Readings
Psalm 85
Amos 5:21-24
21 ‘I hate, I despise your religious festivals;
your assemblies are a stench to me.
22 Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings,
I will not accept them.
Though you bring choice fellowship offerings,
I will have no regard for them.
23 Away with the noise of your songs!
I will not listen to the music of your harps.
24 But let justice roll on like a river,
righteousness like a never-failing stream!
John 7:37-39
37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.’ 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
INTRODUCTION to the theme
The theme for Season of Creation 2023 is
“Let justice and peace flow like a river”.
Beautiful artwork on the Service sheet.
Quoting from the Old Testament prophet Amos: “But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!” (Amos 5: 24)
Many Christians now sense the intense call to join the river of justice and peace,
to take up climate and ecological justice, and to speak out with and for communities most impacted by climate injustice and the loss of biodiversity.
As the people of God, we are urged to work together on behalf of all Creation, as part of that mighty river of peace and justice.
Prophet Isaiah proclaims:
“Listen carefully, I am about to do a new thing, now it will spring forth; will you not be aware of it? I will even put a road in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.” (Isaiah 43:19)
So how will you respond, how do I respond?
Firstly I am so glad you are here today to think about this topic and join in and not walk away.
Some of us feel a great sense of depression and inability to tackle something so huge
Some of us will not see the urgency at all
Some of us will be busy and active in a variety of ways to join up in advocacy and action
Our younger people do see a greater urgency and it is likely to be their lives most affected
The Great Commission
At the end of Mark’s Gospel, the words of Jesus to the eleven disciples are given as these:
Go into all the world, and preach the Gospel to all creation. Mark 16.15. What does that mean I wonder?
This morning I am going to try to be grounded and practical, our overarching belief
Our task is to be real about our world and lives
But not to despair, to live always in HOPE
And maintain a robust resilience, to all the claims that “the end of the world is nigh!”
Because it is Jesus who has sent us to preach
And Jesus who has promised never to leave us.
We remember that the Kingdom of God is NOW.
God is our King and we follow his rule, and we do that now.
TAKE IT SERIOUSLY
I suggest we take the crisis seriously – climate emergency, destruction of animals and plants, ruin of land and crops and livelihoods
But also maintain a deep rooted faith that this is God’s world and we are part of his Creation too
Therefore, we have a role to play, think about stories
It is our young grandchildren who will be most affected
SIX points for ACTION
1) our holiday in West Yellowstone USA was awesome, not only because of the Old Faithful Geyser, the prismatic spring colours, and the bison traffic jams.
But also because we learned a lot about animals.
Early in the morning we went out with a Wolf Tracker and had a three dog day: a coyote, grey wolf and red fox.
We learned that the big bad wolf (always the character of the animal in our kids stories… just think about red riding hood), that the big bad wolf was in danger of extinction, and as a result the balance of animals in the wild has gone awry – the ELK are everywhere – eating gardens, marching around the town centres and being a complete nuisance. The balance in the eco system has gone wrong.
And so the Wolf Project – to reintroduce the Grey wolf, to tag them, and watch over them
And we were privileged to see the SHRIMPIES – the Shrimp Lake Pack – through the telescope – four grey wolves running across the hillside at 6am or thereabouts. The reintroduction of the wolves has helped the numbers rise, learned a lot about their habits, and brought a bit of stability back to the animal world order.
So ACTION 1 – find out a bit more
And support conservation
You already do!
Hedgehogs/ We even have cameras to watch our grounds at St Johns
Bees/ We plant flowers that are helpful and need pollinators
Orchids/ go on a walk / You know more than me
Just a simple thing – that we can ALL do, is take an interest in wildlife, find out more, and support the folks who know about bio diversity
Not the whole world/ But something local and achievable and let us all know about it
2) Electric Cars
The politicians are arguing all the time and it is easy to switch off
Last week Rishi Sunak was being more honest continue to seek changes in our transport and reliance on fossil fuels but acknowledging the timeline has to be pushed further forward
I was impressed by Bishop David, needing to drive to Leeds in his electric car, leaving later in the day than he wanted, but knowing where to get the charge points, and totally confident in the car to get him there from Hampshire during one evening drive. Let’s keep talking
ACTION 2
talk to people who have electric cars, talk to each other, do we put in electric points into our own car park?
3) recycling and upcycling
We can all do something; Shortly a noticeboard will help us to find out how and where to recycle
Household goods - Thank you to all who have donated items for households that need to start from scratch – a family from Nigeria, some of our Ukrainian friends, and we work also with the RC charity Caritas
Clothes – we have donated to the Southampton Clothing bank and I bet there will be more needed this winter
Loo Rolls – for Caritas, recycled paper
ACTION 3
my garage is full of items to help people,
let’s share things
get the news out there
4) Sharing lifts, walking and cycling
Let us know when you have made that decision
It encourages us all
We got a Senior Citizens rail card
ACTION 4
Reduce our carbon footprint
5) go for a walk to a garden or down one of our paths
And just celebrate the beauty of the world that God has given to us
ACTION 5
Go for a walk to enjoy and learn
6) Shop local
ACTION 6
The Budgens has a new section with fruit and veg from POLAND FARM locally – buy rather than green beans from Kenya
Do something…
SUMMARY
We all feel inadequate, could give up
But we won’t
Our church has agreed to work towards the A Rocha Bronze award
There is a lot we still have to do
But we have made a start
1. learn about one animal and its protection
2. find out about electric cars
3. recycle even more
4. share transport
5. make the most of outdoors
6. local food
And trust that the Lord will guide
Ending notes
Prophet Amos cries out: “But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!” (Amos 5: 24) and so we are called to join the river of justice and peace, to take up climate and ecological justice, and to speak out with and for communities most impacted by climate injustice and the loss of biodiversity.
As the people of God, we must work together on behalf of all Creation, as part of that mighty river of peace and justice.
Prophet Isaiah proclaims:
“Listen carefully, I am about to do a new thing, now it will spring forth; will you not be aware of it? I will even put a road in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.” (Isaiah 43:19)
Biodiversity is being lost at a rate not seen since the last mass extinction.
The futures of young people are threatened by the cascading impacts of the loss of biodiversity and a changing climate.
The urgency grows and we must make visible peace with Earth and on Earth, at the same time that justice calls us to repentance and a change of attitude and actions.
As we join the river of justice and peace with others then hope is created instead of despair.
Food Insecurity
INTRODUCTION
The theme for Season of Creation 2023 is “Let justice and peace flow like a river”.
One of the areas of great injustice in our world is the global food crisis.
It is estimated that 345 million people around the world are food insure, yet 17% of all food produced is dumped between harvest and retail.
Agriculture has a large footprint both on the landscape, through monocropping, which often leads to habitat destruction, as well as the impact of factory-style animal husbandry on increased greenhouse gasses.
Our modern food production practices are leading to increasing biodiversity loss, the alienation of people from food sources and at the same time increasing global hunger.
The impact of climate change and war have also driven people off the land and have made more people food insecure.
The Israelites said to them, ‘If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.’ – Exodus 16:3
Final word, from Junior Church
From the children, as we strive to make a better future for the children across the world, these are there images for this theme.
Marion de Quidt, September 2023