It’s a pretty big question that a few paragraphs can’t hope to answer, but we can provoke in ourselves thinking that causes us to constantly evaluate how we are acting and living.
Putting concerns about sustainability, reducing carbon emissions and the protection of natural eco systems front and centre of our personal and corporate agendas involves reflection and action. Making these concerns a priority in every decision that we as the church make from this point on involves accepting the cost of those decisions be they financial or otherwise. I am calling for every single one of us to take responsibility for our own impact on world and look at every single decision we make, asking ourselves is this the most sustainable, least damaging thing I can do right now? We also need to reflect on our corporate responsibility as a church, and in a broader sense as a nation.
Those of you who have read the recently published documents on climate change will know that they make for rather terrifying reading. Our world, the world our God breathed life into, is in a terrible state. Climate change is already bringing great hardship to the lives of many. Your life and the way you live it is having an impact on people all over the world. Your life and the choices you make in what you purchase and consume is having an impact.
Like with all things in humanity the problem of climate change lies deeper than how we shop or how we travel. It lies in the human heart. We need it to pray that God would transform our own hearts and those of the people around us. Enabling us to look differently at the world around us and steward it more lovingly.
As a church as will be asking those who are in positions of leadership to take the environmental impact of their groups into their thinking. We will be asking groups who use our buildings to make their groups as sustainable as possible. We will over the coming months look at different ways we as individuals can make changes to live more sustainably. One of he easiest ones we can all do today is to change our energy supplier to a green energy supplier. It is of paramount importance that we reduce our consumption of fossil fuels.
This is a call to all of us. It will take us all to support change, it will take us all talking positively about loving the world God created. It will take all of us to bear with one another lovingly as we attempt to adapt to change and to encourage one another as we make the changes. Let’s celebrate together as we send one less biscuit wrapper to landfill or the incinerator. Let’s celebrate with one another as we leave our cars at home and make our way to the church in other less impactful ways. Let’s grow as a community as we spend time looking at, prioritising and thinking about the wonderful creation we have been given to care for and have thus far as a human race so neglectfully cared for.
I challenge you just start to look, make a few changes and keep on looking. See with new eyes the damage created by the way we live. It is initially overwhelming, be overwhelmed, allow yourself to be overwhelmed. Then take action, pray, act and be changed.