going green

Maybe it happens with age.

But I seem to get 'greener' as every day goes by.

More and more aware that if we recognise the Lord as being creator of all things (like the world we live in), then all the noisy, vibrant, with-it 'Hallelujah' songs we sing are really pretty meaningless if they are not daily mirrored in the care we take of his created world.

I mean, God's being the great creator is really fairly basic as a truth the Scriptures teach. They start with that. And they end with that. And most things in between are all about the care God has for good old planet earth.

But hey, maybe it is an age thing.

I started the day by addressing some tasks I've been meaning to do for a while. The common end of which is to make things a whole load easier for my next of kin when I die. (I was going to say 'if I die..' but, of course, there isn't an 'if' about it, I guess - short of the Lord's return).

My Dad and Mum now both being dead in a strange sort of way leaves me feeling much more 'vulnerable'. Stupid really. Because I could die any time. But it's just with neither of the two of them being any longer there as a kind of generational 'buffer', then I'm now in the generational 'front line'.

Time to put my affairs in order! That puts it a bit strongly, though, I have to say. These were really pretty little tasks I've been meaning to do for a while. So that if I suddenly died, then folk would have some sort of clue as to where to find the things they needed to find. That sort of thing.

So maybe, yes, maybe it's an age thing. Every day that goes by is one less day I have to do what I mean to do with my life. And as the clock ticks on, I guess it's bound to bring a certain urgency to how I live my life.

I was thinking about 'environment' today. I started (after attending to these what-to-do-when-I-die administrative tasks I'd set myself) with the day by day environment of work.

I did some work on that. Tidying up and vacuuming. Relocating bits and pieces here and there which sort of cluttered up the place. Fruit in the bowl. That sort of thing. Environment.

The environment of work. If I can't care much about that tiny little world which is the place of work, then I needn't really bother with the bigger world out there.

The first step may be pretty small. But you have to start somewhere. And I started with the work-place where I'm at.

Over lunch I was back at the school. It's SU day.

We had a good crowd of children again and we were chatting about the story Jesus told about the five smart girls and the five foolish girls.

I think they thought it kind of scary when they counted up and found that there were ten of them today. All girls! They thought that we were making up the numbers as we went along until we showed them what the Bible said.

You could see them sort of looking at each other, like this was really getting rather personal!

They were full of ideas as to how we could be ready for the coming of the Lord. All the usual stuff, of course. Reading the Bible and praying. That sort of thing.

But they also came up with the notion of sort of 'decorating' the world. Like you'd sometimes decorate the house if you were waiting for a special friend to come.

So I got them thinking about exactly how they might do that and 'decorate' the world. Some of them said, 'The world's too big, it would take you far too long!' (I think they were maybe thinking rather literally).

So I said, 'Well, you start where you are. Your home, your school. You start your decorating there. Making it a better, brighter place. By what you do and how you speak. That sort of thing.'

They started to get the picture. One of them said, 'I'm going to France for my holidays. I could decorate France!' And once we got onto holiday destinations, I think the whole world could soon have been covered.

You start somewhere. Where you are. You start to make the changes there.

I went on from there to a meeting of the team who run the Reception Area here. We've been thinking a lot along just these lines in recent years.

(They're all about ages with me, give or take a year or two. Or more. So maybe it's an age thing again!)

The ways in which we can do a bit more than merely tinker with environmental care. We all believe quite strongly that it's no use waiting round for someone else to give the lead.

Sometimes you just have to go out and give such a lead yourself. We're planning to do just that.

It was a planning meeting. Planning a day some months ahead when the challenge to treat God's creation aright can all be worked through and addressed.

We're keen to instil a whole new way of thinking which in bold and most imaginative ways provides a lead which all the village and beyond can gladly follow. So that together we're able to 'decorate' the world the way it's surely meant to be.

And show the whole community the difference that our recognising God as being Creator, and our worshipping him as such, can make.

Why should we always be the ones who're doing the catching up?

A lot of time was spent on that this afternoon. It excites me no end! I picture the whole community beginning to get involved, beginning to share a large-scale common enterprise.

As the children at the SU group began to feel - the message of the Bible is really rather personal!

Like the finger's somehow pointed right at us.

'Roll up your sleeves. Get out in the field. Starting worshipping God with dirty hands. Start playing your Sunday guitars with fingers radically green'