FROM REVEREND ROBIN
And just like that, the summer holidays are over, the children are back at school and all eyes are looking towards Christmas. Or is that just me? I half expect to see the decorations and festive chocolates appearing any day now as the back-to-school items were already in the shops before the little ones had even broken up for the summer. And what a summer it has been, for the beach dwellers, sun seekers, and ice cream sellers, it has probably been one of the best summers for a long time. With temperatures in excess of thirty degrees and heat wave after heat wave, it has certainly been a different summer to the usual rainy days of previous holidays.
But as I drive around the seven villages that make up our Benefice, I am reminded out of every window of the devastating consequences for livelihoods and nature that this weather is having. As I write this, there have been two wildfires within our Parishes and more in the neighbouring villages, not to mention the emergency alarm telling us not to start a fire (like I was going to in this heat anyway). Although, after reading the deafening alarm on my phone I did think it was lucky I wasn’t lighting any candles at church when it went off as I may well have dropped them out of fright which would have then caused a fire and Alanis Morissette would have had another verse to her song!
It is a difficult balance to on one hand sit in the garden or on the sandy beaches and think how lovely it is that summer has been hot for once, whilst also recognising on the other hand, the damage this has caused to many farms and fields and wildlife. Either way, it is impossible to ignore the changing climate and the impact it is having.
Christians have been called to be stewards of creation, to care for all of Gods gifts. Loving our neighbours as ourselves but also tending the land, ensuring wildlife is supported and can flourish, doing what is best for generations to come. This means looking at how we live and how our actions today impact the future of our planet. It would be easy to say why should we bother when giant companies and indeed countries are doing nothing and they make much more impact than our little island but it has to start somewhere.
A simple change can make a big difference even if we don’t see it straight away. So much of our lives and our politics are based on immediate results. If we don’t see change in two years, we get rid of the Prime Minister and replace them, and repeat and repeat, and repeat.
When it comes to our world, we can’t be looking at the next year or two, even the next ten or twenty. We need to be acting now so in a hundred years, a thousand years, our offspring, our families will have a place to live that is beautiful and bountiful.
In caring for creation, we show our love, not only for our neighbours but also for God. Of course, to add another verse to Morissette’s song, it is now about to rain!
God bless.
