Worship Service Sunday 6 May 2018 Knox Church Christchurch Climate Change

WELCOME TO KNOX

Knox Church is a congregation within the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand. We aim to create Christian community in which people of all ages, sexual orientations, cultural backgrounds and socio-economic situations are included as equally valued participants in our congregational life. We cherish our diversity, offering a safe place of belonging to any who wish to explore their beliefs in an atmosphere promoting discussion, the development of healthy relationships and spiritual growth. We strive to be open to dialogue and shared experiences with people of other faiths. We enjoy worshipping the

God made known in Jesus, endeavouring to do so in ways that are relevant to our daily lives, respect the integrity of creation, and make a positive difference to our wider world.

The Call to Worship:

We light a candle in the name of Jesus Christ, the Light of the world.

JESUS, WHO KNEW THE SUN ON HIS FACE

AND THE STORM BENEATH HIS FEET;

JESUS, WHO CALLED US TO LIVE

WITH THE GENTLENESS OF GOD;

JESUS, WHO CALLS US NOW

TO LOVE AND CARE FOR CREATION.

Kia noho a Ihowa ki a koutou. God be with you.

MA IHOWA KOE E MANAAKI. GOD BLESS YOU.

Hymn:

St John (Havergal) The Parish Choir, Vol. III, 1851

1. Let all creation dance

in energies sublime,

as order turns with chance,

unfolding space and time;

for nature’s art

in glory grows,

and newly shows

God’s mind and heart.

2. Our own amazing earth,

with sunlight, cloud, and storms,

and life’s abundant growth

in lovely shapes and forms

is made for praise,

a fragile whole,

and from its soul

heaven’s music plays.

3. Lift heart and soul and voice:

in Christ all praises meet,

and nature shall rejoice

as all is made complete.

In hope be strong,

all life befriend,

and gladly tend

creation’s song.

Brian Wren (b. 1936)

Prayer of Adoration:

Just by being,

simply by existing,

the natural order offers its praise:

beauty, creativity, movement, and life begetting life.

ALL CREATION DANCES.

From within the dance,

we too, God’s image-bearers,

offer our word of praise:

wonder and gratitude,

GAZING AT THE STARS,

FEET TREADING THE SOIL OF THE EARTH.

God saw that it was good.

God said that it was good.

AND ALL WAS WELL.

Praise and thanks to God.

Praise and thanks to God.

PRAISE AND THANKS TO GOD.

Prayer of Confession:

A 21st Century Psalm of Darkness - by Tui Bevin,

Compassionate God, we remember the good news of Easter morning;

we’ve said our Hallelujahs and we’ve sung about being an Easter people;

but should we really leave Easter behind without a thought

of what might happen during a typical six weeks here on earth?

69 people would have committed suicide in New Zealand;

and somewhere in the world one person suicided every forty seconds.

Around the world 6.8 million babies would be born into poverty,

33,600 women would die from pregnancy and childbirth

and 1¼ million under five year olds would die preventable deaths.

Three languages would become extinct;

and a few thousand plant and animal species would become extinct.

There would be 40 active conflicts and wars

and three million guns would be sold in the US alone.

336 million people would fly in airplanes;

and about 4 million acres of tropical rain forest would be lost.

There would be 60 million disposable nappies used in New Zealand,

and 42 billion worldwide.

60.5 new plastic bottles would be made; and sold;

and roughly the same number of plastic bags will be made and discarded.

And lastly, the science and numbers on irreversible climate change

are fast becoming too terrifying to contemplate.

Some tell me that what I do or what I don’t do

won’t make any difference,

but in that case, what will?

What will it take to make people, politicians, and business leaders

~ put faceless others ahead of themselves,

~ put their grandchildren’s futures ahead of their greed,

~ put compassion ahead of their anger, and

~ put the environment ahead of their wants?

Lord have mercy.

CHRIST HAVE MERCY.

Lord have mercy.

Assurance and Response

. . . In the name of Christ I say to you:

You are forgiven and you are free.

THANKS BE TO GOD.

Prayer of Supplication:

God of nurturing love,

whose care for creation

holds all things in being,

GIVE US THE CAPACITY

TO SHARE IN YOUR SPIRIT OF CARING,

THAT WE MIGHT BECOME GOOD STEWARDS OF THE EARTH

AND OF ONE ANOTHER.

We pray this in the name of Jesus,

and pray as he taught us, saying:

OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN

HALLOWED BE YOUR NAME,

YOUR KINGDOM COME,

YOUR WILL BE DONE,

ON EARTH AS IN HEAVEN.

GIVE US TODAY OUR DAILY BREAD.

FORGIVE US OUR SINS

AS WE FORGIVE THOSE WHO SIN AGAINST US.

SAVE US FROM THE TIME OF TRIAL

AND DELIVER US FROM EVIL.

FOR THE KINGDOM, THE POWER AND THE GLORY ARE YOURS

NOW AND FOR EVER. AMEN.

The Passing of the Peace

Kia tau tonu te rangimarie o te Ariki ki a koutou.

The peace of Christ be with you all.

A KI A KOE ANO HOKI;

AND ALSO WITH YOU.

We exchange a sign of peace with one another.

If there are younger ones present

A Conversation with the Younger Ones

Although there is no Sunday School at the moment, young ones are welcome to enjoy toys and activity sheets in the play area at the rear of the church.

The First Lesson: Deuteronomy 8: 7-10

In this is the Word of God

THANKS BE TO GOD.

Knox Singers: Where are the voices for the earth?

Shirley Murray (b. 1931)

The Second Lesson: Genesis 1: 27-31

In this is the Word of God

THANKS BE TO GOD.

Hymn:

Tenderness Colin Gibson (b. 1933)

1. Touch the earth lightly,

use the earth gently,

nourish the life of the world in our care:

gift of great wonder,

ours to surrender,

trust for the children tomorrow will bear.

2. We who endanger,

who create hunger,

agents of death for all creatures that live,

we who would foster

clouds of disaster,

God of our planet, forestall and forgive.

3. Let there be greening,

birth from the burning,

water that blesses and air that is sweet,

health in God’s garden,

hope in God’s children,

regeneration that peace will complete.

4. God of all living,

God of all loving,

God of the seedling, the snow and the sun,

teach us, deflect us,

Christ re-connect us,

using us gently and making us one.

Shirley Murray (b. 1931)

Reflection: Rev. Margaret Garland

Hymn:

Love Unknown John Nicholson Ireland (1879-1962)

1. God, bring the day to pass

when forest, rock and hill,

the beasts, the birds, the grass,

will know your finished will:

when we attain our destiny

and nature its lost unity.

2. Forgive our careless use

of water, ore and soil;

the plenty we abuse,

supplied by others’ toil:

save us from making self our creed,

turn us towards our neighbour’s need.

3. Give us, when we release

creation's secret powers,

to harness them for peace,

our children's peace and ours:

teach us the art of mastering,

which makes life rich and draws death's sting.

4. Creation groans, travails,

bound in its futile plight

until the hour it hails

the new found of the light,

who enter on their true estate.

Come, Lord: new heavens and earth create.

Ian Mason Fraser (b. 1917)

Prayers for Others and Ourselves

Led by Tui Bevin (Opoho)

Let us pray…. Creator God, here in this good land of flowing streams, wheat and apple trees, kai moana and honey, we have lives the envy of many in our world, yet we easily take so much for granted and are dissatisfied. We give thanks for the giggle of a child, the garden’s harvest, the colour and crunchiness of autumn leaves, and for this day of worshipping and learning together.

In the silence now we offer thanks for the blessings and joys in our lives….

Lord, meet us in the silence and hear our prayer.

Compassionate God, we pray for those who live in darkness, those who

struggle, who mourn, are lonely, who suffer, are unjustly accused, without work, or living through disasters. May they know that you are with them always, and they are never alone; help us hear their need and walk beside them and not ahead or behind; help us be the Good News in their lives and not be yet another damning voice or system.

Lord, hear our prayer.

We pray for our world, this planet earth that you created in all its glorious

abundance but that we desecrate by our actions. We pray for leaders and lawmakers, kuia and kaumatua, scientists and psalmists. Help them use their positions and mana to enhance creation and sustain a healthy world for our children’s children’s children so that we might avoid catastrophic changes from which there will be no turning back.

We pray for investors, developers, manufacturers, businesspeople and tax collectors. Help them use opportunities so that they are part of the long term solution to issues of environmental damage and climate change and don’t simply focus on the twin false gods of greed and growth.

Lord, hear our prayer.

We pray for the prophets and visionaries, and artists and poets who have a big role to play in helping us adapt to our changing world. We need them to help us see through new eyes. Encourage them to take their part in protecting the environment and finding solutions to the difficulties the future is bringing us.

Lord, hear our prayer.

Loving God, when we think about the darkness in the world and the crisis of climate change, it can be difficult to know what we ourselves might do and to find the strength to do it. We pray that you help us challenge our complacency and fire our imaginations so that we might

• put faceless others ahead of ourselves,

• our grandchildren’s futures ahead of our greed,

• compassion ahead of our anger, and

• the environment ahead our wants.

Lord, hear our prayer.

In the silence now we pray for the people and situations that are much on our minds ………….Lord, meet us in the silence and hear our prayer.

These and all our prayers spoken and unspoken we pray in the name of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, Amen.

The Offering and Dedication

We stand for the dedication of the Offering

Bless the food, that it may sustain the hungry.

Bless the money, that it may meet the need.

BLESS ALSO US,

THAT WE MIGHT BE COURAGEOUS AND RESOURCEFUL

IN KEEPING AND CARING FOR THE EARTH.

In Jesus’ name we pray.

AMEN.

Notices

Hymn:

Dunedin Vernon Griffiths (1894-1985)

1. Where mountains rise to open skies

your name, O God, is echoed far,

from island beach to kauri’s reach,

in water’s light, in lake and star.

2. Your people’s heart, your people’s part

be in our caring for this land,

for faith to flower, for aroha

to let each other’s mana stand.

3. From broken word, from conflict stirred,

from lack of vision, set us free

to see the line of your design,

to feel creation’s energy.

4. Your love be known, compassion shown,

that every child have equal scope:

in justice done, in trust begun

shall be our heritage and hope.

5. Where mountains rise to open skies

your way of peace distil the air,

your spirit bind all humankind,

one covenant of life to share!

Shirley Murray (b. 1931)

Benediction and Sung Amen

Postlude: Tuba Tune

Craig Sellar Lang (1891-1971)

Tea and coffee are served in the Knox Centre Lounge following the morning service

Music printed in this order of service is covered

under a music copyright licence agreement:

LicenSing #604802

Climate Change Sermon Knox Church 6 May 2018

Readings:  Deuteronomy 8: 7-10     Genesis 1: 27-31

Who?  By Tui Bevin

Who among us cannot say:

I drove

even though there was a bus?

I used takeaway cups and disposable nappies

                        even though I had alternatives?

            I kept doing what I’ve always done

                        because everybody else did?

Who among us can say:

I did my best

                        even though it was difficult?

I did without

                        even though it put me out?

I did my bit

                        even though many may not?

Who among us will:

            be another one to

make the harder choices?

be another one to

stand up for future generations?

            be another one to

be a voice for the earth?

Who? 

We pray:  May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight O God, our rock and our sustainer.  Amen.

Last Sunday we gathered in Opoho to worship God and chose to focus on the gnarly issue of care for our environment – and it was wonderful that some of you from Knox joined with us - really special.  Our service then, like today, concentrated on the issue of climate change and our response to it.  Matthew preached a magnificent sermon, we sang some of the wonderful hymns we are singing today, our liturgy spoke of the challenges we face and the answers God gives us which we have yet to grasp –all of the service confronted us with our lack of respect and valuing for the world God created and entrusted to our care. 

In the afternoon, we again sat in the church – a seminar this time with a mixed bunch of people from all walks of life, some with particular expertise, others with agendas, some hoping for answers, everyone looking for a way of responding to the climate catastrophes that are finally, finally making themselves heard across the nation and over the world and, dare I say it, in the church.

                                                           

I’ve had some time since then to absorb, to ponder and reflect on what was said on the day - and to hold conversations with people, mainly those outside the church, who are excited that we, the church, are finally doing something.  Most of these people that I talked to don’t actually think the church has much of a voice on the important issues like climate change – and they want to help us fix that.  They see where the church could be so effective and such a vehicle for change and want to encourage us to be part of the solution, to work with us and alongside us.  Now I didn’t see that coming - that was an unexpected perspective for me?  And heart warming.  But the question did arise - when did we get to be so far behind the ball game that others can see our possibilities better than we can?  Where did we lose our connection with the huge issues of the world – and where has gone our passion to heal and make whole the brokenness of the world?

I am aware that I am speaking in Christchurch, in a city that full well knows the brokenness and hurt of disaster striking.  The energy, the compassion, the healing that is needed in this place has been immense and continues to be so.  And I give thanks to God for your faith and your love and your serving in the face of such pain.

But I wonder, as a now Dunedinite, and as a north Cantabrian before the earthquakes, just how close, how immediate the disaster needs to be before I actually take note?  Because I think that I have failed – failed to recognise the scale of this climate change disaster because it hasn’t immediately impacted my life in my small corner of the world.  I have heard the words of concern in the church – but more as an exercise in compassion than with any real understanding of the agony of the earth and my place in its restoration. But now I am beginning to take note.  And so I ask today – is the church also beginning to take note? 

So I am going to move from the personal to the community of faith that we are part of – and ask all of us - where are the voices for the earth in the church?  Have we forgotten our first charge to protect the earth as God calls us to do?

The readings chosen for today leave us in no doubt of God’s delight in creation and of our charge to care for it and nourish it.  That God abundantly provided for us was clear – that we can eat our fill and bless the Lord our God for the good land that is given us is true – for some of us. Yet we, as a people of faith, have a commission: to cherish and nurture, build up and protect, share and grow.  To provide for future generations and make decisions that respect God’s good creation for its own sake. Not sure we have got that sorted really.  Maybe we have let that little phrase ‘dominion over the earth’ become a permission to use and abuse and subjugate to our purpose! It feels that way sometimes for sure. We have to take responsibility.  These words from the campaigning group Earth First resonate for me– 'The earth is dying, it is being murdered and the people murdering it have names and addresses!'  Harsh – but a wake-up call none the less. 

Let us just look at this country of Aotearoa – underpopulated (by world standards), fertile, with a variety of climates and rich flora and fauna. A perfect Eden for those early settlers, tangata whenua and European. Yet now our waters no longer run clear, pollutants fill the sea, our skies are choked and our earth has no chance to rest.  God weeps at our abuse of the creation entrusted to our care - in Aotearoa. And when we lift our eyes from our own little corner and see the pain of the whole earth – we need to do something!  The whole world, and most desperately the vulnerable people in it, are already paying the price of not just our exploitation but also neglect and disregard – our ‘uncaring’ for creation. We, the church, the people who heed the word of God,  are desperately needed to be voices for the earth!

Yet let us be real about this – part of the inertia is around the sheer scale of the issue – even when the urgency finally hits, the ‘how’ becomes overwhelming.  It is understandable that we hunker down, hope that God has some miracle waiting in the wings.  Well so God does! He tangata, he tangata, he tangata.  It is the people, the people, the people.’  You and me! We are the answer.

So I want to turn to the Easter story – the story that changed the face of the world as we know it –and more specifically the way in which the people responded to the dire events of those few days – and see if we can find some hope and purpose that helps us now. 

The people who had followed Jesus were faced with an absolute catastrophe – Jesus had been betrayed by the very people one might have expected to welcome him, he had failed to make a difference in the way his followers expected and had been disgustingly and uncaringly hung on a cross by those whom he had come in love for.  There is some resonance with our treatment of the earth is there not?  Betrayal of the land, lack of understanding and living to God’s vision, creation hung out to dry!

We remember the way the people of the way responded.  They locked themselves in rooms, turned inwards, walked away, gave up – immobilised by despair.  And they didn’t believe it when the dead Jesus appeared to them again, when he spoke to the women, walked on the road with them, came into the room with them and said ‘peace be with you’.   It was too hard to imagine, too much to understand or see what it meant.  It took time for the news of Christ-with-us to penetrate, for people to be convinced, for the hope to take hold.  But when it did – the absolute belief that in the risen Christ the world could be turned upside down, love could triumph over death, justice was not just possible but demanded – when it did we have the fire that filled the bellies and set the hearts alight to transform the world and reconcile us to God and each other.  What a vision!

You see in the end, the people who followed Jesus, who saw him crucified, who had a hand in his death, who turned away in despair - in the end they got it!    They recovered their belief that, in Christ, all things are possible and that the morass they, and we, find ourselves in now had an answer –if we would but trust in the power of God to love us and to change the world through us then amazing things can happen. 

Our words, our actions, our tears and our voice can change the direction this world is taking – but we have to exercise them!  Can we do that – can we move out of the Easter Saturday doldrums, work our way through the kernel of hope that grew slowly out of the empty tomb and erupt with the conviction and energy of the Pentecost presence to change the disaster that is killing this beautiful creation we call our world?

I finish with this prayer:

Creating God, you have given us a vision of a new heaven and a new earth....

Resources conserved

Earth Tended

Atmosphere cleansed

Trees planted

Injustice ended

Oceans teeming

Nations at peace.

Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer

Alert nations, enthuse churches,

Receive our commitment and so entwine our live with your purpose

Earth and heaven will then sing of your glory.

Amen

Margaret Garland

worship Service and Sermon Climate change at Opoho Church 29 April 2018

Service of Worship   Opoho Church Sunday 29 April, 2018

‘Where are the Voices for the Earth?”

With the Opoho Music Group and Knox Church Christchurch

Welcome

Call to Worship 

O God, who called all life into being,

the earth, sea and sky are yours.

Your presence is all around us,

every atom is full of your energy.

Your Spirit enlivens all who walk the earth,

with her we yearn for just to be done,

for creation to be freed from bondage,

for the hungry to be fed,

for captives to be released,

for your kingdom of peace to come on earth.

Hymn please stand as the Bible is carried in and for the first hymn

Words © Shirley Murray Tune: Dunedin by Vernon Griffiths  AA 155

Where mountains rise to open skies

your name, O God, is echoed far,

from island beach to kauri’s reach,

in water’s light, in lake and star.

Your people’s heart, your people’s part

be in our caring for this land,

for faith to flower, for aroha

to let each other’s mana stand.

From broken word, from conflict stirred,

from lack of vision, set us free

to see the line of your design,

to feel creation’s energy.

Your love be known, compassion shown,

that every child have equal scope:

in justice done, in trust begun

shall be our heritage and hope.

Where mountains rise to open skies

your way of peace distil the air,

your spirit bind all humankind,

one covenant of life to share!

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and the Spirit of God breathed life into being, and it was all very good in God’s eyes.

We who live in the land of Aotearoa know this perhaps more than others – the beauty, the freedom to enjoy, the connection with the land, the wisdom and deep understanding of the tangata whenua to this land.  We are indeed blessed. 

We who live in the land of Aotearoa are also blessed in our power to speak out, to influence and to challenge, to learn and to debate, to have the freedom to say our piece and the resources to choose our path.

Yet we do not always see beyond our immediate needs, have the courage to speak boldly and live according to our calling as Christians, as people who care.  We do not always support those in our community who also care, we do not always make choices, act according to our commission to love and care for creation.

Confession: A 21^st Century Psalm of Darkness by Tui Bevin

Compassionate Lord, we remember the good news of Easter morning, we've said our Hallelujahs and we’ve sung about being an Easter people,

but should we really leave Lent behind without a thought

of what might happen during a typical six weeks here on earth?

We confess that we don’t need to look far to see

that it was most likely business as usual :

69 people would have committed suicide in New Zealand;

and somewhere in the world one person suicided every 40 seconds.

And around the world 6.8 million babies would be born into poverty;

33,600 women would die from pregnancy and childbirth

and 1¼ million under five year olds would die preventable deaths .

Three languages would become extinct;

and a few thousand plant and animal species would became extinct.

There would be 40 active conflicts and wars;

and 3 million guns would be sold in the US alone.

336 million people would fly in airplanes;

and about 4 million acres of tropical rain forest would be lost.

There would be 60 million disposable nappies used in New Zealand,

and 42 billion worldwide.

60.5 billion new plastic bottles would be made and sold;

and roughly the same number of plastic bags will be made and discarded.

and lastly, the science and numbers on irreversible climate change

are fast becoming too terrifying to contemplate.

Some tell me that what I do or what I don’t do

won’t make any difference,

but in that case, what will?

What will it take to make people, politicians, and business leader?

~ put faceless others ahead of themselves,

~ put their grandchildren’s futures ahead of their greed,

~ put compassion ahead of their anger, and

~ put the environment ahead of their wants?

Lord have mercy on us.

We sing: E te Ariki (Lord have mercy) FFS 13

Leader:           E te Ariki kia aroha mai

Congregation:          E te Ariki kia aroha mai

Leader:           E te Karaiti kea arouha mail

Congregation:         E te Karaiti kea arouha mai

Leader:           E te Ariki kia aroha mai

Congregation:         E te Ariki kia aroha mai

Prayer

Creator God, we confess that we have sinned:

we have used creation not cherished it,

we have lived selfishly,

not watched the balance of life;

we have been greedy

not sharing earth’s gifts;

and our footprints are heavy not gentle.

Forgive us the damage that disturbs our planet.

Grant us the grace to live for the world’s healing

and our own.

We sing: E te Ariki (Lord have mercy) FFS 13

Leader:           E te Ariki kia aroha mai

Congregation:          E te Ariki kia aroha mai

Leader:           E te Karaiti kea arouha mail

Congregation:         E te Karaiti kea arouha mai

Leader:           E te Ariki kia aroha mai

Congregation:         E te Ariki kia aroha mai

May the seasons of the year, the life of this world be restored to your design Holy God.  May the horror we have allowed be transformed again into your good creation.  May we be your agents of change and reconciliation we pray. Amen

Assurance of Pardon

E te whanau – Do not be down hearted – In Christ all things are possible, in love all things can be transformed, in God and through God comes the healing of the world and of us …we are forgiven, we are set free.  Thanks be to God

Hymn

Words Shirley Murray, Music Jillian Bray FFS 75

Where are the voices for the earth?

Where are the eyes to see her pain,

wasted by our consuming path, weeping the tears of poisoned rain?

Sacred the soil that hugs the seed,

sacred the silent fall of snow,

sacred the world the God decreed, water and sun and river flow.

Where shall we run who break this code,  

where shall tomorrow’s children be,

left with the ruined gifts of God. Death for the creatures, land and sea?

We are the voices for the earth,

we who will care enough to cry,

cherish her beauty, clear her breath, live that our planet may not die.                         

The Peace 

The whole universe is a gift of God.

Everything here is a gift of God.

We are the gifts of God to each other.

We are all part of the procession of life.

We are the people of God here in this place.

Let us share the peace of Christ with one another.

Kia tau tonu te rangimarie o te Ariki ki a koutou;

The Peace of Christ be with you all

A ki a koe ano hoki. And also with you

we exchange a sign of peace with each other

Community Time – welcome, notices, anniversaries

Birthday greetings today.
May God bless you we pray.
Live for Jesus dear [name or friends],
May he guide you always.

Chat Time

Hymn  please remain standing at the end for the Offertory Prayer

Words Cecil Alexander refrain and v.4(alt), Margaret Garland v.1,2,3

All things bright and beautiful,

all creatures great and small,

all things wise and wonderful –

the Lord God made them all.

The green ferns and the punga,

the mountain ranges high,

the sparkling lake and rivers,

the darting fantail’s cry

All things bright and beautiful,

The mighty river gorges,

the kauri trees so tall,

the rocks, and pools, and seascape,

the thund'ring waterfall,

All things bright and beautiful,

The bush, so green and peaceful,

the creatures of the sea,

the ancient tuatara,

bright kea soaring free.

All things bright and beautiful,

God gave us eyes to see them,

and lips that we might tell

how great is God Creator,

who has made all things well.

All things bright and beautiful,

Offertory Prayer

O God, we pray that, as we share these gifts, you will widen the landscape of our seeing, so that we enhance the lives of people whom we may have failed to know before. Guide us in our giving and bless our gifts, we pray.

Amen.

Bible Readings  

First Reading Jonah 2: 1-10 A Psalm of Thanksgiving

Second Reading  Revelation 22: 1-5 The River of Life

Reader: Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church

People: Thanks be to God

Reflection –Rev Dr Matthew Jack  

Words of Response Words Bill Wallace HioS 146

What does our God require of us

but to do justly, love mercy

and walk humbly with God.

What does the earth require of us

but to share oneness, give nurture

and reverence of all life.

What do the people seek with us

but to gain justice, share caring

and be at one with Earth.

Come let us sing the song of God

as we seek justice, find stillness,

and treasure earth with God.

Hymn

Words © Shirley Murray Music © Colin Gibson AA 143

Touch the earth lightly, use the earth gently,

nourish the life of the world in our care:

gift of great wonder, ours to surrender,

trust for the children tomorrow will bear.

We who endanger, who create hunger,

agents of death for all creatures that live,

we who would foster clouds of disaster,

God of our planet, forestall and forgive!

Let there be greening, birth from the burning,

water that blesses and air that is sweet,

health in God’s garden, hope in God’s children,

regeneration that peace will complete.

God of all living, God of all loving,

God of the seedling, the snow and the sun,

teach us, deflect us, Christ re-connect us,

using us gently and making us one.

Prayers of Thanksgiving and Intercession Len Pierce, Knox Church

A ‘Jonah Soliloquy’

Swallowed into the hot, foul smelling

belly of a dilemma too big to handle

Wrapped in weeds, drenched by the deep waters

and paralysed by terror

Dragged down into the liminal place

where the future is swamped by a discomforted and alone

In that breath before the last

a little prayer trickles up from his viscera

He says ‘I remembered the Lord’

Loving God, like our brother Jonah

We are weed draped and tangled by the confusing arguments and theories about the warming of our planet

We fell some of the terror arising when fierce winds blow, seas roar and waves smash fragile shelter in ongoing huge weather events.

We acknowledge that we have skipped along enjoying the tranquillity and prosperity of our small islands

As we listen to the daily litanies of melting ice, felled forests, dying species and destroyed habitats we, like Jonah, often want to hunker down turning our back on the mounting challenges and eventually tuning out your claim on us as your people.

The questions won’t retreat

        Are we too late?     Have we already passed the tipping point?

Has the world we have allowed to be dying left us to our own self inflicted fate? 

Elegiac, and sorrowful we are.

Silence

What can we do?  We feel small insignificant creatures; some are getting older, weaker and find it hard enough to deal with our own micro worlds.

We, like Jonah, still have a whisper of prayer.

We, like Jonah, ‘remember the Lord’.

        The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof’ says the Psalmist.

The whole creation groaning to give birth to life on this blue marble that swims in an ocean of black.

We too groan with the pity of our awakened souls, looking for signs of hope.

Silence waiting for a morsel of prayer to work its way into consciousness.

It’s not a media event, or a headline, or a policy or a deal!

Jonah was a minor prophet – his inner work bubbles forth – it is about our covenant with you, about our commitment to the dearest things we love.

If we are small, O God, tell us again how we can be people who guard the promise.

Let us listen to the discussion with that inner ear.

As we brood on the immensity of challenge left us beyond the echo of our own fears and diminished hope, let us move to live with the grain of the universe.  Come, Spirit, propel us into the mission we are made for and let us, with renewed energies and a lively sense of togetherness, be voices for the earth.  Amen.

 ....we say together

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,

your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth, as in heaven. 

Give us this day our daily bread. 

Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us. 

Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil. 

For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours, now and forever.  Amen.

Hymn

Words: Brian Arthur Wren    Tune: Darwall  WOV 26

Let all creation dance in energies sublime,

as order turns with chance, unfolding space and time,

for nature’s art in glory grows,

and newly shows God’s mind and heart.

God’s breath each force unfurls, igniting from a spark

expanding starry swirls, with whirlpools dense and dark.

Though moon and sun seem mindless things,

each orbit sings: ‘Your will be done.’

Our own amazing earth, with sunlight, cloud and storms

and life’s abundant growth in lovely shapes and forms,

is made for praise, a fragile whole,

and from its soul heaven’s music plays.

Lift heart and soul and voice: in Christ all praises meet

and nature shall rejoice as all is made complete. 

In hope be strong, all life befriend

and kindly tend creation’s song.

Commissioning 

Let us go in peace.

We go in the name of Christ.

Benediction

And may the grace of Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with us all now and always.   [Sung] Amen

1Sermon Sunday 29 April, 2018

Opoho Church, Dunedin

Lesson: Jonah 2: 1-10

Preacher: Rev. Dr Matthew Jack

From the belly of a fish comes a post-traumatic psalm - a prayer for deliverance.

“The deep surrounded me, weeds were wrapped around my head. Waves and billows; at the roots of the mountains.”

This is the cry of someone for whom the environment has become a hostile

horror. For goodness sake, in what kind of distorted natural order does someone pray from the belly of a fish!? The beautiful creation has become something that eats us up for breakfast, that swallows us up. How on earth did we get to here?

How did we get to here? The story of Jonah begins with the phrase “the word of the Lord came to Jonah”. It came with something you could describe as a command, or a request from God - certainly it came as a religious responsibility.

It’s a call for Jonah to speak to the people of a certain city about how they are conducting themselves. Jonah is called to point out to the people of Nineveh that they’re getting it wrong. The text is kind of vague on the exact nature of their wrong, but we’re told that they had “violence in their hands”. Violent towards one another? Violent towards the world in which they lived? Violent towards themselves? Nobody knows, but violence is key.

The ruins of violent Nineveh lie, these days, across the river from modern day Mosul - location of the ferocious nine month battle between the Iraqi government and the Islamic State - during which 500,00 civilians fled the city. Two and a half thousand people were killed in the conflict; with a further four thousand prisoners executed afterwards. This part of the world has a well established tradition and history of violence. Things were going wrong in Nineveh, and Jonah was called to name it - to declare it, to confront it. His response? His response was to run away - fast in the other direction. How does Jonah end up with weeds wrapped around his head?

Drowned in the depths of the ocean, worrying about the foundations of

the mountains, dislocated from the natural order and praying from the belly of a fish? The first step towards all that is running away from what he knows is the truth - refusing to accept the reality - that humanity is getting it violently wrong.

Humanity is getting it wrong - we run away.

Thomas Brunner, a surveyor from Nelson (up the road) set out down the West Coast in 1846. He was looking for land suitable for farming. Among his provisions he carried two guns, biscuits and tea, and seven kilos of tobacco. Thomas obviously enjoyed a smoke. He died at the age of 52. Travelling down the coast, he contended with sand flies and rain. He enjoyed neither - and chronicled his double dislike. He fell into the habit of trekking for a week, then camping for a week. During the camping week, he’d restock his supplies by fishing, hunting, gathering cabbage and tree roots. The natural order gave to him generously – and a good, sustainable pattern settled. On one occasion, however, the natural environment failed to open its pantry, and Thomas had to tide himself over a lean time. He did this by killing and eating his dog. He described the dog meat as “something between mutton and pork - too richly flavoured to be eaten by itself.”

Having killed and eaten his companion animal, Thomas was thereafter known by his Maori guide, Kehu, as “Kai kuri” - which means dog eater. An unfortunate epithet, but what’s a man to do when he’s hungry and the environment resists!  (Violence in the hands.)

Talk about the environment not delivering! Thomas was having practically no luck finding the farming land he was looking for. Everything was far too steep, wet and mossy. However, half way up the Arahura river valley, he did find something interesting. He found land that was full of coal. Coal is good for burning. Coal is good for powering big machines and warming the city. Coal is good for selling. So he established a coal extraction industry right there and then - and named it after himself: the “Brunner mine”. Because the Brunner mine’s coal was of really good quality, it became a really popular fuel. It was sold everywhere, and contributed to much of the air pollution experienced by Victorian Aotearoa New Zealand. No other fuel was burned as significantly as Brunner coal. It made our world just a wee bit dirty.

In 1896, there was an explosion in the Brunner mine. Every one of the sixty five miners inside the mine was killed. There’s some debate about how many of the sixty five died as a direct result of the blast, and how many died of the gases that followed - gases referred to at the time as “after-damp”. Rescuers reported that many of the bodies recovered had froth around their mouths, so it seemed that gassing, rather than explosion was the main cause of death. The Brunner mine disaster remains our country’s worst industrial accident. It didn’t, of course, deter the industry from mining for coal. Coal continued to be considered necessary. We did after all have our machines to run, our cities to heat, our sales to make. The industrial machine continued to be hungry - kai kuri, violence in the hands, humanity is getting it wrong, and Jonah’s going to end up in the belly of a fish. Don’t turn away Jonah. Name it. Declare it. Confront it.

Whatever you do, don’t turn away. If you turn away, you’ll be covered in

weeds. You’ll be drowning in the ocean. You’ll be praying from the belly of a

fish. The word of the Lord insists that you speak, you act, you do.

I lived in China for a while. It was a good experience. China accounts for 47%

of coal burned globally. It is estimated that China burns 4.2 billion metric tons of coal each year. What’s a country to do? After all there are machines to be driven, cities to heat, sales to be made. One day in China there was a

temperature inversion. A lack of cloud at night meant the earth cooled quickly.

Hot air rose, and cold air fell. It became a perfect scenario for trapping, down at ground level, the pollution that normally would dissipate up into the sky. On my way to work in the morning, I couldn’t see more than a hundred metres in front of me. What I could see, though, were the people of China going about their business in the usual way. I was stunned, appalled by the filthiness of the air - but nobody else was. I found myself wondering, amid the mess, how bad it would need to get, I thought, for people to react - to say “this is not normal.

Something’s gone wrong.” Jonah, go to Nineveh, and call them to account.

Call out the violence in their hands. Name what they cannot see - the ways

they damage themselves. Where are the voices for the earth?

Jonah, the denying, disobedient one, ends up in the belly of the fish, stuck in

some unnatural and frightening situation, because he refuses to hear the word of the Lord, and refuses to confront the people about the violence in their hands. Jonah, don’t turn away. Speak the word of the Lord.

Praise God! We are told that, at the end of Jonah’s lament from inside the fish, God spoke to the fish, and it spewed Jonah out upon the dry land. Does

spewing sound horrible? Sick? Violent? Sick creation is spewing . . . And yet it puts Jonah back on firm ground - back where he belongs. And what happens next? Next, a second time, an insistent time, the word of the Lord comes to him, and says “get yourself to Nineveh”. The call has not gone away. Things in the big dirty city are still awry, and the call persists.

Where are the voices for the earth? The prophets are the ones who hear what Jonah’s narrator calls “the word of the Lord”. The prophets are the ones who know there is violence being done. The prophets are the ones who have learned that we cannot turn away - that there is a great responsibility that must be faced.

The prophets are the ones who sing, pray, cry, from an unnatural place, who

name and mourn the wrong. The prophets, the voices for the earth, are those who, even eventually, go into the city to speak - to call for a better, less violent way.

There it is.

The rest of the story of Jonah is quick and simple. Jonah goes to the city,

confronts the people. The people repent, and the city is saved. Jonah is

annoyed, because he’s been outed as someone saying “Nineveh will die” – and Nineveh has done the opposite. Would that Nineveh had died! I wish it had - better result than this egg on my face! Bloody victory of life!

Whereupon the word of God gently reminds Jonah that it’s good the city didn’t die. The city is full of 120,000 people who don’t know their left hand from their right - and also many animals. Don’t forget the animals! Brunner eats the dog - the fish is spewing, and God finishes the story of Jonah saying “don’t forget the animals”. The last words in the book of Jonah are “and also many animals”.

Something other than the human order receives the final word of concern.

Jonah runs away. God’s love for the other over-flows. The prophet story ends, while the calling begins.

Where are the voices for the earth? The word has been spoken. The prophet’s ear has been pricked. Where are the voices for the earth?

We keep a moment of quiet . . .