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Concluding the Season of Creation – Prayers for the Earth

Articles / September 30, 2022 / / 2 minutes of reading

To Strive

God, creator of the universe,
Fill us with your love for the creation,
for the natural world around us,
for the earth from which we come
and to which we will return.    
Awake in us energy to work for your world; 
let us never fall into complacency, ignorance,
or being overwhelmed by the task before us.
Help us to restore, remake, renew. Amen 

To Safeguard

Jesus, Redeemer of the World,
Remind us to consider the lost lilies,
the disappearing sparrows;
teach us not to squander precious resources;                
help us value habitats: seas, deserts, forests  
and seek to preserve this world in its diversity.
Alert us to the cause of all living creatures
destroyed wantonly for human greed or pleasure;
Help us to value what we have left
and to learn to live without taking more than we give. Amen 

Integrity of Creation

Spirit of the Living God
At the beginning you moved over the face of the waters.
You brought life into being, the teeming life                                                 
that finds its way through earth and sea and air
that makes its home around us, everywhere.                            
You know how living things flourish and grow
How they co-exist; how they feed and breed and change
Help us to understand those delicate relationships,
value them, and keep them from destruction. Amen 

To Sustain

God, of the living earth
You have called people to care for your world –
you asked Noah to save creatures from destruction.
May we now understand how to sustain your world –
Not over-fishing, not over-hunting,
Not destroying trees, precious rainforest           
Not farming soil into useless dust.
Help us to find ways to use resources wisely
to find a path to good, sustainable living
in peace and harmony with creatures around us. Amen 

To Renew

Jesus, who raised the dead to life
Help us to find ways to renew
what we have broken, damaged and destroyed:
Where we have taken too much water,
polluted the air, poured plastic into the sea,
cut down the forests and soured fertile soils.
Help all those who work to find solutions to
damage and decay;    give hope to those
who are today working for a greener future. Amen

Anne Richards, Mission Theology Advisory Group, Resources available on www.ctbi.org.uk The Dispossession Project: Eco-House<

More book, Part 3 – Reduce

Articles, Season of Creation / September 27, 2022 / / 1 minute of reading


The first two chapters were required material to get to Part 3 – Reduce. Understanding the significance of our need to reduce greenhouse gases from Part 1, led to calculate our carbon footprint in Part 2. We meet to strive towards net zero emissions by 2050. Net zero means cutting greenhouse gas emissions to as close to zero as possible, with any remaining emissions re-absorbed from the atmosphere, by oceans and forests for instance. Part 2 focuses on reduction to get to net zero.

How much do we need to reduce our carbon footprints? For Americans, that number is about 90 percent.The United Nations’ intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has said that if we don’t act now, we’ll be facing the severe effects of a warming planet as early as 2040.  One example? 50 million people around the world, will be affected by coastal flooding

This chapter lists 26+ ways for us to act

Bishop Curry homily at funeral of Queen Elizabeth

Articles / September 23, 2022 / 9 minutes of reading

“You know, the Lord didn’t put you here just to consume the oxygen.”

“A lawyer stood up to test Jesus. ‘Great teacher,’ he said, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ Jesus said to him, ‘What is written in the law? What do you read?’ And the lawyer answered, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. And you shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Jesus then said to him, ‘You have answered rightly. Do that. Love God and your neighbor, and why you’re at it, yourself, and you will find life.’” Life as God intended. Life that lifts humanity up to the highest possibility of our nobility. Do that. Love God, love your neighbor, and love yourself, and you will fulfill God’s dream for all of God’s children.

Now Jesus didn’t say all of that. I added a little bit, but that’s what he meant. I was probably, I’m guessing, 12 or 13 years old when I had a conversation with my father, or better yet, it was a monologue. He spoke, I listened. He wanted me to do something, and I don’t remember what it was. I’m 69 years old now, so it was a long time ago, but he wanted me to do something, and I have to tell you, I didn’t want to do whatever it was. But of course, I didn’t say anything to him, but somehow my facial expression betrayed my innermost thoughts. And he read my mind, and he blurted out as parents often do with pre-adolescent children, “You know, the Lord didn’t put you here just to consume the oxygen.”

Read the rest of the homily…

Plastics Polluton

Articles, Season of Creation / September 4, 2022 / / 1 minute of reading

Plastics are present in furniture, construction materials, cars, appliances, electronics and countless other things. According to the New York Times, the main cause for the increase in plastic production is the rise of plastic packaging. In 2015 packaging accounted for 42% of non-fiber plastic produced. That year, packaging also made up 54% of plastics thrown away.

Plastic pollution is now recognized as a hazard to public health and the human body

Chemicals leached from some plastics used in food/beverage storage are harmful to human health. Correlations have been shown between levels of some of these chemicals, and an increased risk of problems such as chromosomal and reproductive system abnormalities, impaired brain and neurological functions, cancer, cardiovascular system damage, adult-onset diabetes, early puberty, obesity and resistance to chemotherapy.

Read more….

St. Michael and the Angels, Sept. 29

Articles / September 24, 2022 / / 4 minutes of reading

Michaelmas, or the Feast of Michael and All Angels, is celebrated on the 29th of September every year. St Michael is one of the principal angelic warriors, protector against the dark of the night and the Archangel who fought against Satan and his evil angels. It is the “mass of Michael.” As it falls near the equinox, the day is associated with the beginning of autumn and the shortening of days. It used to be said that harvest had to be completed by Michaelmas, almost like the marking of the end of the productive season and the beginning of the new cycle of farming.

Traditionally, in the British Isles, a well fattened goose, fed on the stubble from the fields after the harvest, is eaten to protect against financial need in the family for the next year; and as the saying goes:

“Eat a goose on Michaelmas Day,
Want not for money all the year”.

Part of the reason goose is eaten is that it was said that when Queen Elizabeth I heard of the defeat of the Armada, she was dining on goose and resolved to eat it on Michaelmas Day.

Read more…

“Wild Geese” – Mary Oliver

Articles / September 17, 2022 / / 1 minute of reading

This week on Sept 22 we reach the autumn equinox.  What better way to celebrate this transition than with a poem by Mary Oliver! 

Canada Geese migrate south in winter and north in summer. We may assume the poem may set in the fall when they are flying south for food, but Oliver never tells us where is home.

Home may not just be a destination but our efforts to connect to one another.  We may fly alone but like geese we may be call out to others so we may connect in the “family of things.” We have much in common – “Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine…” Communication can be a part of the healing which creates bonds to one another.

However, we shouldn’t dwell in despair since Oliver sees the world going on. Yes it can be “harsh” but “exciting “, open to our “imagination. We just have to be a part of it, traveling like the seasons. Oliver’s imagery is rich – rain going across America and the geese flying.

Oliver’s imagery is rich as the world she describes. She has won many awards for her writings among these, the Pulitzer prize and the National Book award. She makes her home in Provincetown, Massachusetts.

Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) – musician, writer, prophetess – and saint

Articles / September 17, 2022 / / 5 minutes of reading

We celebrate Hildegard’s life on September 17.

Accounts written in Hildegard’s lifetime  (1098-1179) and just after describe an extraordinarily accomplished woman: a visionary, a prophet (she was known as “The Sibyl Of The Rhine”), a pioneer who wrote practical books on biology, botany, medicine, theology and the arts. She was a prolific letter-writer to everyone from humble penitents looking for a cure for infertility to popes, emperors and kings seeking spiritual or political advice. She composed music and was known to have visions

Read more…

Matthew, Sept. 21, Apostle and Evangelist

Articles / September 15, 2022 / / 2 minutes of reading

Sept. 21 is the day we celebrate the life of the author of the Gospel of Matthew, both Apostle and evangelist due to the Book he wrote.

Matthew was one of the 12 apostles that were with Jesus Christ throughout His public ministry on earth. The consensus among  scholars is that this book in the Bible was written in the  mid-70’s, 40 years after the resurrection. It was the second Gospel written after Mark, 10 years earlier. 

Read more…

M.O.R.E Book, Part 2 – Measure. How and Why it matters ?

Articles, Season of Creation / September 15, 2022 / / 1 minute of reading

Join us Sept 19, 7pm on Zoom to discuss and learn about how much of a carbon consumer we are.

Basically, a carbon footprint is a way of calculating the Green House Gases created  on behalf  of a person, place or thing. The Green House gases  are carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide.  These gases are responsible for warming the environment  Your ecological footprint includes not only your carbon footprint, but other factors too, like how quickly you consume natural resources like plant crops, animal foods  and water.

You can calculate a  carbon food print for virtually anything: an individual, company, industry or country The bigger the footprint, the bigger the contribution to global  warming and climate change.

What is carbon neutral ? You’re carbon neutral if the amount of CO₂ emissions you put into the atmosphere is the same as the amount of CO₂ emissions you remove from the atmosphere

Why carbon neutrality  important ?

 -Less environmental pollution and improvements to health.

 -A boost to sustainable economic growth and the creation of green jobs.

  -Enhanced food security by lessening the impact of climate change.

 – A halt to the loss of biodiversity and an improvement in the condition of the oceans.

We will be calculating a carbon footprint using an online program- Cool Climate

https://coolclimate.berkeley.edu/calculators/household/ui.php

We will construct an action plan to reduce your footprint

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