The Green Tau

Proper 17, 11th Sunday after Trinity

31st August 2025

Reflection with readings below

The metaphor of a banquet – especially a wedding banquet with its focus on a blessing and affirming a bond or union of love between partners – is frequently used in the Bible to signify the fulfilment of God’s will in the establishing of the kingdom of God (whether this is understood as the establishing of God’s kingdom here in earth as in heaven, or as the incorporation of all into the kingdom of heaven at the end of time).

The gospel announced by Jesus is that the kingdom of God is at hand, and his teaching demonstrates how that rule can be recognised and incorporated into daily life here on Earth. However amongst those who heard Jesus’s preaching, there was a diversity of opinion as to who would be eligible to be citizens of this kingdom. Some believed that it was only for those were obedient law abiding Jews – for those who matched their own appearance and class. Others believed that there was a pecking order for those who would be citizens of God’s kingdom with the most righteous at the top table. And many believed that those who were ‘other’ than them whether because of racial origin, religious practice, disability, poverty, would be definitely excluded.

So here in today’s gospel we have a teaching from Jesus about the absolute inclusivity of God’s kingdom. Jesus has been invited to a banquet hosted by some Pharisees. The subtext is that the guest list has been exclusive, excluding those considered as sinners by the Pharisees. Further, that this feast is going to be a test of Jesus’s willingness to adhere to the Pharisees position vis a vis their superiority to such sinners. I wonder how far up the table the Pharisees placed Jesus?

Jesus tells them a parable about social embarrassment. What could be worse than being asked to give up your elevated seat at a feast, so as to make way for someone deemed more important? So suggests Jesus, maybe if one were to exercise notably humility by taking a low status seat, one could then enjoy being publicly elevated to a higher seat? But is that to miss the point that no one is more important than anyone else in God’s eyes, for God loves each and everyone of us regardless of gifts or shortcomings!

Jesus continues his teaching that entering God’s kingdom is not only about not about our worthiness. Entry into God’s kingdom is not transactional; it is not about what we can offer, what we can pay back.

Jesus tells us to pray daily that God’s kingdom will come on Earth – ie come into the here and now. In the here and now, everyone can be party of that kingdom – can take a seat at the wedding feast. It is not for us to judge some people more eligible for God’s love than others. Nor is is not for us to seek rewards when we live – and love – according to God’s kingdom values.

We are called to love and care for everyone regardless of who they are, regardless of their past history, and regardless of whether or not that love will be reciprocated. We are called to love all asylum seekers and migrants and all those seeking safety. We are called to do so regardless of any differences between us. We are called to do so regardless of any cost to ourselves.

Likewise we are called to love all those who are oppressed by violence, who are persecuted, who are inured, who are frightened, who suffer because of a lack of food, health care, or safe accommodation.

But equally we are called to love – and not to hate but to try and understand – those who cause such violence, who perpetrate hate and oppression. How? By reading and listening and asking questions to discern the truth. Then we can love by speaking the truth, by praying for all, by generously supporting those in need, and by nonviolently preventing the actions of those who cause hate and injury.

Jesus’s gospel message that the kingdom of God is at hand, still holds true. It is a work in progress as we humans continue to be less than committed to living according to God’s will, but nevertheless God’s love and wisdom is still there to help us along the way of righteousness.

Jeremiah 2:4-13

Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel. Thus says the Lord:

What wrong did your ancestors find in me
that they went far from me,

and went after worthless things, and became worthless themselves?

They did not say, “Where is the Lord
who brought us up from the land of Egypt,

who led us in the wilderness,
in a land of deserts and pits,

in a land of drought and deep darkness,
in a land that no one passes through,
where no one lives?”

I brought you into a plentiful land
to eat its fruits and its good things.

But when you entered you defiled my land,
and made my heritage an abomination.

The priests did not say, “Where is the Lord?”
Those who handle the law did not know me;

the rulers transgressed against me;
the prophets prophesied by Baal,
and went after things that do not profit.

Therefore once more I accuse you, says the Lord,
and I accuse your children’s children.

Cross to the coasts of Cyprus and look,
send to Kedar and examine with care;
see if there has ever been such a thing.

Has a nation changed its gods,
even though they are no gods?

But my people have changed their glory
for something that does not profit.

Be appalled, O heavens, at this,
be shocked, be utterly desolate,

says the Lord,

for my people have committed two evils:
they have forsaken me,

the fountain of living water,
and dug out cisterns for themselves,

cracked cisterns
that can hold no water.

Psalm 81:1, 10-16

1 Sing with joy to God our strength *
and raise a loud shout to the God of Jacob.

10 I am the Lord your God,
who brought you out of the land of Egypt and said, *
“Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.”

11 And yet my people did not hear my voice, *
and Israel would not obey me.

12 So I gave them over to the stubbornness of their hearts, *
to follow their own devices.

13 Oh, that my people would listen to me! *
that Israel would walk in my ways!

14 I should soon subdue their enemies *
and turn my hand against their foes.

15 Those who hate the Lord would cringe before him, *
and their punishment would last for ever.

16 But Israel would I feed with the finest wheat *
and satisfy him with honey from the rock.

Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16

Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured. Let marriage be held in honour by all, and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled; for God will judge fornicators and adulterers. Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said, “I will never leave you or forsake you.” So we can say with confidence,

“The Lord is my helper;
I will not be afraid.

What can anyone do to me?”

Remember your leaders, those who spoke the word of God to you; consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Through him, then, let us continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

Luke 14:1, 7-14

On one occasion when Jesus was going to the house of a leader of the Pharisees to eat a meal on the sabbath, they were watching him closely.

When he noticed how the guests chose the places of honour, he told them a parable. “When you are invited by someone to a wedding banquet, do not sit down at the place of honour, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host; and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, `Give this person your place,’ and then in disgrace you would start to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, `Friend, move up higher’; then you will be honoured in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

He said also to the one who had invited him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbours, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

In all creation God’s name is holy

31st August 2025

Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. Luke 12:27

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 Job 12:7-9

But ask the animals, and they will teach you;
the birds of the air, and they will tell you;

ask the plants of the earth, and they will teach you;
and the fish of the sea will declare to you.

Who among all these does not know
that the hand of the Lord has done this?

A response:

Amongst the woods and forests,

between oaks and cedars,

God’s name is holy.

In the seas and oceans,

with whales and sea urchins,

God’s name is holy.

Across the moors and meadows,

with curlews and plovers,

God’s name is holy.

By riverbanks and streams,

following eels and kingfishers,

God’s name is holy.

High up on mountain peaks and glaciers,

sheltering in cwms and gullies,

God’s name is holy.

Gathered in barns and hives,

buzzing with bees and bats,

God’s name is holy.

Hidden under stones and snuck into crevices,

lying low with lizards and spiders,

God’s name is holy.

In all corners of the world

and where ever life exists,

God’s name is holy!

Amen.

Living God,

when we neglect to see the beauty around us,

open our eyes.

When we neglect to hear the music around us,

open our ears.

When we neglect to feel your presence,

awaken our senses.

When we neglect to receive your love,

open our hearts.

Living God,

re-inspire us with your Spirit,

so that in us too your name is holy.

Amen.

Counting on … day 131

29th August 2025

Climate adaptation means altering the way we live, how we build new or retrofit existing buildings, how we farm and what crops and plants, the diets we eat, how shape drainage systems and flood defences, how we conserve limited water supplies – basically how we adapt our lifestyles and infrastructure so that we can cope with the ‘new normal’ climates.

The quicker and more effectively we mitigate against climate change, the easier it will be to put in place adaptations that will meet both our needs and those of future generations.

For previous articles on adaptation, see https://greentau.org/tag/adaptation/page/2/

Counting on … day 130

28th August 2025

Increases in temperature and in the frequency of extremes of weather (which for the UK means increasingly unpredictable seasons and no certainty as to whether summers will be hot and dry or not quite as hot but wet) are now a reality we must live with. But hopefully if we act now with sufficient determination, we can ensure that this base line remains static for future generations.

Climate mitigation means changing the way we do things, the way we live, the systems we use, so as to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and thus to reduce the rate of increase in global temperatures – hopefully keeping them below 2C. Mitigation won’t be able to reduce global temperatures from the levels they have already reached – we don’t have the means to remove the sheer amount of carbon dioxide that we have put into the Earth’s atmosphere over the last couple of centuries.

The root meaning of mitigate is to soften, to calm or pacify.

Counting on … day 128

26th August 2025

Base lines shift not only in our psyche but in science too.

“A heatwave is an extended period of hot weather relative to the expected conditions of the area at that time of year, which may be accompanied by high humidity…[It is] met when a location records a period of at least three consecutive days with daily maximum temperatures meeting or exceeding the heatwave temperature threshold.” (1)

Heatwaves are thus relative rather than absolute. As temperatures have risen, so the threshold for a heatwave has increased. (2) In London the threshold was 26C but as of 2022 it is now set at 28C. We have had four heatwaves this summer in London, so I guess it is possible that the threshold marker will be raised again.

https://weather.metoffice.gov.uk/learn-about/weather/types-of-weather/temperature/heatwave

(2) https://www.rmets.org/metmatters/shifting-baseline-uk-heatwaves

Counting on … day 129

27th August 2025

Climate change means that the likelihood of hotter and more prolonged heatwaves will increase. Culturally in the UK, the pessimistic view is that our summers of cold and wet and not as good as the long, hot and relaxing summers that Europe enjoys. Therefore spells of hot weather are seen as things to be enjoyed! We have not yet come to understand that heatwaves can be uncomfortable, damaging for our health and destructive for agriculture.

Our buildings and urban areas – unlike many of their European counterparts – are not designed to provide shade and protection from high temperatures. Nor are our working practices adapted to cope with excess heat. High temperatures do damage our health: the heat wave in June of this year likely caused 600 deaths. (1) High temperatures and lack of rain damages both crops and livestock. 84% of UK farmers have reported reduced crop yields. (2) With many other countries on whom we rely for food imports similarly affected, rises in food prices and shortages are inevitable.

Rising temperatures should not be seen as a means of getting a suntan, but treated as real risks that need to be addressed if we care for people’s (and other living things’) wellbeing both here and world wide.

Green Tau: issue 113

Baselines

25th August 2025

Last week I was in eastern Switzerland. The alpine meadows were full of a rich diversity of flowers, butterflies of all colours & sizes, bees, beetles, and grass hoppers. It was wonderful! But then I pondered, was this a normal amount of insect life that simply highlighted the lack back at home? Checking out via the internet, it seems that Switzerland like the UK, is witnessing a sharp decline in biodiversity including insects, due to issues such as urban expansion, intensified farming and climate change. (1)

We tend to assume that we see is normal because why wouldn’t it be? Our perception of normal is generally based on our own experience, culture and what we read in the press.

When I was a child, buddleia bushes were nick-named butterfly bushes because their flowers attracted so many butterflies. In comparison when I look at our garden now, I’m saddened by the lack of butterflies – you can count them on one hand. However for my children that number of butterflies is normal: they have not known it otherwise.

Similarly as a child, I remember having to clean the car windscreen of a thick grease of dead insects – especially after a long journey – simply because there were so many flying insects around. My children have not had that experience, and for them, the current – small – number of insects is normal.

This experience of what is normal is termed the ‘shifting baseline syndrome’. It doesn’t just affect our assessment of normal levels of butterflies, but also our assessment of ‘normal’ temperatures – summers were on average cooler in the past, but we have become acclimatised to hotter summers and now 26C is not perceived as that hot, and 30C isn’t seen as a cause for concern.

The shifting baseline syndrome also affects our understanding of roads and cars. (2) We perceive having a car – or two – as normal, and that being able to drive anywhere and everywhere is not just normal but a right. We don’t remember the past when not everyone had cars, when most people relied on public transport, and when you could even use the railway to move your household contents! (3)

Another well known syndrome is that of the ‘boiling frog’. Because the water only warms slowly, the frog being a cold blooded creature doesn’t react to the grow in heat until it is too late. Until that point each degree of warming doesn’t signal a warning to the frog. Humans seem to react to climate change in the same way: we accept each degree of warming as either a pleasure or a mere inconvenience without any sense of the danger signals we should be responding to. Climate change is dangerous. It leads to life-threatening floods and heatwaves, life-threatening storms, poor harvests, food shortages, droughts, conflicts and mass migration.

If we don’t see the scale of the changes around us, and don’t perceive the risks we face, we are not going to take appropriate action to either protect ourselves or to prevent the worst from happening.

Counting on …

11th August 2025

I am taking a couple of week’s break to read and reflect, exploring new ideas and revisiting old ones.

Proper 14, 8th Sunday after Trinity

10th August 2025

Reflection with readings below

The Book of Isaiah begins with the prophet addressing the people of Judah – for the northern kingdom of Israel has already been destroyed by the Assyrian empire – pointing out God’s disfavour with them for their sinful behaviour. Their religious practices are just that: practices. The people are failing to love as God desires. In God’s eyes their behaviour is no better than that of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah.

What does God want? Not sacrifices, not solemn assemblies, but a way of life that is righteous – vis ‘learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow’.

Sometimes we are discouraged from doing such things when it seems there are so many people who are hungry, so many people who are homeless, or who have been widowed or orphaned, or who are oppressed. Any actions we may take seem pointless – a useless drop in the ocean. Yet the writer of Hebrews would tell us that it is important to act in faith, ie to act as if that things we hoped for were happening. That is that we should do all these – ‘learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow’ – believing that they will make a difference, that they will bring about the salvation God intends.

In the gospels Jesus’s constant message is of the nearness, of the growing presence, of the kingdom of God. By our actions, our disposition, our allegiance, we become part of that kingdom. We become citizens whose lives are shaped by the ways and rules of that reign.

In today’s gospel we are challenges to relinquish are allegiance to our own private property, to our own personal priorities. Rather what we have and use, what our aims and priorities are, are determined by our allegiance to God. All that we have – possessions, skills, opinions – are shaped by our desire ‘to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow’.

So for example, how might what we have and what we can do, alleviate hunger for those dependant on food banks and those suffering starvation in Gaza?
We can contribute to the food banks but also learn more about why we need them, and about what alternative policies the government could pursue to avoid such need – eg a basic national income, a more generous minimum wage etc.

We can pray for the crisis in Gaza, we can find out facts about the whole situation, and we can access prayer resources from groups such as Sabeel Kairos. We can support justice with financial donations to groups such as Oxfam, Christian Aid and Embrace. We can write to our MP, our prime minister and foreign minister and ask them to take action on our behalf. We can join marches and demonstrations. We can write to the press.

Seek justice for those who cannot afford legal aid and for those forced off their land in the West Bank.

We can pursue justice in numerous ways. By rescuing endangered species – such as curlews – facing extinction (our action might include donations, membership of the RSPB, learning about the habitats they need and humans can destroy or protect those habitatsWe can pray and campaign for Afghan women stranded without food or housing for lack of a male guardian; for children in care lacking the love of a family and for migrants lacking the security of a safe country. We, with our richness, can make a difference. By being generous we can find joy and a sense of of purpose. For all, this is the way of God’s salvation.

Isaiah 1:1, 10-20

The vision of Isaiah son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.

Hear the word of the Lord,
you rulers of Sodom!

Listen to the teaching of our God,
you people of Gomorrah!

What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?
says the Lord;

I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
and the fat of fed beasts;

I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
or of lambs, or of goats.

When you come to appear before me,
who asked this from your hand?
Trample my courts no more;

bringing offerings is futile;
incense is an abomination to me.

New moon and sabbath and calling of convocation–
I cannot endure solemn assemblies with iniquity.

Your new moons and your appointed festivals
my soul hates;

they have become a burden to me,
I am weary of bearing them.

When you stretch out your hands,
I will hide my eyes from you;

even though you make many prayers,
I will not listen;
your hands are full of blood.

Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean;
remove the evil of your doings
from before my eyes;

cease to do evil,
learn to do good;

seek justice,
rescue the oppressed,

defend the orphan,
plead for the widow.

Come now, let us argue it out,
says the Lord:

though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be like snow;

though they are red like crimson,
they shall become like wool.

If you are willing and obedient,
you shall eat the good of the land;

but if you refuse and rebel,
you shall be devoured by the sword;
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Psalm 50:1-8, 23-24

1 The Lord, the God of gods, has spoken; *
he has called the earth from the rising of the sun to its setting.

2 Out of Zion, perfect in its beauty, *
God reveals himself in glory.

3 Our God will come and will not keep silence; *
before him there is a consuming flame,
and round about him a raging storm.

4 He calls the heavens and the earth from above *
to witness the judgment of his people.

5 “Gather before me my loyal followers, *
those who have made a covenant with me
and sealed it with sacrifice.”

6 Let the heavens declare the rightness of his cause; *
for God himself is judge.

7 Hear, O my people, and I will speak:
“O Israel, I will bear witness against you; *
for I am God, your God.

8 I do not accuse you because of your sacrifices; *
your offerings are always before me.

23 Consider this well, you who forget God, *
lest I rend you and there be none to deliver you.

24 Whoever offers me the sacrifice of thanksgiving honours me; *
but to those who keep in my way will I show the salvation of God.”

Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance; and he set out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he stayed for a time in the land he had been promised, as in a foreign land, living in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. By faith he received power of procreation, even though he was too old– and Sarah herself was barren– because he considered him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one person, and this one as good as dead, descendants were born, “as many as the stars of heaven and as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore.”

All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them. They confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of the land that they had left behind, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; indeed, he has prepared a city for them.

Luke 12:32-40

Jesus said to his disciples, “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

“Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.

“But know this: if the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”

Prayers for peace

9th August 2025

Turn from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.

You Lord, are the source of all good things:

We praise you.

You bless us with a world that is good

and look to us to be peace makers and peace keepers:

May we strive to do your will.

You have made us as brothers and sisters:

May we live together in peace.

Reading Micah 4: 2- 5

  And many nations shall come and say:
‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
    to the house of the God of Jacob;
that he may teach us his ways
    and that we may walk in his paths.’
For out of Zion shall go forth instruction,
    and the word of the Lord from his dwelling place.

He shall judge between many peoples,
    and shall arbitrate between strong nations far away;
they shall beat their swords into ploughshares,
    and their spears into pruning-hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
    neither shall they learn war any more;

but they shall all sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees,
and no one shall make them afraid;
for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.

For all the peoples walk,
each in the name of its god,
but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God
for ever and ever.

We cannot read words today and not weep with distress and anger at what we have seen and heard this week in Gaza and Israel.*

Lord of mercy and healing,

be a source of comfort to all who are suffering,

all who are in pain, all who terrified and fearful,

all who feel lost and without hope.