Welcome to Weobley & Staunton Joint Benefice

In February 2021 the Christian aid and development agency Tear Fund commissioned a survey of young people which found that 9 out of 10 Christian teenagers in the UK were concerned about climate change, but only one in 10 believed their church was doing enough to respond to the climate crisis. The survey also revealed that 86 per cent of the teenagers said their faith teaches them to care about climate injustice. Since then, the Church of England has launched a comprehensive environmental policy and programme which is focused on enabling churches to think more deeply about how they care for the environment through faith, practice and mission. This includes tackling carbon emissions, aiming for net zero carbon by 2030.* It is good to see our local churches responding to this.

One of the great dangers in considering climate change is that we can feel overwhelmed by the unrelenting reports of climate-induced disasters around the globe and consider that we are powerless to do anything. But there are multiple initiatives underway to slow down and address the impact of climate change: flood remediation and the creation of extensive wetlands that slow down run-off; large-scale planting of trees such as in the Sahel region of North Africa to prevent desertification; the restoration and renewal of sea grass along coastlines and peat bogs in hills that act as carbon sinks. We need to keep supporting and praying for the success of such initiatives.

We might also consider how even one small action we take can make a difference, such as planting a single oak tree. If this tree lives to maturity it will eventually capture, every year, around 22 kg (kilograms) of carbon dioxide. If it lives 400-500 years that’s a significant amount of C02! Our faith teaches us to bear responsibility for this world that God has freely given us to enjoy and protect. In the face of all the gloom, despair and apathy around us, let us choose to think globally but act locally. As St Paul encourages us, ‘Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, and be constant in prayer’ (Romans 12:12).

Rev’d Philip

*More information about this programme can be found at https://www.churchofengland.org/about/church-england-environment-programme

O God, you are my God, I seek you,
    my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
    as in a dry and weary land where there is no water (Psalm 63)

David penned these words as he wandered the wilderness of Judah. Over the month of August, with its heatwaves and drought conditions, we have seen a parched landscape first-hand. On a deeper level, there are times when we experience a dry season spiritually. The wells of our religious practice run dry: once meaningful words become empty and our prayer life becomes a struggle rather than a solace. We have difficulty in finding the right language to express our thinking or anguish of heart, and dullness of emotion may leave us wordless.

Our lack of words or coherence are not a problem for God. The psalmist speaks of the language of God’s power and creativity being understood throughout creation without any words being uttered (Psalm 19: 3-4). And in Psalm 62 we are encouraged to enter into silence as a conduit for communication with God:

For God alone my soul waits in silence;

from him comes my salvation.

He alone is my rock and my salvation,

my fortress; I shall never be shaken.

 Whatever desert paths our emotions may lead us along, we are reminded time and again in the Scriptures that God does not change, and that if we can learn to trust Him, and pray to Him, through the good times and the bad, our faith can become for us a stream in the wilderness. WH Auden’s verse may well speak to us:

In the deserts of the heart
Let the healing fountain start,
In the prison of his days
Teach the free man how to praise.

 Rev’d Philip