Maureen Rowan sent us this report:
Methodist Centenary hosted the candle from 28th May to 4th June. In advance its arrival, we held a discussion evening entitled Climate Crisis: Sustaining Hope and Realism as an Eco Congregation and provided reflections from the event for the ECI Newsletter.
Through our wayside pulpit we let the local community and users of our buildings know that Climate Justice was a focus of our prayers and would be the central concern of our service on Sunday 4th June. The day of the service we were blessed with weather that illuminated the gifts of nature around us.
Rev Andrew Kingston held the children in thrall with slides of what he had observed in his garden as he ate his breakfast (multitasker that he is!). The three-year-olds enthusiastically identified the fledglings in the nest and the bees at work spreading pollen as they celebrated the everyday miracles of creation.
The sermon focussed on the biblical significance of grain, wine and oil, three crops which were difficult to grow successfully and made the faithful acutely aware of their dependency on God, the weather, the environment and the community. We were also reminded of Paul’s rebuke to the Corinthians for tucking into a substantial communion meal while excluding the poorer members (1 Corinthians 11:18-22).
In advance of our prayers of intercession, we reflected on the undeniable facts of exclusion and destruction in the global south as a result of over consumption in the developed world. We prayed for strength to sustain our commitment to Eco-Congregation Ireland, be advocates for political change and be clear thinking as we navigate practical issues such as the cost of retrofitting to decarbonise, travelling overland or by air, eating locally sourced or imported plant-based foods, slowing down enough to take public transport.
The presence of the Climate Justice Candle connected us to the many communities who have prayed around it and the words of our neighbour Rev Martin Sauter of St Finian’s Lutheran Church who was the first to host after the Paris Agreement in 2015.
“Truly, the Holy Spirit has been at work. But, the work, as we all sense, is far from over; much more prayer, much more thought and action on all levels needs to follow. The traveling candle can be a wonderful symbol accompanying us.”
