Green Patches

Francistide Blog of The Week - Creation Care Newsletter

Why Care For Creation?

Here are three reasons to interact carefully with the Creation, to nurture and preserve it

Prudence or the thoughtful care for one’s own well-being.  You breathe; so you need breathable air.  You drink, so you need potable water.  You eat, so you need nutritious food.  You see, so you need clean skies.  You can get sick, very sick with cancers, so you need a world without cancer causing chemicals.  You move through and have your being the environment, so you need to wake up to it, think about it, perceive how the changes we have made and are making could be harmful to you.  Your life comes from nature.  Protect your source. It’s just common sense.

1. Do you owe a debt to the future?  “What did the future ever do for me”? You say?  Well, it created you.  Before you were, you were in the future.  Before you were, people planted the trees that shade you, developed the grains and the animal strains that feed you, invented the clothes and the way of building houses that shelter you, kept pure the water that you must have to live each day, invented the writing that you are now reading, and learned how to teach you to read it  They preserved this  world through countless generations so it would be here for you to inhabit.  You owe them a debt, the debt of your very life; but here’s the paradox; since they are gone, you can only pay it forward, to the next generations. It is a moral obligation.

 

1. Jesus came to reconcile us to one another and to God our Creator and Sustainer Who has made us as part and parcel of the larger creation—as members of it.  We are not alone here—God made millions of other creatures and all are His children.  He is manifest in His creation—it is His work.  To be reconciled to Him we must be reconciled to his creation.  If we love Him Who made us, we must love what else He made.  If our mortal father lovingly built for us a house and garden with his own hands and we then trashed it, we could not say we loved him.  Jesus said, “Love one another as I have loved you. By this all men will know you are my disciples.”  And if we are to be reconciled to one another, we must care for that which cares for others, namely the earth and all that is in it.  If I say I care for my neighbor, then go cut down his apple trees and take the fruit for myself, I can not say I love him.  If I poison her air, use up resources she needs to live, foul his water with my landfills and radioactive dumps, how can I say I am reconciled to her?  The choice to drive a hybrid or a Hummer is not about you—it’s about other people and about your grandchildren.  God’s earth was made for us all, and for all who are yet to come, not just for those of us who are fortunate enough to live in comparative prosperity at the present moment.  - From Environmental Commission, Episcopal Diocese of Eau Claire via Franciscan Associates 

 

 

 

Saving The Planet

photo credit: Bill Longshaw  at Free Digital Photos

If the sheer complexity of it all threatens to overwhelm you, remember the starfish principle - 'Start small.' In a meeting yesterday to discuss ways in which our love of God, neighbour and planet might be reflected in our day to day lifestyles, somebody reminded us of the site Generous.org which provides community and encouragement to enable people to begin to do just that. I was more than a bit embarrassed; I'm a signed up member of the site; however, I've not 'visited,' for ages.  Even if I have been carrying - or trying to carry out some of the actions suggested in the meantime.  Accountability can be a wonderful thing, (most of the time, anyway!).  So - remember the little boy throwing the starfish, one of thousands stranded on the seashore, back into the sea and being told it was a waste of time as what he did would make no difference. "It makes a difference to that one!" he retorted!

And from the sublime to the ridiculous

I love the sound of breaking glass.  Though not the original version, unfortunately. As I mentioned earlier, the green boxes and sacks are neatly arranged outside the back door, (much to GP dog's delight) and the new kerbside recycling collection is due to launch any day now. Yes, there's been a certain amount of confusion when trying to remember that cans and glass no longer go together, and the council's definition of recyclable plastics is somewhat limited, but never mind, it's a start. It's noticeable how much longer it takes for the kitchen and wheelie bins to fill up now that plastic bottles and card  are separated out. From now on, sneaking packaging into the pedal bin because you can't be bothered to step a couple of feet outside is an arrestable offence - in the same category of heinous crimes as squeezing the toothpaste tube from the wrong end and leaving the toilet seat up!