Carbon Fast 2015 launches this week
Carbon Fast for Lent 2015 will launch on Wednesday and the opening reflection has been submitted by Bishop Tim.
All the South West Dioceses are taking part in the project which is 40 days to consider what you can do to reduce your carbon footprint and reflect on key passages from the Bible. The particular focus for the Fast this year is on the link between our use of water, which needs to be pumped, cleaned and stored; our energy use and the things we consume.
For each day of Lent you can receive a daily email with an action to consider, a bible reading and specially written reflection. To sign up go to www.ecochurchsouthwest.org.uk.
Bishop Tim has provided the opening reflection this year:
And God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. Genesis 1:9
“And it was so.” God is the creator. He created the world and he created us. It is all too easy and natural for us to cut ourselves off from the world around us either literally or metaphorically. The reality of creation is something on which we need to reflect. This is God’s word and he creates. It was so and it is so. How do we connect with the reality of God’s creation? So much of our lives are lived apart from the reality as we fool ourselves into thinking and believing we are the centre of creation. How do you recognise and connect with the reality that God creates?
As we enter this Lent consider praying in a different place and in a different posture than the one you normally use for your daily prayers to connect differently with the reality of God’s creation all around you. “And it was so”.
The initiative has also received praise from Rowan Williams during his address at a global awareness event – Climate Change: A Matter of Faith. The former Archbishop of Canterbury spoke about the ability of us all to make change by small steps and that the Fast was a good way to start such a process. He said: “It’s not that I can make all the difference, but what is the difference I can make? If I can say the someone on the other side of the world (already suffering from climate change), ‘I am seeking live differently for you’, it will help them to trust and give them grounds to trust in the future.”
To begin the Lent Carbon Fast why not remove one light bulb in your home and live without it during Lent as a reminder of what you are doing?
