Cakes and Climate change

Last Sunday environmental and development issues seem to have been a theme of the children's groups. My four-year-old returned from Scramblers with a poster about Creation, inevitably with a few Thunderbirds added and I couldn't quite fathom why the space for a picture of himself had been filled with a ladybird and a dalmatian. The Exclaimers were looking at the story of Dorcas/Tabitha. Ann used Tabitha's occupation making clothes for widows as an opportunity to look at recycled clothing and what happens to clothes sent to charity shops. This included finding out how rags are rewoven into new cloth in India. Meanwhile the Pathfinders have each been given £2 to make into more money for Christian Aid. Last week Johnny was selling crockery he'd decorated. This week four of the girls were selling cakes they'd baked. Next week we get to throw wet sponges at Josh and (I think) Johnny too.

This week's notices included a last minute plea for more action to make the Climate Change Bill a really meaningful document. Christian Aid want us to e-mail Hilary Benn and ensure the government don't renege on their earlier promise to ensure companies have to report their carbon emissions. Tearfund, A Rocha and Cafod are all trying to get more MPs to sign their support for amendments that will increase the target for reducing CO2 emissions to 80% (in line with scientific advice) as well as to ensure that shipping and aviation emissions are taken into account. The bill is back in the House of Commons this week - if you're reading this in time please click on the links and take action too!

Depressingly I later received an e-mail from Richard drawing my attention to a MORI poll which shows that most Britons doubt that humans are the cause of climate change.
My husband is currently reading William Hague's biography of William Wilberforce: I had not realised that having abolished Britain's slave trade the government then set about closing down the operations of other European countries by effectively buying them off. One of the actors in the film of Wilberforce's achievement, Amazing Grace, likens the abolition of the slave trade to abolishing oil today. If such actions could be taken then . . . ?

I also received a phone call after church from Alison about tomorrow's Panorama episode exposing Primark's use of child labour (9pm BBC1). If I can persuade my e-mail account to start working I'll alert other green team members to this.

I was pleased to note that Mates, Dates and Saving the Planet appears to have been borrowed.

Books and flower meadows

Every June 5th is World Environment Day. This year my children's book club (Red House Books) marked the occasion with a great selection of reduced-price environmental books for children, many of which are excellent for adults too. Consequently I bought a handful to add to the children's library. I Wonder Why There's a Hole in the Sky (for age 5+) was immediately borrowed by one family who are relatively new to the church and hadn't yet realised about our eco-congregation ambitions.

For 9 year olds and upwards we have You Can Save the Planet (some parents may blanch at some of the advice - limited toilet flushing for instance)
Especially for girls aged 10+ (and mainly because I like the title) there's Mates, Dates & Saving the Planet: a girl's guide to being green and gorgeous
For 12+ there's You Can Save the Planet: A day in the life of your carbon footprint and
An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore (the excellent film of which was watched by our home group plus three younger members a couple of weeks back). I'd especially recommend both of these to adults too. (And anyone who has not yet seen the film, Richard and Rosemary or Mark and I can lend you a DVD).

I also handed out postcards about the proposed eco-town at Weston Otmoor. The Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust are campaigning against this location because it threatens to destroy the beautiful wildflower meadow at Woodsides Meadow. In the last fifty years 98% of our traditional hay meadows have disappeared and this is a rare survival. The postcards are to be sent to the Minister of State for housing.

Fishing on the Sea of Galilee

In Exclaimers we were looking at the calling of the first disciples and particularly at Simon Peter. We included various fishy games, discussion about following Jesus then and now, and a look at some photos of the Galilee and the church over Simon Peter's house now. We concluded by talking about fishermen today - even in Britain it is a dangerous and poorly paid job.
According to the Environmental Justice Foundation, on the coast of West Africa fishermen are starving as foreign pirate trawlers dredge up kilometres of sea-bed, only to throw back 90% of their catch dead into the seas. I showed them a can of 'sustainably fished' tuna as an example of the response we might make to this. We then discussed the plight of the fish themselves and other marine life around our own shores. I explained about the imminent Marine Bill. Following this Andy and Zach enthusiastically collared as many congregation members as they could over coffee, explaining about the need for marine reserves and asking them to sign the Wildlife Trust's petition on them.

Epiphany - journeying to Jesus

We had an informal Worship Together service for Epiphany including the following sketch about the wise men's journey:

We’re going to eves-drop on their journey, as told by David, Josh and Zach
Three figures in cloaks (one with bike, one with scooter)
Magi 1 (the littlest): Are we nearly there yet?
Magi 2: I have no idea. We are going to be SO late – it’s embarrassing. We should have just booked those Easy Jet tickets like I said.
Magi 3: Maybe we would have been on time, but I just couldn’t face kneeling before the King of all Creation knowing he knew I’d just sent a couple of tonnes of CO2 into his upper atmosphere. I don’t think he’d appreciate me helping flood Bangladesh just to get to see him a bit quicker.
Magi 1: Well I reckon motorbikes would have been much more sensible – we’d still have been on time and little boys love motorbikes.
Magi 2: I’m not sure this one’s quite like other little boys. Anyway, you’d have had to leave me behind – I get so travel sick. (make retching noise)
Magi 3: I still think that guy in the bazaar with the magic carpets was worth listening to.
1 and 2 look at 3 in disbelief.
Magi 2: Well this isn’t getting us any closer is it? Come on, let’s keep going.
Magi leave.

We subsequently approached our confession in the light of the wise men's mistake in discussing their journey with Herod:
The wise men had assumed that they should look for a king in the big city of Jerusalem. They had expected to find wisdom in the king’s palace. They were simply acting according to the logic of the world they lived in. But their detour to Jerusalem meant that Bethlehem’s baby boys were killed.
Living our lives according to what appears to make sense in this world can similarly lead to tragedy. The impending catastrophe for our climate is an obvious example, the apparent logic of free trade which nonetheless keeps the poorest poor is another.

Towards the end of the service we discussed what we need to pack for our own spiritual journeys. In considering both aids to prayer and things that bring us closer to God more generally, it was decided that opportunities to be outside in the natural world were valued by many of us (a pair of walking shoes was duly included in the suitcase).

Christingle

We began the Church's year this Advent Sunday with a Christingle service. As Suzanne explained the symbolism of the fruit, she observed that some of the oranges were already a bit mouldy - but then parts of our world are rather mouldy too. The four cocktail sticks for the seasons were well-loaded with fruit and sweets for the harvests we are given but my toddler had managed to consume them all before we got to light the candles above.
After the service our 'first Sunday' meal was to raise money for the Bangladesh Cyclone appeal.
Our microrecycling point for stamps, foil, batteries and printer cartridges, which we began at the Green Sunday in July, is working well.

David and Goliath and the McLibel 2

Great Exclaimers session this morning - I'd been slightly dreading it as we'd planned to put all the children from 4 to 11 in together but it was one of those days that just worked really well. After Mark had played the part of David and recounted his story in a dramatic monologue, I talked briefly about God's propensity to choose the weakest to do God's work and all the younger brothers were particularly pleased about this. Then the younger children made sheep and did colouring etc while I talked with the older ones about modern day Davids. They were so animated and fascinated it just felt great - we began with Rosa Parkes, Martin Luther King and Gandhi, and then moved on to my friend Jim who worked for Greenpeace (considering the pros and cons of GM) and finally the McLibel 2 'How come McDonalds weren't closed down after the judge said all that?' Ashley asked indignantly!

WATCH THIS - Pathfinders' fabulous Christian Aid video "Climate Change, Jelly Babies and the Human Shrub"

Emma writes
the pathfinders went to a Christian aid weekend in the middle of October. the weekend was based on climate change and the problem of global warming. we were told we had to make a music video/mini film to show our views on the climate change debate. we made it about superheroes and saving the planet but ended it by being everyday heroes and talking about what we can do ourselves to cut the carbon. as well as making our film there were other workshops going on like drumming and a drama one. the weekend was a lot of fun and we learnt quite a bit about the climate.