Justice matters: Live lightly on the earth

On Wednesday Fr Alex reminded us that “God never tires of calling us back”  - in Lent we can renew our vision rediscovering that “everything is gift”.   This Sunday we recall Jesus’ 40 days in the desert.  In another gospel account of this time Jesus is taken up to a high place and the devil says “throw yourself down and the angels will catch you.” Jesus tests neither God nor the law of gravity. God-given intelligence prevailed.

See: In the way that humanity relates to the earth, we are on the brink of jumping.  It's not the law of gravity but climate science and observation that tells us we are about to leap from the reliable climate and beautiful balanced ecosystems and diversity of species, in which we have lived since prehistory. The change is mainly due to burning fossil fuels and excessive consumption. God-given intelligence has yet to prevail over arrogance and avarice - we are not yet in free-fall, but we are on a steepening slippery slope.  

Reflect: We are invited by Pope Francis to an “ecological conversion” in how we live. The impact of COVID is a mere stumble compared to the fall that is ahead unless we change how we live, worldwide. Such change is starting to happen! We are all asked to be a part in it. That change is life enhancing, not an act of self-denial - the world is in Lent.    

Act: Certainly it is important to campaign for governmental policies that are ecologically rational, but to do so with integrity we have to seek to live lightly as part of this just-about-still-perfect planet, in empathy with all people and all the earth.  The daily choices we make are a sign of that integrity and also have systematic effect when many people are making changes.

Living more lightly begins by caring for the earth. We can take time to notice Creation, a couple of minutes as chance can be made, at least once a day, being grateful to our Creator.

Living more lightly can include reducing how much meat we eat – some parishioners are eating vegetarian meals only during Lent (and others doing so year-round). Some have several meat-free days a week. Fr Alex’ recipes are giving us ideas for this during Lent.  We’ll explore this in more detail in a future week but a summary is that farming for meat production is a significant cause of damage to the earth.

Living more lightly, for some of our parishioners, means avoiding those massive online stores who don’t pay fair amounts of tax in the UK.

Living lightly can mean being aware of where our food comes from….  Transport of food is a big contributor to climate change. We can read the food labels… and be more careful in future. I found I was buying frozen fish caught in the Pacific, packaged in China and sold in Edinburgh….crazy! 

Living lightly entails, as we will see next week, justice and buying fair trade produce.

You can see other ideas here and here.

Do email  jp.seecat@gmail.com to include your thoughts here in future weekends: say what “living lightly” means to you, or the choices you make in Lent (or give comments on these Justice Matters). We’d love to hear these ideas from young folk, but under 16’s should ask their parents to email on their behalf.