More election prep (and wildlife)

 After a Godly Play session last Sunday on Jesus calming the storm, I took the children into the courtyard to a much tamer aspect of the natural world and encouraged some wildlife photography (BBOWT have a competition with categories for photos by children and of urban wildlife). I lent our youngest member my phone so his are the only photos I have at present:

There is a bee here if you can spot it.

Then we moved on to water-painting - the following was not prompted by any adults:

After the service it was part two of our hustings - this time with Reform Candidate Andy Williams and Labour Candidate Matt Rodda. Matt got held up so it was a two stage event asking each of them to answer questions on the climate, poverty etc as previously. Rosemary was able to take the opportunity to present Matt personally with the three page petition asking him to support the CAN bill which we had been promoting at the school fair.

Although the church is in Reading Central constituency, some of the congregation live in the new Earley and Woodley Constituency. Together with some fellow Reading Area Green Christians and CTEER members, we organised a hustings on Sunday evening at Trinity Church (the one behind Asda). It was chaired by the minister at Trinity - Jon Salmon.  The photos are courtesy of Phil Creighton who was also the star who managed to organise all of the main candidates to agree to come:

I think we were all a bit worried that barely anyone would turn up, but as 7pm approached we began to fear we were actually going to exceed our 200 capacity - in the end we counted in 182, so pretty perfect. We opened with a question on the climate - which was genuinely the topic we had received more questions on than any other - Mike B at Trinity asked this one. Two of us from St John & St Stephen's asked questions too - Alison on foodbanks/poverty, myself on biodiversity and the CAN bill. It was disappointing that two of the candidates hadn't heard of it, and indeed surprising after the publicity given it at the Restore Nature Now demo the day before. (Many of us couldn't attend that demo due to other inescapable commitments, although I happened to bump into Margaret at the station on her way there so can confirm that the church did get represented!). I have of course written to those candidates unaware of the bill since, pointing them to the zero hour website and their fellow party members who are supporting it.

An extra bonus of being at the hustings was catching up with Simon Batchelor OBE - the first time I had seen him since the honour was announced for his exceptional contributions to international development and innovation - see more here.

Before proceedings began, I couldn't resist taking a few pictures of Trinity Church's 'meadow'. (Impressive solar array too!)

Finally this week, I had a chance to share news of our gold award at Deanery Synod, starting a couple of potentially useful conversations with other churches.

Campaigning for action at COP27 and in the Lords

Representatives from St John's have been at demonstrations calling for real action at COP27: this is Richard B on yesterday's march. Christine was in London at the prayer vigil on Wednesday. The conference has been in our prayers at our midweek services too.

After church today we were looking at the Community and Global Engagement section of the EcoChurch survey and realised that quite a few of us are involved in the local Newtown Community Garden. Several of us also committed to take up Zero Hour's request to write to peers this week to encourage them to support the Climate and Ecology Bill when it comes to its first reading in the House of Lords on Friday.

 

Harvest Festival

 Yesterday's service was our Harvest Festival, followed by a shared lunch to raise money for Christian Aid's Harvest Appeal for the East Africa Hunger Crisis. As the final service in Creation Season it was the appropriate time to mention TakeTheJump's biggest challenge:

The suggestions they offer include:

Changing to a green energy supplier 

Changing your pension to a green investor

Using ethical and green banks 

Using your energy at home efficiently, or install energy efficiency measures (this can be expensive so not everyone is able to do so easily).

If you feel comfortable and able to, you could consider pushing for change through activism or peaceful protest. For example, write to your political representative with the change you want to see.

A good place to start with campaigning is Christian Aid's own new Loss and Damage campaign to help vulnerable communities already damaged by Climate Change despite being those who contribute least to the greenhouse gas emissions.

Several of our congregation were also in a meeting last week to build support for the Climate and Ecology Bill. This would bring in legislation to stop and try to reverse both elements of the environmental crisis while engaging a people's assembly to help ensure fair action. If you'd like to know more - do ask Jo Laynesmith.

Registering the Climate Emergency

Six months on from our first Climate Sunday service on 6 September 2020, we held another one in Lent - 7 March 2021 - and this time we read together a statement recognising the Climate Emergency and commiting ourselves to act accordingly. We included three reflections in the service - the first inviting people to think about why the climate and ecological emergency matters to them; the second outlining recent actions we've done as a church, including investing in Reading Hydro and donations to the World Land Trust as well as practical carbon reductions and parliamentary lobbying. The third was a call to action by the congregation - it's in the new page "Climate Sunday reflection" on this blog.

Following encouragement at a seminar from the Climate Emergency Toolkit, I've just registered that acknowledgement for inclusion on their map. We've also signed up more locally with the Reading CAN pledge. to join with the town's commitment to reach net zero by 2030.

What are we doing about it ourselves? Most recently - we're trying to make it as easy as possible for everyone in the congregation and parish to change to a green electricity tariff, using the resources of the Fair Energy Campaign.; we've checked on the environmental credentials of all our investments and ensured they're as green as can be; and we've applied for a faculty for the cavity wall insulation.

On the church's behalf, Rosemary has been attending monthly meetings with Make COP26 Count, reporting back on the heartbreaking news of climate impact around the world.  Our top campaigning priority at the moment is the CEE Bill - Christian Climate Action are running seminars to help churches understand and support this, starting this Saturday.