Uncategorized – Page 9 – The Green Tau

Green Tau: Issue 119

26th October 2025

How Will We Make Polluters Pay?

A few days before Christmas 2021 – and very late on in the the typhoon season – super typhoon Odette slammed into the Philippines. This was category 5 tropical cyclone with combined high winds in excess of 175 mph, extreme rainfall and a storm surge. Devastating the lives of 8 million people across 514 towns and cities, it brought down power cables and trees, broke up roads and fishing boats, disrupted communications and water supplies, destroyed or damages 1.4 million homes and 2000 schools, destroyed crops and livelihoods, and killed over 400 hundred people.

Research has shown that the extreme rainfall recorded was twice as likely due to anthropogenic climate change, and the extreme winds 70% more likely for the same reason. (1) At the time, it was the second most costliest typhoon. To hit the Philippines causing damage of nearly $1 billion.

67 survivors of Typhoon Odette from several Philippine communities whose family members were killed or whose homes were destroyed are now preparing to sue Shell. The first stage of this has been the issuing of a Letter Before Action (LBA) which has been sent to Shell notifying them that the claimants, having suffered severe losses including damage to,property, personal,injury, bereavement, loss of earnings and loss of cultural rights. The claim all edges that Shell has contributed materially and knowingly to anthropogenic climate change, and therefore contributed in no small way to the damage suffered by the claimants.

The claim is being brought in the UK as that is where Shell is domiciled but will apply the law of the Philippines as that is where the damaged occurred The claimants are being represented by the London law firm Hausfeld LLP. If no agreement is reached between Shell and the Philippine claimants, then a law suit will be filed, probably in December. “The case seeks to hold Shell accountable to our Filipino clients. By proving in court that Shell was at fault for this climate change-driven extreme weather event and the suffering it caused, the case highlights the far-reaching and direct impacts on vulnerable communities worldwide of oil and gas company activities,” said Greg Lascelles, partner at the law firm Hausfeld and leader of the legal team. (2)

The Philippines Commission on Human Rights spent 7 years investigating the impact of anthropogenic climate change on the people of the Philippines in response to an initial petition made by survivors of Typhoon Haiyan in 2013. Published in 2022 their report concluded “that the world’s most polluting companies are morally and legally liable for the impacts of the climate crisis because they have engaged in wilful obfuscation of climate science and obstructed efforts towards a global transition to clean energy.” (3)

Only last month did ten thousand people take part in a march through central London for the Make Them Pay rally, calling for action to make polluters pay. Both Christian Climate Action and Green Christian were there as part of the faith block. The case being brought by the survivors of Typhoon Odette is one of a now growing number of legal actions being taken against fossil fuel giants, as campaigners press for climate justice. This case is being supported by various groups including Uplift, Greenpeace, Fossil Free London and Christian Climate Action. Last Thursday Fossil Free London lined up blue boiler-suited activists in front of Shell’s headquarters and, with flags and banners and songs, launched their support for the Typhoon Odette claimants. Whilst the claimants would have liked to address us directly, their request for visas had been turned down, so instead we listened to a recorded message.

If you wish to support this case, you can find out more here, including a petition:-

https://www.odettecase.org/take-action

(1) https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2025/egusphere-2025-665/

(2) https://www.hausfeld.com/en-gb/news/shell-hit-with-legal-action-over-climate-damages-by-typhoon-odette-survivors

(3) https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/06/filipino-inquiry-finds-big-polluters-morally-and-legally-liable-for-climate-damage?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Proper 25

26th October 2025

Reflection with readings below

The first part of the Book of Joel (which we don’t hear today’s reading) tells of repeated plagues of locust that have destroyed the people’s crops. And of an invasion by foreign forces that has devastated the land, uprooting trees and vines so that there has been nothing to harvest. And of a drought that has caused trees and crops to shrivel and the field to lie in ruin. A severe drought such that the rivers have dried up and wildfires have burnt the grass leaving the animals to waste away. Even the heavens have been troubled with solar and lunar eclipses darkening the sky. And so the priests and ministers of God had called for the people to look hard at themselves and their conduct, to acknowledge where they had done wrong – where they had gone against God – and to repent and seek God’s mercy.

But where all was destruction and anguish, today’s reading is full of encouragement and optimism. Joel speaks of a time to come when again there will be fruitfulness and flourishing, a time of plenty and of contentment. Joel knows how much the people are loved by God. He knows that God will not abandon the people but will show them mercy – a word that can be understood as loving kindness. And more specifically Joel tells the people that God will pour out God’s own spirit on them – they will be blessed!

The Psalmist writes with the same confidence, assuring God’s people that God does forgive our sins, that God does heal and restore us when we have made mistakes, that God does intend for us to live lives of peace and plenty, and that God does envisage a world where all of creation lives together in harmony and joyfulness.

And who wouldn’t want to live in such a world?

Why then do we humans continue to the things that are wrong, that are destructive, that are unjust? Why do we pollute the atmosphere with excessive amounts of carbon dioxide? Why do we plunder the land destroying forests and draining the soil of its nutrients? Why do we let a select few enjoy excessive riches whilst standing by as the poorest and most vulnerable of our kin suffer hunger and illness and oppression?

Is it that we do not see ourselves as those who pollute and plunder and oppress? Do we look in the mirror and instead see ourselves as successful, as those able to look after our own families, as those who have been provident in ensuring a comfortable life for ourselves, as those who, being self sufficient, deservedly have access to quality health care and education, fresh food and overseas holidays? Do we see ourselves as those who have worked hard and wisely and have received no less than we deserve? Of course we give to charity. Of course we pay our taxes. Of course we go to church. We’re not heartless. Yes we do know that there are others less fortunate but they probably didn’t work hard enough. They sadly don’t live in a safe country – but that’s not our fault. Maybe they don’t live in a wealthy country – but again that’s not our fault. Maybe they didn’t benefit from a good education or health care system – but that’s probably because their government is corrupt. Maybe it’s because they live in countries where storms and floods are common place, where heat waves and droughts have become more extreme.

Surely none of this can be our fault?

Well maybe yes; maybe in part. For even if it is not our personal fault, it is likely the fault of the systems within which we live – and from which we have benefited. Like the people Joel was addressing, we need to look at ourselves, our behaviour and the way our economies and society work, to acknowledge where they have gone wrong – where they had gone against God’s will – and to repent and seek God’s mercy. For if we find better ways of living, fairer systems of sharing and consuming resources, more equitable ways of meeting everyone’s needs, then as Joel envisaged, we can all live lives of fruitfulness and flourishing, of plenty and of contentment.

When we hear today”s parable we know that Jesus is calling us not to be like the self-satisfied, self-justifying figure. Rather Jesus wants us to seeking the satisfaction of all, and to be reliant on God’s loving kindness and wisdom. As Jesus’s followers we are called to this task of seeking out God’s will – finding the better ways of living together. We are called to call out injustice and to seek restitution for those affected. We are called to speak truth to those in power and challenge those who manipulate the truth. We are called to set an example by living lives that are not motivated by greed but by the desire to live lives that are fair and sustainable.

We are Jesus’s agents for change.

Joel 2:23-32

O children of Zion, be glad
and rejoice in the Lord your God;

for he has given the early rain for your vindication,
he has poured down for you abundant rain,
the early and the later rain, as before.

The threshing floors shall be full of grain,
the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.

I will repay you for the years
that the swarming locust has eaten,

the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter,
my great army, which I sent against you.

You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied,
and praise the name of the Lord your God,
who has dealt wondrously with you.

And my people shall never again be put to shame.

You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel,
and that I, the Lord, am your God and there is no other.

And my people shall never again
be put to shame.

Then afterward
I will pour out my spirit on all flesh;

your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
your old men shall dream dreams,
and your young men shall see visions.

Even on the male and female slaves,
in those days, I will pour out my spirit.

I will show portents in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. Then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the Lord has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the Lord calls.

Psalm 65

1 You are to be praised, O God, in Zion; *
to you shall vows be performed in Jerusalem.

2 To you that hear prayer shall all flesh come, *
because of their transgressions.

3 Our sins are stronger than we are, *
but you will blot them out.

4 Happy are they whom you choose
and draw to your courts to dwell there! *
they will be satisfied by the beauty of your house,
by the holiness of your temple.

5 Awesome things will you show us in your righteousness,
O God of our salvation, *
O Hope of all the ends of the earth
and of the seas that are far away.

6 You make fast the mountains by your power; *
they are girded about with might.

7 You still the roaring of the seas, *
the roaring of their waves,
and the clamour of the peoples.

8 Those who dwell at the ends of the earth will tremble at your marvellous signs; *
you make the dawn and the dusk to sing for joy.

9 You visit the earth and water it abundantly;
you make it very plenteous; *
the river of God is full of water.

10 You prepare the grain, *
for so you provide for the earth.

11 You drench the furrows and smooth out the ridges; *
with heavy rain you soften the ground and bless its increase.

12 You crown the year with your goodness, *
and your paths overflow with plenty.

13 May the fields of the wilderness be rich for grazing, *
and the hills be clothed with joy.

14 May the meadows cover themselves with flocks,
and the valleys cloak themselves with grain; *
let them shout for joy and sing.

2 Timothy 4:6-8,16-18

I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

At my first defence no one came to my support, but all deserted me. May it not be counted against them! But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and save me for his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Luke 18:9-14

Jesus told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, `God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, `God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.”

Green Tau: issue 118

24th October 2025

Shaping a better world with Wild Card

This morning Wild Card handed both a petition with 122,000 signatures and an open letter signed by nearly 50 high profile individuals and organisations, including, Green Party leader Zack Polanski, former Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams, former chair of the IPBES and IPCC Sir Robert T Watson, Green Christian and Christian Climate Action, to Sarah Mullally the soon to be arch bishop of Canterbury . The petition took the form of a beautiful crafted paper model of the Ark, covered all the names, and which was carried aloft (by dignitaries that included Chris Packham and Helen Burnett who both made eloquent addresses) accompanied by an eagle, a beaver and a salmon, a whole host of flags and banners and well wishers wearing an assortment of decorative hats and tokens of the natural world.

The petition and the letter asked the Church Commissioners undertake to rewild 30% of the land that they currently steward on behalf of the Church corporate. (1) This land totals 108,000 acres of land (the equivalent of 60,000 football pitches) and that is separate from land owned by individual parishes and dioceses (which interestingly is an almost equivalent amount).

The United Kingdom is one of the most nature depleted nations in the world. Recognising the extent of this and its adverse impact on our wellbeing, the UK government has joined with others in 2022 in signing up to the international Global Biodiversity Framework (2), undertaking to restore and protect 30% of land and sea by 2030. Currently only 2.83% (3) of land in England meets the desired nature-rich standard so there is clearly a lot of ground yet to be covered in the next four years! The area of land under the control of the Church Commissioners makes the Church part of the 1% that owns 50% of the land in the UK.

Wild Card is raising awareness about the necessity of rewilding – the natural environment is our life-supply system providing us with fertile soils, pollinators, fresh air, clean water, carbon capture and flood protection, as well as enabling food production and medicines, mental wellbeing and recreation – and calling on major landowners to step up to the mark and and rewild – restore and protect for nature – 30% of their land.

Surely the Church as a Christian organisation, with the God-given commands to cherish and protect the Earth and to love our neighbours, should be at the forefront of this campaign and leading by example?

Sadly no one at St Paul’s Cathedral would receive the Ark nor allow its entry into that place of worship. Instead a phalanx of security personal ensured that no one trespassed onto the steps of that august building.

(1) https://wildcard.land/campaigns/rewild-the-church

(2) https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/criteria-for-30by30-on-land-in-england/30by30-on-land-in-england-confirmed-criteria-and-next-steps

(3) https://www.wcl.org.uk/30by30-press-release-2025.asp

PS You can still add your name to the petition – https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/help-save-nature-by-rewilding-the-church-s-massive-landholdings

PPS you can read Helen’s beautiful address here –

In the story of Noah and his Ark you may notice all sorts of things but the bit that always bugs me is that Noah’s wife doesn’t get a name……………

So, let’s start this morning by celebrating loud and clear what a delight it is to be addressing Sarah Mullaly first ever woman to hold the post of the Archbishop of Canterbury

At the helm as the Archbishop of Canterbury , she will become our very own 21^st century Noah and inherits a precious ship that must not sink.

We pray that she will not be overwhelmed by the floods that threaten us, but that instead, she will read the signs of the times and have the courage to save the biodiversity of this land – that she will do all she can to advocate for wilding church land and to act as a bulwark against the biodiversity and nature crisis of our times

Bishop Sarah’s first words to a waiting world were so encouraging –

‘ In the apparent chaos which surrounds us, in the midst of such profound global uncertainty, the possibility of healing lies in acts of kindness and love.’

Our hope this morning is that it will be kindness and love for our ‘other than human’ kin that will move Bishop Sarah to do all that she can to steer and shepherd us through these times,

to lead the church with the urgency of Noah building the ark,

and to act now to use church land for healing, regeneration and restoration.

How amazing would it be if the Church of England, through pressure on the Church Commissioners, could be the dove that bears the olive branch of hope, setting a tide change for other major land holders to wild their land.

Bishop Sarah also said ……..

‘In parishes across this nation, I see faithful clergy and congregations worshipping God and loving their neighbours.’

In my tiny little parish, we have a church yard where we are trying, through careful land management to bring back species of flora and fauna lost to the Surrey Hills.

We have created a wildlife corridor the length of the boundary wall between us and the neighbouring agricultural land.

In our small way we are seeking to restore, and so, I call upon on our new Archbishop to join us on our journey of messy churchyards and No Mow Mays to let nature do it’s healing even when it doesn’t look tidy??? Even when it doesn’t fit the financial portfolio to do so.

Imagine 200/108,000 acres of wonderful untidiness and what that could do – could church, like the ark be a beacon of hope to a world in crisis ?

Today we implore Bishop Sarah to include in her new vocation, the vanishing wildlife of our precious land,

And I say this directly to her, “as the first female Archbishop of Canterbury unlike Noah’s wife you will have a powerful voice with which to advocate for all species and you do not even need to build an Ark !”

In this role you have the power to guide and shepherd the Church Commissioners and the broader Church to recognise that ecological collapse and climate crisis are intertwined issues that need to be addressed with the urgency of Noah.

In the words of the recent vision statement from Christian Climate Action we appeal for the Church of England, to find its courage, cease doing harm and return to its roots, to Stop Crucifying Creation and to be a place of resurrection.

The church commissioners could cease doing harm by simply dedicating one third of their land to biodiversity restoration , yes, this would take courage but it would represent a return to the roots of a radical living out of the faith that honours all things and sees all creation as sacred. Today, as a lover of God’s creation and member of her clergy I want to thank Bishop Sarah for her words in Canterbury cathedral:

‘Hope’, she said, ‘is made of the infinite love of God, who breathed life into creation and said it was good’

That goodness now lies precariously close to collapse , can she give us back that hope and be the Noah we need to steer our ark through the biodiversity crisis towards that moment when we can, once again, see in the distance the dove bearing an olive branch?

Helen Burnett

Counting on … 168

20th October 2025

Despite the powerful words of people like Greta Thunberg, Antonio Guterres, Vanessa Nakate and Pope Francis, the rate of change we see in the world around us is pitifully small in relation to the scale of the disaster we face. More and louder and increasingly persuasive voices need to be heard. We all need to become prophets of climate action. We need to be as well informed, as articulate and as persistent as we possibly can be.

Here are some pointers and resources.

How to have conversations about climate change in your daily life:-

Click to access Climate-Outreach-Talking-Climate-Handbook-How-to-have-conversations-about-climate-change-in-your-daily-life.pdf

How to talk with your MP

https://groups.friendsoftheearth.uk/get-involved/how-have-impactful-conversations-your-mp

(Although this focused on a particular ask, the principles apply generally to climate issues)

Writing to your MP about the CAN Bill

https://action.zerohour.uk/write

Looking ahead, the Climate Coalition organises annual events through which you can engage with your local community: eg Show the Love campaign and The Big Green Week

https://www.theclimatecoalition.org/campaigns

Training courses – Hope for the Future is a charity dedicated to training and supporting people to engage in effective and constructive conversations with their local politicians on climate and nature

https://www.hftf.org.uk/overview

Join a climate group with a prophetic edge. eg:-

Green Christian https://greenchristian.org.uk/

Christian Climate Action https://christianclimateaction.org/

Christian Aid https://www.christianaid.org.uk/

Laudato Si movement https://laudatosimovement.org/

In times of fear

25th October 2025

The earth is the Lord’s and all that fills it, the compass of the world and all who dwell therein. Ps 24:1

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 4: 35-40

On that day, when evening had come, Jesus said to them, ‘Let us go across to the other side.’ And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great gale arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’ He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, ‘Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?’

A response

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;

and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you:

When the waters catch us by surprise,

when the rain is heavy and the floods rise up,

Give us courage not to panic,

Give us compassions to help others,

Prompt us to change how we live

And grant us wisdom to avoid further crises.

When you walk through fire you shall not be burned,

and the flame shall not consume you:

When we are caught out by wld fires,

when we are overwhelmed by heatwaves,

Give us courage not to panic,

Give us compassions to help others,

Prompt us to change how we live

And grant us wisdom to avoid further crises.

When you hear of wars far away,

when you hear the sound of explosions close at hand,

know that God’s will is for peace:

Give us courage not to panic,

Give us compassions to help others,

Urge us to seek peace and justice

And grant us wisdom to avoid further crises.

As we look for your coming among us this day,

open our eyes to behold your presence

and strengthen our hands to do your will.

Ever remind us that the earth is yours and all that fills it.

Amen.

Counting on … 172

24th October 2025

Inequalities and planetary boundaries

We cannot continue to consume more and more and still believe that both the world will continue to provide all the resources we need and that somehow those same limited resources can provide everyone else in the world with the same level of good living. If we are to address both local and global inequalities and live within the Earth’s planetary boundaries, we in the richer echelons of the economic system must consume less. This does not mean that we have to lower our living standards but rather adapt them. We can have good living standards whilst consuming less.

Counting on … 171

23rd October 2025

Planetary boundaries and Earth overshoot day

Every year the Global Footprint Network calculates the date by which humans will have consumed a year’s worth of the Earth’s resources. Further consumption after that date uses resources at a faster rate than by which they can be replenished – in other words for that remaining part of the year our consumption takes us beyond safe planetary boundaries.

This is a global calculation. Individual nations – and indeed individuals themselves – will be consuming at different rates. Specifically there are some nations who consume far more then others and will have consumed their share of the Earth’s resources much earlier than the global Earth overshoot day – eg Qatar, the USA, Belgium inter alia. Whilst there are other nations who consume far less and may not even consume their share of the Earth’s resources before the year’s end – eg Burundi and Bhutan.

Clearly those nations who consume over and above the global average need to reduce their consumption, but would be enough if they reduced their consumption to that average? Not really because those levels of consumption would only stay within the limits of our planetary boundaries if the poorer nations were content to continue to under consume. In reality those poorer nations should be able to benefit from the better living standards that accrue from having satisfactory levels of food, education, healthcare, sanitation, housing, transportation etc.

Consumption levels for the richer nations need to fall substantially if everyone is to have a good standard of living.

Counting on … 170

22nd October 2025

What are planetary boundaries?

The following explanations, including reference to their current safe status or not, comes from the Stockholm Resilience Centre.

Climate change: Increased greenhouse gases and aerosols in Earth’s atmosphere trap heat that would otherwise escape into space. The climate change planetary boundary assesses the change in the ratio of incoming and outgoing energy of the Earth. More carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and more trapped radiation causes global temperatures to rise and alters climate patterns. This boundary is transgressed, and CO2 concentrations are rising.

Novel entities: Technological developments introduce novel synthetic chemicals into the environment, mobilise materials in wholly new ways, modify the genetics of living organisms, and otherwise intervene in evolutionary processes and change the functioning of the Earth system. The amount of synthetic substances released into the environment without adequate safety testing places novel entities in the high-risk zone.

Stratospheric ozone depletion: Ozone high in the atmosphere protects life on Earth from incoming ultraviolet radiation. The thinning of the ozone layer, primarily due to human-made chemicals, allows more harmful UV radiation to reach Earth’s surface. Total ozone is slowly recovering because of the international phasing-out of ozone-depleting substances since the late 1980s. Ozone depletion is therefore currently in the Safe Operating Space.

Atmospheric aerosol loading: Changes in airborne particles from human activities and natural sources influence the climate by altering temperature and precipitation patterns. Although large-scale air pollution already causes changes to monsoon systems, forest biomes and marine ecosystems, the global metric used in the planetary boundaries framework – interhemispheric difference in atmospheric aerosol loading – places this process just within the Safe Operating Space.

Ocean acidification: The acidity of ocean water increases (its pH decreases) as it absorbs atmospheric CO2. This process harms organisms that need calcium carbonate to make their shells or skeletons, impacting marine ecosystems, and it reduces the ocean’s efficiency in acting as a carbon sink. The 2025 Planetary Health Check showed that the Ocean Acidification boundary has been breached for the first time. Since the start of the industrial era, the ocean’s surface pH has fallen by around 0.1 units, a 30-40% increase in acidity, pushing marine ecosystems beyond safe limits and degrading the oceans’ ability to act as Earth’s stabiliser.

Modification of biogeochemical flows: Nutrient elements like nitrogen and phosphorus are crucial for supporting life and maintaining ecosystems. Industrial and agricultural processes disrupt natural cycles and modify the nutrient balance for living organisms. This boundary is transgressed, because both the global phosphorus flow into the ocean and the industrial fixation of nitrogen (converting stable nitrogen from the atmosphere into bioreactive forms) have disrupted global biogeochemical flows.

Freshwater change: The alteration of freshwater cycles, including rivers and soil moisture, impacts natural functions such as carbon sequestration and biodiversity, and can lead to shifts in precipitation levels. Human-induced disturbances of both blue water (e.g. rivers and lakes) and green water (i.e. soil moisture) have exceeded the planetary boundary.

Land system change: The transformation of natural landscapes, such as through deforestation and urbanization, disrupts habitats and biodiversity and diminishes ecological functions like carbon sequestration and moisture recycling. Globally, the remaining forest areas in tropical, boreal, and temperate biomes have fallen below safe levels.

Biosphere integrity: The diversity, extent, and health of living organisms and ecosystems affects the state of the planet by co-regulating the energy balance and chemical cycles on Earth. Disrupting biodiversity threatens this co-regulation and dynamic stability. Both the loss of genetic diversity and the decline in the functional integrity of the biosphere are outside safe levels.

https://www.stockholmresilience.org/research/planetary-boundaries.html

Counting on … 169

21st October 2025

Recently Christian Climate Action produced a vision document calling on the Church to be more prophetic. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yOj-jCh9H8L_vqFJ89fbpJHPQibwPgQ0/view?usp=drivesdk

On the one hand the Church of England is pressing ahead with its challenge of reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2030, which is seeing many church buildings (including schools and vicarages etc) being fitted with low energy light bulbs, insulation, solar panels and heat-pumps etc. And this is clearly very important and especially so if it also motivates people to do likewise in their own homes and places of work. (The number of regular worshippers is now just over a million).

On the other hand does the Church challenge individuals, industries and governments to address the systemic wrongs that perpetuate the climate and biodiversity crises and the social injustices that these cause?

As an analogy, I as an individual can be rigorous about placing my plastic in the recycling bin, but if most of that plastic ends up on beaches in Africa because the price of virgin plastic is cheaper than that of recycled plastic, the economic system has won.

I can try and raise this issue as an individual, but how much more effective would it be if the Church were there calling for change – using its cultural status and its position in Parliament to call for effective policies to incentivise recycling within the UK, to incentivise the use of recycled plastic and taxing the production of virgin plastic?

What if – for example- the Church of England were, say, to publicly back Greenpeace which has long been challenged the status quo vis a vis the pollution and global injustices arising from inadequate policies around plastics?

For further information

Plastic pollution

Proper 24

19th October 2025

Reflection with readings below.

The prophet Jeremiah is passing on to the people God’s reassurance that there will come for them a time of peace and the rebuilding of their community – salvation – but that it will also be a time of judgement. Part of the process of the rebuilding will be understanding where they themselves have got it wrong. Then they will be ready to start over: God will give them a new heart.

Despite all the trauma God’s people have been going through, including the realisation that Babylonian domination will be their burden for the long haul, and the realisation that their own folly has brought them to this place of desolation, Jeremiah is assuring them that God still loves them.

But Jeremiah’s words – as well as offering us hope – are also a reminder that sometimes -often – our wrong doings and errors will impact not just us but generations to come. That is certainly true of our excessive consumption of the Earth’s resources and our increasing emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Without a doubt what we are handing onto the next generation is a severely depleted, damaged world.

Like Jeremiah’s contemporaries, we need new hearts so that we can reshape our lives to live simply and sustainably, to live in harmony with – rather than in the destruction of -the Earth’s precious environment. And not just us as individuals but our communities and governments, businesses and global institutions, that all need new hearts. New hearts that will transform the way we live with each other, the way we share, restore and conserve resources. We need social and economic policies focused not on maximising profits but on maximising benefits for the common good.

Why do we spend money on AI and other profit maximising actions, that take peoples jobs away, and leave us living in a world where unemployment and poverty are increasing? Why do we not focus on creating meaningful jobs that give people a sense of value, that give the opportunity to be self supporting, and even give the ability to pay taxes?

We do we create trade deals that leave poorer nations struggling to provide their people with schools, medicines and education? That leave them even poorer and unable to invest in infrastructure to adapt to the onslaught of the climate crisis? And why then, having failed to address the global inequalities that trap such nations in the grasp of poverty, are we surprised that those of their citizens who can afford the cost, should seek to make new lives in the west?

Surely we have failed to learn from God that wisdom and knowledge which would shows us how to live in comfort and harmony with all our neighbours – human and nonhuman? The Psalmist and the writer of the letter to Timothy are clear that it is in the teachings of scripture and in knowledge of God’s words that we will learn how to live such lives. It is also clear that we can all benefit from good teachers – from prophets even – that can open up and unpack God’s wisdom, who can make God’s word alive for each generation, who are willing to be both persistent and patient in expounding this gospel. Teachers, preachers and prophets who can inspire and inform us, sharing God’s vision for a better, blessed world.

In today’s gospel the key word is persistence. Here the virtue of persistence is linked to prayer – persistent prayer is a good thing. I am not sure that the words ascribed to Jesus really means that God is more likely to listen to our prayers if they are persistent – as in repeated endlessly. I don’t think God ignores prayers that aren’t endlessly repeated – that sounds too much as if we need to persuade God to listen. Rather I think it is that we have to be persistent in prayer because human frailty and/or stupidity means that the same need for prayer is going to reoccur time and again, and that having to raise issue as a topic of prayer should not dissuade us from raising that issue with God. Day in day out we will find ourselves needing to pray for peace, needing to pray for wisdom for our leaders, needing to pray for forgiveness for our own failures, needing to pray for a change of course in the way we make use of/ abuse the Earth’s resources etc etc. Prayer is not just about words, it is about making those words into actions, into a changed heart. Persistent prayer is more then just persistent words but also persistent actions. It is about always walking the talk, regularly and repeatedly, until the change God desires happens.

Here persistence in prayer is about not giving up on hope for a better future. It is about being faithful rather than necessarily being successful. Faithful in the belief that God desires a better future for everyone, faithful in the belief that God believes that we humans can change and that we can be part of the process of salvation. So even if we find ourselves in a similar situation to Jeremiah, a situation where the future doesn’t look bright, we must be constant in believing that in God’s timescale there is a better future, and be persistent in praying for what ever needs to change to get there.

Jeremiah 31:27-34

The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of humans and the seed of animals. And just as I have watched over them to pluck up and break down, to overthrow, destroy, and bring evil, so I will watch over them to build and to plant, says the Lord. In those days they shall no longer say:

“The parents have eaten sour grapes,
and the children’s teeth are set on edge.”

But all shall die for their own sins; the teeth of everyone who eats sour grapes shall be set on edge.

The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt– a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.

Psalm 119:97-104

97 Oh, how I love your law! *
all the day long it is in my mind.

98 Your commandment has made me wiser than my enemies, *
and it is always with me.

99 I have more understanding than all my teachers, *
for your decrees are my study.

100 I am wiser than the elders, *
because I observe your commandments.

101 I restrain my feet from every evil way, *
that I may keep your word.

102 I do not shrink from your judgments, *
because you yourself have taught me.

103 How sweet are your words to my taste! *
they are sweeter than honey to my mouth.

104 Through your commandments I gain understanding; *
therefore I hate every lying way.

2 Timothy 3:14-4:5

As for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.

In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I solemnly urge you: proclaim the message; be persistent whether the time is favourable or unfavourable; convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching. For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths. As for you, always be sober, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, carry out your ministry fully.

Luke 18:1-8

Jesus told his disciples a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor had respect for people. In that city there was a widow who kept coming to him and saying, `Grant me justice against my opponent.’ For a while he refused; but later he said to himself, `Though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.'” And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God grant justice to his chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”