Harvest in the city

Harvest festival this weekend for AS & HC, followed with a pot-luck lunch in the Church halls (its a united all-age service at Holy Cross if you want to join us, 10.30am)

Living and working in the city it is more important than ever to celebrate harvest - giving thanks for creation, for God’s goodness to us, and for those who provide the food, goods and services we use.  We are so removed from the creative and sustaining processes as all we buy is a short drive away in the supermarket or shopping centre, and so infrequently contemplate where our “stuff”  - food or otherwise - comes from.  These things are gradually becoming part of the popular (and church) consciousness, and its about time.

One of the hymns we’ll be singing this weekend - and I think FPG has the beauty and the tragedy of human attitudes to God’s creation summed up perfectly!

God in such love for us lent us this planet,
Gave it a purpose in time and in space:
Small as a spark from the fire of creation,
Cradle of life and the home of our race.

Thanks be to God for its bounty and beauty,
Life that sustains us in body and mind:
Plenty for all, if we learn how to share it,
Riches undreamed of to fathom and find.

Long have our human wars ruined its harvest;
Long has earth bowed to the terror of force;
Long have we wasted what others have need of,
Poisoned the fountain of life at its source.

God owns the earth: it is ours to enjoy it,
Ours, as God’s stewards, to farm and defend.
From its pollution, misuse, and destruction,
Our God deliver us, world without end.

Fred Pratt Green 1903-2000
© 1973 Stainer & Bell Ltd.

stumbling late into the night

Late night Stumbling led me to the Breathing Earth project a graphical representation of CO2 emissions worldwide. Fascinating to see a second by second change in emissions, but also worrying in terms of global pollution and climate change. Also indicates births and deaths by nation.

In the five or so minutes it’s been running in the background as I write 3546 people have been born, 1685 have died, and over 714000 tonnes of CO2 emitted.

The site also recommends checking out the eco-footprint quiz - its a little basic, not detailed enough to be 100% accurate, but gives an indication of your ecological footprint relative to others in the same country. I was decidedly average.