Uncategorized – Page 95

Count Down

Action 46: Set up a bird feeding station in your garden. Use a selection of bird feeders that will hold different sorts of bird food – suet cakes, seeds, peanuts etc. These will need to be hung from a pole or the branches of a tree. You can include a bird table for those birds prefer to eat from a flat surface but you may find everything gets eaten by pigeons – try a table with a roof to lift access. Locate your bird feeders where they cannot readily be accessed by cats but can be accessed by you, as you will need both to keep them filled and to regularly take them down for a good clean. Mouldy food is not good for birds. The RSPB has instructions for DIY bird feeders: https://www.rspb.org.uk/fun-and-learning/for-kids/games-and-activities/activities/make-a-recycled-bird-feeder/

Also include a shallow bowl for water. Birds need fresh drinking water.

If …

Soil Plant Hands Growth Environment Nature Dirt

If we are called us to beat swords into plough shares,

we are also called to turn military jobs into green ones.

If we seek to establish peace,

we must generously offer both love and practical gifts.

If we shift from passive to active travel, from cars to cycles,

we shall need cycle paths and secure shelters.

If we replace petrol engines with electric motors,

we must also turn petrol stations into recharging points.

If we swop meats for a vegan diet,

we must also turn beef farms into arable farms,

sheep fells into woodlands,

dairies into nut fromageries.

If we switch to green electricity,

our pension funds must invest in renewable energy.

If we green our pensions,

surely we will green our banks too.

Creator God, help us to see the changes we must make,

Give us the wisdom to support them,

the energy to achieve them

and the joy to celebrate them.

Amen.

Count Down

Action 47: Green your pension: this article comes from The Guardian
There’s an estimated £2.6tn invested in UK pensions. You might not know it, but much of it funds environmentally harmful industries and activities such as fossil fuels or deforestation. Your pension may not seem like a powerful eco tool, but according to research by Make My Money Matter, Aviva and Route2, getting a green pension can be 21 times more effective in cutting your carbon footprint than giving up flying, going veggie, and switching to renewable energy combined. In fact, this research shows it’s the most powerful step an individual can take to reduce their carbon. And it’s not just a high-impact activity – it’s also popular. More than two-thirds of us want our money to support people and the planet. By pressuring your provider to invest more sustainably, or finding a more climate-friendly option, you’ll be able to sleep easier knowing your pension is now a force for good.

https://www.theguardian.com/green-your-pension/2021/jul/08/green-your-pension-and-four-other-unexpected-ways-to-lower-your-carbon-footprint

Falling in Love 7

Acorns are small but have a look of completeness. Their smooth skin and rounded shaped topped with its own little cap. That little cap is such a perfect fit! Once the acorn has fallen, its cap discarded, its skin broken, the journey of growth begins and over the years, that acorn will be transformed from seed to majestic oak. There are oak trees in Richmond Park that were acorns back in the days of Henry VIII.

The world around us is full of curious, beautiful and amazing things. As small children our curiosity and our amazement knew no bounds. Every day would produce novelties- things to see, things to chew or eat, things to grab and hold, things to poke and explore.

As we have grow older we have often lost that sense of wonder. Things that were new have become mundane. In the rush to be busy, small things flop below the radar. Decorum dictates that we shouldn’t prod or lick things and, unless we’re wine tasters, swirling stuff around our mouth and spitting are frowned upon. Stopping suddenly just to look is discouraged – it interrupts the flow of traffic. Daily routines take over.

And our love for the world wains and falters.

The season of creation-tide runs from 1st September till 4th October, the Feast of St Francis. Let’s fall in love again with creation.

Eco Tips

Keeping Warm in Winter

Wear layers of clothes. Each layer will trap air that is warmed by your body. Every layer is another layer of insulation.
Wear thermal underwear or alternatively wear extra leggings and T-shirts which will be save having to buy extra clothes.
Outside wear a hat, gloves and scarf – and why not do the same inside? Historically people have often worn hats inside – neat bonnets, Tudor caps, Monmouth caps, smoking hats, head squares and scarves, beanies and berets.
Cosy socks and slippers are pluses too – make sure your winter shoes and boots are big enough to allow for warm/ thick socks. If you have thins socks, double up and wear two pairs.
Close curtains and pull down blinds at dusk for once the sun sets, temperatures will drop. Drawing your curtains will keep the warmth in the room. The more layer between you and the outside, the better the insulation. You might have blinds and curtains for example. Alternatively you can get extra thermal linings to hang behind your curtains.
If overnight your bedroom has remained warm, allow that warmth to permeate the rest of the house before opening the windows to air the room.
If windows are draughty, you can seal the gaps with a proprietary stick on strip.
If your doors are draughty or if they are not very thermal efficient (maybe with lots of glass) you can hang a curtain to pull across at night time. You can make a sausage shaped door stop to prevent droughts that come under a door, or if it is an external door you could fix on a draught excluder.
Take exercise – it will warm you up. If you get cold through sitting still, even running up and down the stairs a few times will help.
Wrap up well and have a brisk walk.
Have plenty of hot drinks and at least one hot meal a day.
Use a hot water bottle in bed – you can also use one if you are sitting down for a while, either under your feet or on your lap. Equally if you are sitting still for a while, have a blanket to put over your knees. Or if you are watching TV you might wrap yourself in a blanket.
Make a hand warmer – this could be a cotton bag filled with uncooked rice that you heat for a few seconds in a microwave. You will find plenty of DIY instructions on line. Or you could use a small heat resistant bottle or jar, fill it with hot water and wrap it in a sock.
Our own body heat will heat up a room. Plan your day so that you spend most of it in one room rather than heating up several spaces.
With all these measures, you should be able to turn your thermostat down so reducing your carbon footprint. Similarly use the controls on your heating to limit the number of hours you need the heating on. During the day, especially if the sun is shining, or if you are active, you will not need extra heating.

Falling in love 6

The oak tree is so embedded in our past that we associate it with the essence of Englishness: strong, resilient, with luxuriant growth. Yet the oak tree is native across the whole of Europe and the virtues of strength, resilience and abundant life are equally widespread.

And our love for the world wains and falters.

The season of creation-tide runs from 1st September till 4th October, the Feast of St Francis. Let’s fall in love again with creation.

Count Down

Action 46: Knit something warm for winter: wrist warmers and beanies are easiest if you are a beginner. You could try a beret, leg warmers, scarf or, if you have the time, a jumper. You might like to use yarn made from recycled cotton (t-shirts!) linen or silk, or wool that comes from one of Britain’s rare breeds of sheep.

Sunday Reflection

5th September 2021, Proper 18

Isaiah 35:4-7, Psalm 14, James 2:1-10, [11-13], 14-17, Mark 7:24-37

Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God.

Words we have desperately wanted to hear this week, whether that was as protestors trying to draw the attention of the Government and the financial world to the dire emergency of the climate crisis and of the need to ‘act now!’ Or whether it has been as those watching helplessly as families and individuals tried to to flee from Afghanistan.

Yes – we want them to be saved, we want ourselves to be saved, from harm and hurt and fear. And we want to be saved from ourselves – I think we know that the cause of war and extremism, of failed diplomacy, rising global temperatures and the increased frequency of extreme weather events, is all of human making.

Was that the feeling of the people in Isaiah’s community? Did they feel trapped in the space between feeling helpless and knowing that their predicament was the result of their own failures? They were a people surrounded by war; a people being swayed to go with this side or that side, as superpowers fought over their land. A people who feared defeat and heard the words of the diverging words of the false prophets and of God’s prophets. A people who did know that they had sinned against God and against their neighbours. Would God be able to – indeed would God save them? What would the future look like? Isaiah is giving them words of hope, reminding them of God’s greatness and creating for them a vision of the world God desired for them: heaven on earth. The psalmist echoes this with words encouraging and exhorting us to hope and trust in God.

Yet I sense that God is not just going to intervene and wave, as it were a magic wand, and everything will be tip top fine. That certainly was not the experience of Isaiah’s audience: they suffered the humiliation of defeat and exile, and it was only during that time of exile that they learned to live once again in a renewed relationship with God and neighbour. It is at this point we turn to the epistle of James.

Do we really believe in Jesus Christ? What a question! Not do we believe, but do we really believe? For if we truly believed then we would live as Jesus lived, act as Jesus acted. We would see the flaws in human systems that Jesus saw – and sees today – and would work to transform them. We would like Jesus, be able to say ‘the kingdom of heaven is at hand’.

But, says the writer of James, we seem to have been hoodwinked by the rich and powerful. We have been drawn into their mindset that says wealth, riches and fine clothes are the indicators that show who is most important, who should be in power, whose words should be believed.

Instead we should be turning to the scripture and the royal law: love your neighbour as yourself. Here there is no hierarchy, no space of prejudice nor favouritism. Further more to love is not just to mouth the words; it is to enact them. The epistle writer is quite clear: if we do not act, we cannot save ourselves. Our faith is only of use if it is enacted. A life jacket only saves you if you inflate it and put it on! Just having faith that a life jacket can save lives is not enough.

It seems to me that what Jesus so clearly demonstrated for us is that with faith in God, we can do all that is required to love our neighbours, to create heaven on earth, to save the world.

In today’s reading from the Gospel of Mark, we see that there is not a time when Jesus cannot find himself called upon to do the work of God. Even when he goes outside the the Jewish territories of Judea and Galilee, there are people who need help. There are foreigners who are still neighbours. There are people who don’t expect much but still ask. There are people trapped by poverty and people trapped by disabilities. When the onlookers saw what Jesus was doing, they were astounded beyond measure.

Can we be as astounding? Can our belief in Jesus be such that we let ourselves be empowered by the strength and hope that comes from God? Can we put that faith into action so that by loving our neighbour, by creating heaven in earth, the world will be saved?

Count Down

Action 45: Sign the ‘Time is Now’ petition. Join the UK’s largest climate action campaign group – a mix of individuals plus over 130 charities and climate change organisations. “Use your voice to tell politicians that you want a cleaner, greener, fairer future at the heart of plans to rebuild a strong economy.”

https://thetimeisnow.uk/

Falling in Love 5

The rainbow is always so fleeting but isn’t that part of its wonder? It’s clearly there in the sky, yet untouchable, visible as an arc but one with no fixed position: as we move it moves. Its beauty promises something that is more than reality.

And our love for the world wains and falters.

The season of creation-tide runs from 1st September till 4th October, the Feast of St Francis. Let’s fall in love again with creation.