Climate Change

It’s summer in the U.S. and Canada. Besides the long days and fresh local food, summer is increasingly associated with “danger season.” As in years past, stories of wildfires, heatwaves, and deaths due to these and other extreme weather events around the world frequently make headlines. A growing percentage of us have experienced these events firsthand. And they are connected to a larger story of change that is difficult to face.

A friend of mine visited a low-income congregation in New Jersey several years ago. The pastor told him the congregation had huge energy bills every month equal to the pastor’s salary.  The building was old and not very energy-efficient. The building lost heat all the time.

Many of us are trying hard to reduce our household carbon footprint.  We’re changing the sources of our electricity, switching to solar power and electric heating, using public transit, reducing waste, recycling, composting, and more.  As we continue to make these changes in our lives, we are meaningfully reducing our emissions and living in increasing balance with God’s creation.  There is one lifestyle choice, however, that can undo all of our annual emissions reduction work in a matter of hours – and that is air travel.

"Creator Sets Free (Jesus) lifted up his voice and said to them, "I am the light shining on this dark world.  The ones who walk with me will not stumble in the darkness but will have the light that gives them life."  - John 8:12 (FNV)

"So make sure that you, like salt, keep your true flavor by walking with each other in the way of peace." - Mark 9:50 (FNV)   

 "God of the poor, Friend of the weak
Give us compassion we pray
Melt our cold hearts, Let tears fall like rain
Come, change our love, From a spark to a flame."

- A prayer in the words of Graham Kendrick

Single Use Plastics

Canada has announced a ban on the manufacture and import of named single use plastics to take effect next December.

Lord of all, even our inventiveness,

"The ancient prophecy of Creator Will Help Us (Isaiah) had finally found its full meaning.  ...  the ones who sit in darkness, where death casts a great shadow, have seen the light of a new sunrise." Matthew 4:14,16 (FNV) 

“Joy is not made to be a crumb”.  So ends Mary Oliver’s short poem ‘Don’t Hesitate’.  Oliver’s poem is a playful but fierce insistence that joy is integral to a full life – even in the face of despair, pain, and human suffering.  But implied in Oliver’s poem is the acknowledgement that joy can be hard; we do hesitate to live joyfully in the face of the world’s pain and so need reminding. 

We are confident
that the light
which shines in the present darkness
will fill the earth
when Christ appears.
Come, Lord Jesus.
Our world belongs to you.

- Our World Belongs to God (Article 6)

“We are secure, not because we hold tightly to Jesus, but because he holds tightly to us.” - R. C. Sproul