh per year. This was funded by the energy and climate justice student society and the profits generated support other community projects

A different world is possible!

Counting on …day 1.051

20th February 2023

Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust began installing solar panels on land adjacent to the Castle Hill Hospital site in Cottingham in September 2021The project, which quickly became known as the ‘Field of Dreams’, saw 11,000 panels installed at a cost of £4.2m in order that the Trust could begin to lower its carbon footprint and generate its own electricity. Work was completed in February 2022, and …. the panels are now generating enough electricity to meet the complete daytime power needs of the entire Castle Hill site.” https://www.hey.nhs.uk/news/2022/05/09/castle-hill-hospital-now-completely-powered-by-its-own-solar-energy/

The Shropshire Star reported: The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (RJAH), near Oswestry, has had 1,760 solar panels fitted along with its entire lighting upgraded to LEDs. It is estimated the trust is now saving over £217,000 annually, while also reducing carbon emissions by more than 809 tons of carbon per year as it pivots towards a net zero carbon future

A different world is possible!

Sunday next before Lent

19th February 2023

Reflection (readings below)

The overarching theme of today’s readings is that of glory.

God’s glory settled on Mount Sinai for six days and on the seventh day Moses goes up the mountain and enters into that cloud of glory – a glory that appears like an all consuming fire.

Jesus ascends Mount Tabor and from a cloud, God declares that Jesus is his beloved son in whom he is well pleased. The disciples with Jesus, not only hear God’s voice, but see God’s glory shining through Jesus. It is like a blinding light.

In both these encounters God’s glory isn’t something unobtrusive, something you might blink and miss. It is unmistakeable! But how many of us have had such full on encounters with God? Perhaps we are more likely to just glimpse God’s glory, to catch a sight of it fleetingly.

Nevertheless I suspect that glimpsing God’s glory is more common than we imagine. Think of sunset radiant with bright colours. Think of a sunrise as the great orb of the sun appears above the horizon. Think of the gold-dusted interior of a fully open crocus. Think of light dancing on the surface of a lake. Think of lucid movement of an incoming wave on the sea. Think of the minute detail of a single bird’s feather. Think of the smile in the eyes of someone who loves you. Think of the out-of-this-world experience of arriving at the top of a mountain and embracing the view.

Last seek’s reading from Genesis described how God declared each thing created as being good. The Hebrew word is ‘towb’ meaning good, or beautiful or pleasing. If everything God has created is, in God’s eyes good, well pleasing, then we should not be surprised to see glimpses of God’s glory shining through all manner of things, places and people. It maybe that we need to sharpen our eye sight, or re-attune our hearing, and be more alert to what is around us – for I am sure we are surrounded by the glory of God but don’t notice because our attention is elsewhere.

As Ash Wednesday approaches, maybe we can use this Lent as a time to pay more attention to the world around us, to be open to God’s presence and to be entranced by God’s glory.

Exodus 24:12-18

The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain, and wait there; and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.” So Moses set out with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up into the mountain of God. To the elders he had said, “Wait here for us, until we come to you again; for Aaron and Hur are with you; whoever has a dispute may go to them.”

Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. The glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days; on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the cloud. Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. Moses entered the cloud, and went up on the mountain. Moses was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights.

Psalm 99

1 The Lord is King;
let the people tremble; *
he is enthroned upon the cherubim;
let the earth shake.

2 The Lord is great in Zion; *
he is high above all peoples.

3 Let them confess his Name, which is great and awesome; *
he is the Holy One.

4 “O mighty King, lover of justice,
you have established equity; *
you have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob.”

5 Proclaim the greatness of the Lord our God
and fall down before his footstool; *
he is the Holy One.

6 Moses and Aaron among his priests,
and Samuel among those who call upon his Name, *
they called upon the Lord, and he answered them.

7 He spoke to them out of the pillar of cloud; *
they kept his testimonies and the decree that he gave them.

8 O Lord our God, you answered them indeed; *
you were a God who forgave them,
yet punished them for their evil deeds.

9 Proclaim the greatness of the Lord our God
and worship him upon his holy hill; *
for the Lord our God is the Holy One.

2 Peter 1:16-21

We did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honour and glory from God the Father when that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven, while we were with him on the holy mountain.

So we have the prophetic message more fully confirmed. You will do well to be attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by human will, but men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

Matthew 17:1-9

Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.” And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.

As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”

Counting on …. day 1.049

18th February 2023

The Grimsby Telegraph reports ‘As part of its Towns Fund Deal, North Lincolnshire Council got £1.4m in government cash for the rollout of solar panels on at least 30 Scunthorpe schools and to create an affordable, zero-carbon energy system in North Lincolnshire. Four schools – Holme Valley Primary, Bottesford Junior, Fred Gough Secondary and Berkeley Primary – had panels already installed by the end of January, while two more, St Hugh’s School and Priory Lane Primary were poised to have them installed by February. Once set up, the six schools will save £97,880 a year in energy bills.’

A different world is possible.