The Guardian reports that global C02 emissions totalled 29,195m tonnes in 2006 – up 2.4% on 200. That's really heavy. Their interactive map highlights how each country is doing. Our slowing economy results in no change to our carbon emissions in the year - still at around 585 million tonnes. How will we make the change to an 80% cut in our carbon emissions ?
At heart the problem is a spiritual one - something to do with the movements of the heart, a sense of relation to others and about hope. That's why we in the Church should be ever more involved. We have a lot to say.
Christ the King - an environmental perspective
You have read about the cut in VAT to encourage a Christmas shopping spree. You will also read, if you look deeper into your newspaper of the Bishop of Liverpool suggesting that now is a good time to change the tax system:Bishop James Jones, said once the recession was over, the tax system should be shifted against the profligate consumerism that helped to fuel the unsustainable boom of the past decade. 'The more you use, the greater the amount of tax you should pay, to create a system that is socially and environmentally just. And I think now is the time to take a new approach.'
Today we celebrate the feast of Christ the King. A relatively new feast in the Church's
calendar - Pope Pius XI created the feast day on Dec. 11th 1925. His thesis, expressed in a letter was that
“these manifold evils in the world are due to the fact that the majority of men have thrust Jesus Christ and his holy law out of their lives; that these had no place either in private affairs or in politics:
As long as individuals and states refuse to submit to the rule of our Saviour, there will be no really hopeful prospect of a lasting peace among nations.
Men must look for the peace of Christ in the Kingdom of Christ; and we promise to do so.
In the Kingdom of Christ, it seems to us that peace could not be more effectually restored nor fixed upon a firmer basis than through the restoration of the Empire of Our Lord.
We are led in the meantime to indulge the hope of a brighter future at the sight of a more widespread and keener interest evinced in Christ and his Church, the one Source of Salvation, a sign that those who formerly spurned the rule of our Redeemer and exiled themselves from his kingdom were preparing, and even hastening, to return to the duty of obedience.
A group of us met yesterday under the St Mary's Eco Church umbrella to think about what this Church can do to help prevent catastrophic climate change, and to be a sign of hope in a world that does not want to face up to the risk to life and God's good creation from our way of living.
We came up with 3 areas where we try and make some progress in the next few months. The provision of cycle racks at Church and an audit of how people come to Church, the development of Church gardens to grow more things and an audit of what's growing and living round the church. In themselves not a great deal you may say, but a start, a sign of an attitude that says we are hopeful.
I think the way we live and act says more about our theology than any creeds we may or may not recite. We are more into kidology than theology I think most of the time - your parish priest no less so. We talk about how things should be, or how things used to be and should be again - but are not so good at changing ourselves or helping others to change.
We talk about Christ the King but in practice on our thrones other kings are enthroned. We pay lip service to the servant king and his kingdom of justice and peace.
The Pope set the ball rolling with this wonderful festival as we finish the Church's year. We end with a bang - a note of strength and hope before we remind ourselves of our longing for the rule of Jesus Christ.
We reveal who rules - who sits on the throne - in the decisions we make about the economy, and this time of economic contraction will present us with choices. Will we seek to restore the old order - an economy built on consumption or will take the opportunity to change ?
Saying that Christ is King is hopeful. In a world that says there is no other way but war, the King of Peace says follow me. In a world that says the markets rule, the King of the poorest says remember my people, be as a Good Shepherd to them.
As a Church we are only just beginning to connect social justice - and social concern and Charity with the newer greener issues of sustainability, climate change, living in a world without so much oil. It is vital that we connect these areas and let our worship and theology wash over them. The world needs Christ the King to be on the throne as we seek to change our way of living to one that can cope with a changing climate, which seeks to reduce carbon emissions, that cares for the vulnerable.
You may have heard the saying of Bishop Frank Weston at the 1923 Anglo-Catholic Congress: "You cannot claim to worship Jesus in the Tabernacle, if you do not pity Jesus in the slums. . . It is folly -- it is madness -- to suppose that you can worship Jesus in the Sacraments and Jesus on the throne of glory, when you are sweating him in the souls and bodies of his children."We also heard from a Norris Green Gardener yesterday . Clem is a local resident, and tenant representative. When St Christopher's started its garden a few years ago Clem got involved. He had faith that something could be done, that it was worth the work. The garden involves young and old in growing vegetables, planting flowers. Children who have never seen a lettuce grow get to see one. Slugs are particularly popular as is the wormery.
Projects such as Norris Green Fingers are worthy offerings for Christ the King. Christian discipleship is indeed broad in reach - about the care of those in prison, those hungry and in need, but also about the planet that we share
( A sermon I preached a few weeks ago)
It's good to be worried about climate Change !
In the interesting web magazine The Other Journal I read the following wise words:
Scott Bader-Saye (SBS): I would say, first, that we cannot rightly resist fear tactics by seeking to be fearless. Although fearlessness might seem an attractive option, Thomas Aquinas rightly observed that fearlessness is a vice, not a virtue. Fear is born of love, because it is only when we love something that we fear its loss. So one way to be fearless is to refuse love, to refuse the attachments (even the attachment to life itself) that make us vulnerable. For Christians, such a response proves to be vicious because it turns us away from the great command to love God and to love the neighbor as ourselves.
Fear is so often seen as a bad thing. Rather let's see it as the beginning of hope in action.
Scott Bader-Saye (SBS): I would say, first, that we cannot rightly resist fear tactics by seeking to be fearless. Although fearlessness might seem an attractive option, Thomas Aquinas rightly observed that fearlessness is a vice, not a virtue. Fear is born of love, because it is only when we love something that we fear its loss. So one way to be fearless is to refuse love, to refuse the attachments (even the attachment to life itself) that make us vulnerable. For Christians, such a response proves to be vicious because it turns us away from the great command to love God and to love the neighbor as ourselves.
Fear is so often seen as a bad thing. Rather let's see it as the beginning of hope in action.
Our house
I have been thinking about this idea of the household. George Monbiot wrote this week:
Ecology and economy are both derived from the Greek word oikos - a house or dwelling. Our survival depends upon the rational management of this home: the space in which life can be sustained. The rules are the same in both cases. If you extract resources at a rate beyond the level of replenishment, your stock will collapse.
We can get our heads round running our own household in a responsible way, balancing the needs of the residents, even caring for the animals. We never doubt for a moment that it is our responsibility - it's our house and most of s understand that we need to at least let our neighbours live in the same sort of way: so we don't throw rubbish over the wall.
When we talk about the economy we make ourselves into passive victims. It's God's world and our (large and complex and beautiful) household. We should not leave it to the experts who run the Economy.
Ecology and economy are both derived from the Greek word oikos - a house or dwelling. Our survival depends upon the rational management of this home: the space in which life can be sustained. The rules are the same in both cases. If you extract resources at a rate beyond the level of replenishment, your stock will collapse.
We can get our heads round running our own household in a responsible way, balancing the needs of the residents, even caring for the animals. We never doubt for a moment that it is our responsibility - it's our house and most of s understand that we need to at least let our neighbours live in the same sort of way: so we don't throw rubbish over the wall.
When we talk about the economy we make ourselves into passive victims. It's God's world and our (large and complex and beautiful) household. We should not leave it to the experts who run the Economy.
Animal Welfare Sunday 2008
Animal Welfare Sunday Sermon
extract from ther sermon delivered at St Mary's
October 2008
Do you have a pet ? Yes, I do too. Do you eat meat ? yes, I do too. Aren't we a mass of contradictions ?!
Today is Animal Welfare Sunday, and we are asked to think about something which we tend to take for granted, that we have relegated well down the list of importance, something that we take for granted - the welfare of animals.
There is a very tricky philosophical question. It gets harder to answer the more you think about it. The question is what is the animal world ? We would have to say that it is a different world to ours' - it is "other" than us and not something we can easily pigeon hole. We may think that is a world inferior to ours, that the animals are there for our pleasure ..... but how do we justify treating the animal world like that ? And yet whilst we use and consume animals we are fascinated by them and watch their beauty and mystery and strength on television.
We can justify our positions by Biblical texts. There is, to be sure, a tradition which allows for the use of animals but it is balanced by a tradition which has them wanting God's justice and mercy too - as vulnerable creatures.
Animals play an important part in many biblical stories, often playing a metaphorical part in important stories. Sheep become a way of expressing God's concern for a defenceless and lost people. The dove plays the part of a messenger to Mary, and appears at Jesus' Baptism. The birds help us to understand God's love even for the smallest and moist numerous.
What does God think about animals ? Many would say not a lot ! Creation is for our use. For Americans eating the flesh of animals is a sign of our freedom, prosperity and manhood (see Stephen H Webb in On God and Dogs: A Christian Theology of Compassion for Animals Oxford: OUP 2002).
But we can learn a lot from animals. Christian Saints have been alert to this throughout history and figures such as S Francis and S Macarius of Alexandria (pictured above) have shone with that mystical joy at the very existence of other creatures and a grasp of God's love for every bit of creation.
Macarius was sittting down one day when a hyena brought hinm a blind pup. Following the example of Jesus Macarius spat on his fingers and touched the eyes of the blind pup. Immediately her sight was restored and the mother hyena was very happy and went away. The next day the mother hyena returned with the skin of a large sheep for Macarius as a present. He was extreemely upset for the saint did not want to see any animal harmed. He made the hyena promise not to kill any more and if she needed food she was to come to Macarius for food and he would feed her and her pups, which she did from time to time.
There are many stories about St Francis and animals. He famously blessed the wolf and persuaded him from terrorising the people. He would talk to the birds and they would respond to his request for quietness. He would cahracteristically pick up the worms from the road and put them safely at the side so that no-one would step on them.
These traditions go hand in hand with God's love for the poorest in human society, and are driven by a deep valuing of all of creation. Our Collect today for the 20th Sunday after Trinity is approriate - it is addressed to "God the giver of life" and asks "that we may share with the whole creation the joys of eternal life" . I pray that we have that same spirit of love for all creation, for we are of it, and with all animals, are created by a God of Love.
An inconvenient truth ?
I have written this for my parish Magazine: "Viewpoint":
You may have heard of the film "An Inconvenient Truth" by Al Gore. It's very good and a number of us at St Mary's West Derby looked at it early this year before we gathered for a course on climate change called the Omega Course. The film is powerful and well worth watching. I think it's been on TV and you may well have seen it. The Church has a few copies of it on DVD if you would like to borrow it.
A book has been produced too and that is well worth a look. With the same title as the film it is subtitled "The planetary emergency of global warming and what we have to do about it". When I went away on a short course the other week with some other clergy we were asked to review the book. It shows how climate change is a reality and juxtaposes facts and figures with beautiful pictures of forests and ice caps. I can lend it to anyone who is interested.
One graph in the book brings the message home. It shows how the levels of CO2 in the atmosphere have increased to around 380 parts per million (ppm) today, this is a big increase from the levels before the industrial revolution (when we started digging all that carbon in the shape of coal and oil and gas out of the ground). The levels are still rising and he warns us that within 45 years they will be above 600ppm with the likelihood that global temperatures will be significantly higher. This would mean that many of our cities and coastal areas would be lost to the sea, and many more people would die through extreme weather - storm or flood or drought.
On the course we had an adviser who advised the government speak to us. He warned us that we were getting distracted by trivial issues like carrier bags. He told us that it matters what we do in the UK. We are in a position of power and influence but currently are doing the minimum. There has been no progress in the last 5 years in cutting our carbon levels.
We have thought of ourselves as the centre of the world. We have lived our lives as poor stewards of God's beautiful creation, seeing the world as ours to do with as we choose. Certainly the problem the result of human activity - it's about is how we have lived and how our parents have lived. We are responsible.
I think it's important to reach that point of acceptance. To take on some of the responsibility and not to blame those Americans with their gas guzzling 4 by 4s or those Chinese with their new cola fired power stations. If we can do that then we are in a position to move - individually and as a community - towards a way of living that preserves the lives of others and a world for our children. It's not climate change we need to fight - it's our behaviour. Perhaps an analogy is that of addiction to alcohol or drugs: we have become addicted to a high carbon lifestyle and we are finding it hard to let go.
And the sheer complexity of the issue makes it difficult to know what to do. Certainly we need to do something more significant than not using carrier bags. We need to very significantly cut the carbon we emit.
Our Christian tool kit offers us a lot of ways of thinking and acting that can lift us out of the despair which affects us all so badly on this issue. We are people who believe in hope, in new life, in the value of mustard seeds growing into big bushes. Certainly there are things we can do to change the way that you and I behave but much more than that there are Christian ways of thinking, and acting that could offer hope to humankind. We are in a position to influence events and be part of the redemption of human kind and not just its sinfulness.
Please pray about this challenge to God's planet and how we can respond. I would welcome your thoughts and ideas on what we can do at St Mary's and St James'. I have started a blog on the internet and would love to hear from you. If you type in hope4creation.blogspot.com you will find it.
With my prayers
Revd Mark
Hope for Creation
There is almost no doubt now that climate change, caused by humankind, is well underway. We are suffering because of it with more extreme weather - mostly rain storms. Others in less developed countries suffer much more, and drought is killing many millions of people each year.
This blog will explore the interface between climate change and the Christian faith. What can the Bible and theology offer us ? What resources can we draw on to help us find hope and act in hope ?
Like many I suspect, I wilt under this issue. It feels a bit like the 1980s when we believed that there was a possibilty of nuclear war. (there still is !) But we could blame cruise missiles on the USA and maintain a "holier than thou" sense. But I can't enjoy that sort of piety now. We are very much part of the problem. Climate change is well underway and with the various tipping point scenarios there is an increasing risk to life as we know it. But those of us who are Christians continue to believe in hope and a God who does not abandon. How do we live now ? Where is that hope ? I hope in this blog to have conversations with others who care about this issue and that we may encourage each other in hope.
This blog will explore the interface between climate change and the Christian faith. What can the Bible and theology offer us ? What resources can we draw on to help us find hope and act in hope ?
Like many I suspect, I wilt under this issue. It feels a bit like the 1980s when we believed that there was a possibilty of nuclear war. (there still is !) But we could blame cruise missiles on the USA and maintain a "holier than thou" sense. But I can't enjoy that sort of piety now. We are very much part of the problem. Climate change is well underway and with the various tipping point scenarios there is an increasing risk to life as we know it. But those of us who are Christians continue to believe in hope and a God who does not abandon. How do we live now ? Where is that hope ? I hope in this blog to have conversations with others who care about this issue and that we may encourage each other in hope.
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