Vicar's View - November 2021

  Vicar’s view

Sitting here looking out the window admiring the autumnal colours and seeing the wildlife as we have pigeons, rabbits and pheasants roaming the garden as well as a cat that has adopted us and of course our beloved dog Gunner; I’m beginning to think my wife Debs is Doctor Dolittle.

I suppose I mentioned this because a couple of weeks ago the world leaders gathered for COP26 in Glasgow.

Christian thought has insisted on not confusing the created world with its creator. Non-Christian cultures and faiths have at times worshipped sun and stars, water and wood. The Christian faith has celebrated the awesome nature of creation but encouraged us to see in creation something almost sacramental. Creation carries something of the character of the creator’s hand yet points us beyond itself to the very creator.
 
Think of a person whom you love or respect. It might be a friend or relation, or perhaps someone whose life you admire: a Nelson Mandela or Mother Teresa. A picture of that person is not that person themselves; it is a product of ink and paper. Yet, you might feel hurt, horrified indeed, to see that picture mistreated, spat upon or defaced in some way. The way we treat that which bears the image says much about our attitude to the person themselves. Something similar is at work in our choices regarding our care and stewardship of the created world.
 
But there is another dimension. At a particular time, in a particular place and in a particular way, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. God became human. The incarnation testifies to a particular dignity of humanity. Whilst environmental disaster might be an expensive challenge for richer countries and people, as ever the heaviest impacts fall upon the poorest and most marginalised.

 As you continue to live out your faith in relation to environmental justice in your own life, do please pray for the COP26 outcomes and for the ability of the leaders of the nations to continue to make courageous decisions. Pray also for the courage and humility to live with the consequences of such decisions, because any that are really worth having will come at a cost.

We are part of God’s creation and stewards of all around us, so it’s important that we continue to help make better use of our resources and look at making our churches eco-friendly moving forward .

In Genesis God made the earth, God saw what he had made and it was very good.

Blessings

Rick