Download eco-service-talk-sept-2016 - Church Stretton Methodist Church

Eco Service Sept 2016
Talk based around “Hope in God’s Future.”
In 2013 the Methodist Conference endorsed a report called “Hope in God’s Future.”
It was a report of a joint working group on climate change and theology, convened by the
Baptist Union of Great Britain, the Methodist Church and the United Reformed Church.
The report was all about Climate Change. That’s a subject we frequently hear about and
hopefully know about. Conference urged all churches to seriously consider its findings
and work towards implementation. Rather than spend time on the content of the report, I
want for a few minutes to talk more about the challenge of the report and how we respond
as Christians.
A couple of years ago the annual lecture at the Quaker’s Convention was given by a lady
called Pam Lund. In it she said “We are merely tenants passing through with the
responsibility of a full repairing lease on the property and borrowing everything we use…..
We don’t inherit the earth from our ancestors but rather borrow it from our children and we
are currently borrowing more than we can pay back.”
The challenged for us is “not to just be passengers on space ship earth but become
members of the crew. In a crisis the crew know what to do and work as a team to fix
things while the passengers stand around in frightened huddles, waiting to be told what to
do.” The problem with climate change is that it is a crisis of our own making. You and I are
part of the problem. There is a time lag between burning carbon based fuels, gas, coal
and oil, and their warming effect on global temperatures. The carbon emission levels of
today are the result of burning fossil fuels from 30 years ago. Also we’re burning more
fossil fuels today than we did 30 years ago. Just pause for a moment and think about the
implication of that for future generations. Our carbon emissions of today will be the cause
of even more global warming in 30 years’ time. How are we as individuals, churches and
communities responding to this challenge?
Over the past 10 years or so, there have been global conferences, climate agreements,
the Helsinki protocol etc. but nothing much has changed. For the period from 2008 to
2012, greenhouse gas reduction measures were agreed in the Kyoto Protocol in 1997 but
carbon emissions have been increasing, globally average temperatures still rise and there
are more extremes of damaging weather. Sea levels are rising, destructive storms that
once occurred every hundred years or so now happen as often as one in ten years or
even more frequently.
Last Christmas the Global Paris Climate Change Agreement saw 195 states agree to
reduce their carbon emissions "as soon as possible" and to do their best to keep global
warming "to well below 2 degrees C". 175 of those nations have signed this legally
binding agreement. America and China who are the world’s worst polluters have just
signed in the last few day. (Incidentally the U.K still hasn’t signed but the U.K Gov. have
already set a legally binding target of reducing carbon emissions by 20% by 2020 and
80% by 2050. However it is already likely the 2020 target will not be met. Unless these
targets are met we face runaway global warming and the devastating consequences for
future generations. Can we have that on our consciences?
We have become so used to living unsustainable lives that our present way of living has
become a habit that we don’t give much thought to – it’s normal to fly, throw things away,
burn ever increasing amounts of carbon based fuel, buy food grown on the other side of
the world, (sometimes at the expense of the local population) and be urged by the
influence of the media to use our spending power to purchase more “things” than we
really need.
All a bit scary …. a bit uncomfortable….what’s this got to do with church ….not the usual
subject for a Sunday sermon…… would you rather I went away and left you in your
comfort zone?
Back to the Methodist Connection. Conference showed strong leadership with the
approval of the Hope in God’s Future report but it will have been a total waste of time if
the challenge is not taken up. The sub title of the report is “Christian Discipleship in the
Context of Climate Change.” As a church are we going to be passengers or crew on
space ship earth?
There was once a man going from Jerusalem to Jericho. He fell amongst thieves. Two
people came by, looked at him but did nothing to help. The Samaritan came by and took
action. Do we walk by, ignore the problem of climate change and hope someone else will
do something?
Luke 12:48 “From those to whom much is given, much is expected” –
We live in a beautiful world as some of the pictures before the service reminded us but
there are other places which humankind has made ugly. Our generation has been given
the best of what the modern world has to offer BUT Climate Change is one of the greatest
challenges facing the present generation.– future generations will not be so fortunate. Our
children and grandchildren face a more uncertain future. How will we face them if in 20
years time they say …” you knew about the problem but did nothing about it!”
At our Annual Church Meeting earlier in the year we looked at a survey developed by
ARocha, an ecumenical organisation, committed to helping churches face these issues.
The Church Council asked that a small group of members develop a plan to help our
church take up the challenge. It’s not just the building, it’s heating and lighting, recycling in
the kitched, our use of water, paper etc. etc, but also how we as a church community and
as individuals take up the challenge. We are doing O.K. (in Olympic parlance we already
have a bronze medal) but we mustn’t be satisfied with just bronze.
This talk was intended to be thought provoking, challenging but I hope not too
disturbing…. Christian discipleship is a challenge, but one which with The Lord’s help we
can face.
Sept. 2016