Clearing the Air

Clearing the Air - Fri 16-Sat 17 July, 2010.

What does the Church have to say to government, society, and itself – if anything – on the topic of climate change? The failure to reach any agreement at the recent Copenhagen conference is regarded as a triumph by some and a tragedy by others.

This forum – convened by Glyn Carpenter, National Director, NZ Christian Network, visionnetwork, and Associate Professor Jonathan Leaver, Unitec Institute of Technology – will bring together both groups, and look to produce a consensus-based position statement.

Topics will include (a) epistemology, (b) creation mandate, (c) what position can be reasonably supported by the science, and (d) what can and should we do? The forum is designed primarily for church and public issues leaders, but places are available for students and others to hear a great line up of speakers.

The forum is designed primarily for church and public issues leaders, but places are available for students and others to hear a great line up of speakers, including:
• Professor Ralph Sims, Director, Centre for Energy Research, Massey University
• Dr James Renwick, Principal climate scientist, NIWA
• Ian Wishart, Editor, Investigate magazine, Author: "Air Con"
• Prof Jonathan Boston, Director of the Institute of Policy Studies, Victoria University
• Barry Brills, President, NZ Climate Science Coalition
• Dr Andy Reisinger, Senior Research Fellow, NZ Climate Change Research Institute, Victoria University
• Ken Harrison, Chairman National Church Leaders group, National Superintendant Assemblies of God in New Zealand
• Archbishop David Moxon, Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand, and Polynesia
• Stephen Tollestrup, Executive Director, Tear Fund

Though Matt Flanagan's name isn't in the list above, he's the opening speaker of the conference.

A Prayer for the Earth

Brian McLaren and Tim Costello of World Vision Australia have been working together to compose a prayer that could be used by individuals and groups leading up to the Copenhagen gathering on climate change Dec. 6.

The prayer begins:
Most gracious God, creator of all good things, we thank you for planet Earth and all creatures that share it.

Have mercy on us, Lord. Through ignorance and carelessness we have poisoned clean air and pure water. For monetary gain we have reduced verdant forests to barren wastes. In our craving for more we have plundered your beloved creation and driven many of our fellow creatures to extinction. Only recently have we begun to realize the dangerous future into which our current patterns of consumption and waste are driving us, especially in relation to Earth’s climate. Only recently have we begun to see our need to find a wiser and better way of life in the future, before it is too late and our choices are limited by the consequences of inaction.

There are also alternate versions of the prayer for different occasions.

Jim Wallis on young evangelicals

"Young evangelicals really think that Jesus probably would care more about the 30,000 children who died today because of poverty and disease than he would have about gay marriage amendments in Ohio. This is a new generation of abolitionists, you might say. And they are applying their faith, using their faith, addressing their faith to the challenges we face: the moral scandal of poverty; the degradation of the environment, which they call 'God's creation'; the threat of climate change; human rights; Darfur; pandemic diseases like HIV/AIDS; war and peace issues - the exclusive use of war to fight evil and the foreign policy disasters that has led us to. Their agenda is much wider and deeper."

--Jim Wallis, founder of Sojourners and author of The Great Awakening: Reviving Faith and Politics in a Post-Religious Right America

Alan Jamieson's latest book

Many readers will remember New Zealand pastor Alan Jamieson's two ground-breaking books on people who are Christians but aren't attending church: A Churchless Faith and Church Leavers. (That second title isn't what it was called when it was published in NZ, but is apparently what the English title now is.)

His latest book is Chrysalis, The Hidden Transformations in the Journey of Faith, and it's available either by writing direct to the author, or through the usual Christian bookshop channels.

Drawing on the three principle phases of a butterfly's life and the transformations between these phases, this book suggests subtle similarities with the Christian faith. Increasing numbers of Christian people find their faith metamorphosing beyond the standard images and forms of Christian faith but question about where this may lead remain. Is this the death of personal faith or the emergence of something new? Could it be a journey that is Spirit-led?
'Chrysalis' uses the life-cycle of butterflies as a metaphor for the faith journey that many contemporary people are experiencing. The change for both butterflies and Christians between these 'phases' or 'zones' is substantial, life-changing and irreversible.
This book accompanies ordinary people in the midst of substantive faith change.
'Chrysalis' is primarily pastoral and practical, drawing on the author's experience of accompanying people in the midst of difficult personal faith changes.

Climate Change

With Climate Change becoming an increasingly hot focus in the media, it may be worth going back to an article in sPanz, the quarterly Presbyterian magazine. It was written by Amanda Wells.

There is a short piece by Susan Werstein on a theological view of Climate Change, and a short sidebar listing some of the things you can do, personally or as a group or family. There are also stories about what some churches have done in housegroups or short-term courses to encourage their parishioners to understand the matter more clearly.