The Green Tau

Counting on…day 357

23rd October 2022

Solar farms in the UK are also producing a diversity of additional benefits. Creacombe solar farm in Devon reports “ In essence, a solar farm is a nature reserve that is left largely untouched for 25 years, resulting in huge benefits for wildlife and biodiversity [and will] help to reverse the decline in wildlife due to intensive farming practices [with]

Wildflower meadows sown across the site,
Bee hotels and hives for honey bees and solitary bees to take advantage of the pollen and nectar.
Hibernacula for small mammals and birds, with areas outside the fence line being left as coarse grassland.
Bird and bat boxes.
Land maintenance by sheep grazing the site each winter after the wildflower meadows have cast their seed.” https://www.creacombesolarfarm.co.uk/

Bible Sunday

23rd October 2022

Reflection (readings are below)

Today is Bible Sunday making it a good time to reflect why we think the Bible is important (assuming that you do). The Bible (from biblos in Greek meaning books) is a collection of books written over many centuries by different people using different genres, edited and rewritten, and collated into a collection. Which books are included in that collection varies from church body to church body with the Orthodox having the largest and the Protestants the slimmest version. At root the Bible recounts people’s experiences of encountering God.

I would like to suggest that the Bible is important for four reasons: salvation, instruction, glory and encouragement.

The central story running through the Bible is of salvation: God saving his people. It is a salvation that heals, restores and overflows with mercy – from the drama in the Garden of Eden, through the journey from Egypt to the land of Canaan and the exile to and return from Babylon, to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. We focus on the salvation of our own kind but there is an underlying current that tells us that God’s salvation is the salvation of all creation:

‘Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth!’

It is a book of instruction. Every Sunday we hear and explore the Bible discovering anew or hearing again the guidance, the instruction, it gives us. We learn of the importance of prayer and hope, faith and love. We are reminded to be both penitent and merciful, to heal and set free. We are challenged to walk the talk, to respond to the cry of the earth – its people, its creatures, its rivers and soils, its plant and wildlife. We are exhorted to be radical – not conforming to the ways of the ‘world’ but adhering to the values of the kingdom of God. The message comes from both what we call The Old Testament – maybe First Testament would be better – and The New Testament.

‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor’.

It is a book that celebrates the glory of God. It recounts and retells the amazing things God does. It raises a paean of praise that comes both from the people of God as well as from all the creaturely and non-creaturely parts of creation. It celebrates the harmony that comes when we live according to God’s wishes.

‘In the Lord all the offspring of Israel shall triumph and glory.’

It is a book of encouragement. In its pages we see how people before us have struggled, often failed, and been restored by hope. We see our mistakes and shortcomings echoed in theirs. And we find encouragement when we realise that we are not alone, that God has always, will always and is always there for us. We find encouragement knowing that Jesus has laid out the way before us.

And Jesus said ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’

The people of Nazareth are both amazed by what they hear and sceptical. Can they believe that God has chosen a carpenter’s son to be the fulfilment of the scripture, the fulfilment of all their hopes for salvation? He is someone they have known since childhood. He is one of them!

I wonder if sometimes the words of the Bible seem too familiar to us – especially if we heard them oft repeated since childhood. Do we sometimes fail to hear quite how powerful and radical the words are? Do we sometimes fail to hear both the challenge and the opportunity they present?

Isaiah 45:22-end

Turn to me and be saved,
all the ends of the earth!
For I am God, and there is no other.

By myself I have sworn,
    from my mouth has gone forth in righteousness
    a word that shall not return:
‘To me every knee shall bow,
    every tongue shall swear.’

Only in the Lord, it shall be said of me,
are righteousness and strength;
all who were incensed against him
shall come to him and be ashamed.

In the Lord all the offspring of Israel
shall triumph and glory.

Romans 15:1-6

We who are strong ought to put up with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Each of us must please our neighbour for the good purpose of building up the neighbour. For Christ did not please himself; but, as it is written, ‘The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.’ For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, so that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope. May the God of steadfastness and encouragement grant you to live in harmony with one another, in accordance with Christ Jesus, so that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Luke 4:16-24

When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because he has anointed me
        to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
    and recovery of sight to the blind,
        to let the oppressed go free,

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’

And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’ All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, ‘Is not this Joseph’s son?’ He said to them, ‘Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, “Doctor, cure yourself!” And you will say, “Do here also in your home town the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.”’And he said, ‘Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s home town’s .

Counting on…day 356

22nd October 2022

Euronews Green reported on an interesting solar panel scheme. The solar panels are suspended above a field at a height that allows farm vehicles to pass underneath to tend and harvest the crops. The solar panels are fixed such that they can rotate through 360 degrees to catch as much sun as possible. When it rains they can be set to vertically to water the crop – or in the case of hail, horizontally. The panels can also be used to shade the crop during high temperatures and when frost is a risk.

Counting on…day 355

21st October 2022

O what joy! The first baby bison in thousands of years has be born in the UK at the Knepp rewilding project. The three female bison arrived at the project in July but unknown to everyone one was carrying a calf.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/oct/21/first-wild-bison-born-in-uk-for-millennia-after-surprise-pregnancy?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Counting on … day 354

20th October 2022

Again to conserve water, we recycle grey water. Water for hand washing collects in a bowl and is saved in a jug and/or flushed down the toilet. Water from flannel washes and from the hot water bottle are also recycled. At more expense you can install a tank, some form of water treatment and a pump to recycle the water to toilet cisterns and/ or a garden tap.

Counting on… day 353

19th October 2022

Sometimes it is hard to get a feel for the scale of the things we are trying to achieve. This reports comes via The Guardian: “The UK is one of more than 100 countries committed to protecting “30×30” as a way to halt the destruction of the natural world. However, just 3.22% of land in England and 8% of the sea is being properly protected and managed for nature, according to the report from the environmental charities coalition Wildlife and Countryside Link (WCL).”

The Wildife and Countryside Link is a coming together of 66 wildlife related organisations whose combined membership exceeds 8 million. Hopefully this will give this new grouping a powerful voice.

Counting on … day 353

18th October 2022

Despite recent rain, forecasters predict that the UK will still be feeling the effects of this years dry summer in 2023 with farmers having to rethink what crops they grow using less water. Whilst domestic use is only a small portion of total water consumption, it is still important that we treat water in our homes as a precious resource and conserve it.

Both to save water and to save energy, we have switched from daily to weekly showers with a flannel wash on other days – I don’t think we smell!

Counting on … day 352

17th October 2022

Dried autumn leaves strung on a thread make an attractive alternative to a Christmas paper chain. Now is a good time to collect leaves of different shapes and colours. Some leaves are better than others – horse chestnut leaves shrivel very quickly whereas sweet chestnut, oak and acer leaves keep their shape and colour. You can keep the leaves between the pages of a book until needed.

Seed pods can make interesting decorations when strung on a thread or hung as baubles. Pine cones too make good Christmas decorations.

Sunday Reflection

Proper 24: 16th October 2022

Reflection (the day’s readings are below)

Jeremiah’s words begin with multiple references to seeds and sowing and planting which remind me of the story of the Garden of Eden where God plants a garden and from the earth forms both humans and animals. God’s garden is created as a place of harmony and interdepend relationships. Maybe that is also in Jeremiah’s mind too. He goes onto to talk of a new covenant between God and the people. Past sins will be expunged and a new relationship of intimacy will be established between God and humanity. That is certainly something we would value! And it is a relationship offered to us through Christ Jesus. It is a relationship we are invited to share far and wide: it is the good news of the gospel.

(The saying about eating sour grapes also appears in the Book of Ezekiel with the same message that God does not punish children for the sins of their parents: we are responsible for our own sins – including that of continuing to burn fossil fuels.)

Our relationship with God, with Christ Jesus, is about living according to God’s ways. We frequently ask how we should live and what we should do in the face of an increasing number of crises – climate change, biodiversity loss, economic inequalities, rising fuel costs – and the heart of the answer is in following God’s ways. If we all – rich and poor, businesses and consumers, governments, agriculturalists, scientists and politicians – embraced and lived according to the premise ‘love your neighbour as yourself’ the world would be a radically different place. Yet we find this command hard to put into practice, perhaps because so much that is antithetical to it is bound up in the systems in which we live. And it is hard for the average Christian to move outside those systems – even when the psalmist entices us with the words that God’s ways are sweeter than honey – but surely not impossible? And surely not impossible to at least try?

The writer of 2 Timothy understands the dilemma too. Humans are apt to tire of hearing the same message – their have ‘itching ears’ and want to hear something new, something that offers large rewards and quick results.

Tax cuts will make me rich? Yes I want that! New oil wells will solve the energy crisis? Yes I want that! Less regulation will boost the economy? Yes I want that! Less government regulation will make me happy? Yes I want that! A new iPhone will transform my life? Yes I want that?

As messengers of the gospel we may need to find new and engaging ways of sharing the good news, ways that will speak with relevance to today’s generation. Can we tell the gospel with new stories? Can we reach out beyond our traditional times and places of preaching? Can we make use of the diversity of mediums at our disposal? Can we better use the diversity and multiplicity of the gifts we each have? We need, like the widow, to be confident of our cause and willing to persist – to persist both in prayer and in sharing the gospel. In that we must encourage one another.

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?”

Counting on … day 351

16th October 2022

Next month world leaders, heads of NGOs, businesses and charities will be taking part in COP27 addressing the climate emergency. According to Alok Sharma, the COP26 president, it is important that all participants arrive in Egypt with the same spirit of urgency, collaboration and compromise that underpinned the success of COP26 in Glasgow. One of the key issues to be resolved will be the establishment of the Loss and Damage Fund. Let us prayer with urgency that that spirit will prevail.