#AdventReading #ClimateChange #SleepersWake

Today’s meditation, for Christmas Eve, is on Jesus Christ the apple tree. It’s a tad bizarre if you’re unfamiliar with the imagery but never mind: the point is that Jesus can’t be disconnected from nature, and nor can his followers.

We don’t stand over or apart from the natural world, it’s God’s world and ours — we need to wake up to our part in it. Wake up, friends! Let’s not sleepwalk into climate change disaster: sleepers wake!

@sleeperswake

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Plant a tree, friends. That’s today’s focus, something practical that pretty well any of us can do to make a difference in the battle against climate change.

Not in a position to plant a tree yourself? For a small donation, the National Trust (and various other organisations) will plant one for you, or for someone else as a gift, and issue a certificate in their name. The perfect last-minute Christmas gift:
https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/support-us/plant-a-tree

@sleeperswake

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Running a tad behind with my posts, c’est la vie…

Yesterday was Frankincense, worship; today is myrrh, death & lifestyle. Seems to me that the one leads almost inexorably to the other: every act of worship is a little death, a recognition that we are not the centre of the universe; but from that death springs life — for in dying to self, we rise to new life, life that affirms the wonder of creation & demands that we care for it…

@sleeperswake

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Today’s reflection is about money and ethical investments. +Nick outlines the C of E’s approach with its commitment “to achieving net-zero emissions portfolios by 2050 at the latest” — ideally sooner.

The challenge for all of us is to manage whatever money we have responsibly and to spend it (or give it away) as ethically as possible, supporting fair trade for instance, working for the common good…

@sleeperswake

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Once again I’m running a day behind. Yesterday was “An everlasting voice” reflecting on the state of the oceans and the status of refugees fleeing over them. Today we ask, “What can I bring him?” echoing Rossetti’s famous carol.

The one surely flows into the other: our treatment of the oceans and of other people, especially refugees, surely reveals what’s in our hearts — and what lies there is what we must bring. Lord, have mercy…

@sleeperswake

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Today’s theme is #ClimateJustice, considering the imbalance between rich and poor: the rich polluting & ravaging the planet whilst the poor pay the price & struggle to survive in their wake.

Thank God for organisations like #ChristianAid, #TearFund & #CAFOD, to name but some, who highlight this issue. What we have now is gross climate injustice: how we need to turn things around!

Want to explore further?
https://www.climatejust.org.uk/

@sleeperswake

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Today’s challenge is about working together as a global community: “The problems of climate change and the environment do not have national boundaries.” The UN enables nations to work together — but we need to want to do so. Progress is possible but can only be made effectively by nations cooperating; and that depends on us as individuals playing our part, paving the way and challenging our government’s complacency…

@sleeperswake

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Today we consider what it means to be made in God’s image, with a reflection on Jesus’ encounter with some religious leaders trying to trap him with a trick question about paying taxes.

There’s no escape
and no surprise,
and every day
is cloaked with lies:
we twist, we turn,
we try to hide,
but truth sees through
our thin disguise…

Being made in God’s image requires us to see as God sees: a world in crisis. How will we respond?

@sleeperswake

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Today’s focus is happiness v/s wealth. Taking St Francis of Assisi as a case study — “The richest of poor men” — it’s abundantly clear that there is no correlation between the two. If wealth does not bring happiness, what does?

The answer couldn’t be simpler: love — “love came down at Christmas” — and following the way of love rather than pursuing wealth frees us to begin making the changes needed in our lives and the wider world…

@sleeperswake

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Today’s call is to make the most of our talents, to be prepared, “to live with urgency and creativity rather than just coast along.”

Anyone can coast along, burying their talents, but it takes grit and determination to bring about the changes needed to tackle climate change, to “make the most of what we have for ourselves and the good of others.”

Don’t bury your talents, friends: together, we can be the change we want to see.

@sleeperswake

#AdventReading #ClimateChange #SleepersWake

We enter Advent 3 with a reflection on being human. Observing that two creation stories at the beginning of Genesis make it clear that those accounts “are not to be regarded as science or history but as accounts of what it means to be human”, +Nick goes on to build the case for human responsibility: “Our health and well-being depend on an ecology that supports the diversity of life.”

It’s God’s world, but it’s our responsibility.

@sleeperswake

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Today’s call is to contemplate the beauty of holiness — and the holiness of beauty. We’ve been given a beautiful planet to live on but we’ve taken a wrecking ball to it. We need a change of heart, a change of attitude, to recognise that this beautiful world is holy and precious to God, its maker.

May our eyes be opened to the beauty around us, may we recognise its holiness, and treat it with reverence. Lord have mercy…

@sleeperswake

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“What motivates us more: fear or love?” That’s the question today’s reflection starts with. It reminds me of a question asked by another C of E bishop, another Nick as it happens, #NickBaines of Leeds. In one of his #R4Today ‘Thoughts for the Day’ he asked, “Are we driven by fear or drawn by love?”

Love has to be the way, loving others as we love ourselves — if we’re serious about that, we have to be serious about climate change.

@sleeperswake

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Travelling together is today’s theme, reflecting on the failure of COP26 to deliver despite all the rhetoric & spin, but moving on in hope. Yes, mistakes will be made but “we must act now and make our mistakes in the right direction.”

Let’s persevere, calling governments to account, never giving up hope — and let’s do this together!

@sleeperswake

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“I am Nicholas and I am addicted to fossil fuels.”

So begins today’s reflection as +Nick draws a direct parallel between our reliance on fossil fuels and the 12 Steps approach of Alcoholics Anonymous: the first step to overcoming the problem is to acknowledge it; and the grim reality is that here in the western world, we’re all in the same boat.

We need help from a Higher Power: “God grant us grace… courage… and wisdom…”
- Niebuhr 🙏

@sleeperswake

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Being 6 December, today’s focus is St Nicholas aka Santa Claus — a generous and giving saint whose generosity saved children from terrible fates. The challenge for us: what legacy are we leaving for the children of the future by the choices we make today with regard to climate change? Are we listening to children’s voices?

@sleeperswake

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Today’s topic is forgiveness & thanksgiving. +Nick draws our attention to the Eden Project’s top ten tips for sustainable living, including forgiveness (of self & others) and giving thanks.

The two go hand in hand: “Confession leads to absolution and to a profound thankfulness for the forgiveness of sins, which helps shape our relationships.”

Forgiveness for what has been; thanksgiving for what is yet to come. It’s a choice. May we choose wisely.

@sleeperswake

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Running a day behind, but never mind: plenty of food for thought in these readings:

Yesterday, Noah’s Ark: “There is no Planet B” — the Earth is our ark, and we need to wake up to that!

Today, Finding our Place: “Our calling… is to go out and take our part in the work God calls us to for the kingdom.” How does Jesus teach us to pray? “Your kingdom come, on earth as in heaven.” God’s is no other-worldly kingdom - it’s here & now, and it’s up to us.

@sleeperswake

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“Advent,” writes +Nick, “is a time to face the truth about ourselves. It is also a time to review the way we live.”

To help us work out what that might imply, he offers excerpts from the ‘Letters for creation’ written by Anglican Primates for the recent Lambeth Conference about what caring for God’s creation means in their part of the world. They paint a grim picture, and it’s a challenge we can’t afford to ignore…

@sleeperswake

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Today +Nick draws our attention to Laudato si’, an encyclical by Pope Francis in which he calls upon all of us — every inhabitant of planet Earth — to turn away from our plundering of the planet, to “protect the world and not prey on it.”

Pope Francis wrote this back in 2015. It’s as relevant and challenging now as it was then, begging the question of each one of us: what changes am I, are we, going to make?

#PopeFrancis #LaudatoSi

@sleeperswake