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‘Maureen’s Musings’
The Vicar’s monthly letter for the Parish News
November 2019
When I was a lot younger it was Greenpeace and “Save the Whale”. Today it is Xtinction Rebellion and we have realised that there is more at stake than just individual species – even though many continue to be at risk. Today it is “Save the Planet”.
There may still be those who are counting on technology to save us; that if we manage truly to ruin this world, we will be able to find another home in the universe to which to migrate. I’m not convinced by that argument. As many of today’s schoolchildren tell us – spurred on by Greta Thundberg – there is no Planet B!
The Christian faith teaches us that God created this world to be the perfect home for us but ever since the first humans appeared, it seems we have done all we could to ruin things for ourselves and every other living thing… that is as good a way to understand the story of Adam and Eve and the Fall, as you could wish for.
But Christianity also always gives us reason to hope. Human beings may be particularly good at messing things up but we also have the potential to do good, too. It may have taken Sir David Attenborough and the Blue Planet to wake most of us up to the dangers of plastic pollution in our oceans but at least in the developed world some progress is being made in reducing our carbon footprint and improving our use of single-use plastics. Not enough, I grant you, but it’s a beginning. And if we could only stop exporting our waste to other countries to try and dispose of, it would be even better!
Recently a friend of mine published the following on Facebook, and, with her permission, I quote it here…
Lots of exciting climate actions appear to be being planned by churches. Can I put in a gentle plea to friends involved not to just focus on the event but consider making every-day, all-year-round changes? Maybe if you are fortunate enough to be able to afford to fully commit to stopping, stop buying fruit and veg in plastic, at church stop using disposable stuff, buy second-hand even if you can afford not to, there are many options. Small steps can be built on: getting milk in glass bottles where that’s an option, making your own yoghurt to avoid the plastic, not buying stuff we don’t need. No amount of banners, Messy Church fun, or guerrilla knitting will fix this, if we don’t reduce, reuse and recycle every day. Some of these options will cost you more money but a good number of my friends here are blessed with incomes that allow some flexibility and it’s a lot cheaper than a new planet.
So what can we do as a church? Well, we do try to buy sustainable energy through the parish buying scheme, we have largely moved from producing one-off services on paper to using the A/V system, and we question the use of paper more generally. The PCC makes good use of email for much of its business and my sermons are seldom printed out – which has greatly reduced my use of paper and ink. Within church, refreshments are usually served in real cups and mugs, rather than disposable ones. None of these things of themselves are huge and I am sure there is scope for improvement but every little effort goes to build a better world: a better future for our children and their children.
To help our efforts and perhaps to raise everyone’s awareness a bit more, the PCC and I are forming a small working group to look at gaining Ecochurch accreditation in the near future. If you or anyone in your family or household would like to help, please get in touch with me or Dorothy Steel.
November is traditionally a month of remembrance. As we gather to honour those who made the ultimate sacrifice for all our sakes, let’s all see what smaller sacrifices we can make in our daily lives to benefit God’s World and its future generations.
Every blessing
Maureen.