The world around us is so full of beauty, it is a source of inspiration and tranquillity for us. The Christian reason for looking after the world arises out of the idea if stewardship: we don’t own the world, we look after if for God. For people of any faith or no faith the idea of stewardship can bring a rational to looking after the environment, we look the world because we will pass it on to our children.Unfortunately, greed and selfishness cause us to pollute and destroy the environment. That is true for big industry, but it is also true for us. It takes effort and sacrifice for us to look after the planet. It’s not just about simple things like reusing plastic bags, it’s about more difficult decisions such as what we eat and what we wear. Personally, I know that being vegan would be good for the environment, but I find it very hard to go that far. So, I try the lesser good, cutting down on meat, thinking about how high to set the thermostat at home, turning off electrical equipment rather than leaving it on standby, and getting places by walking as much as I can and reusing shopping bags.My actions not going to save the planet, but perhaps if enough people make an effort it will slow global warming. I think big changes will only come if multinational companies can no longer make profits from pollution so I hope that improved and cheaper heat pumps, more energy form renewables and perhaps nuclear fusion will help us save the planet. I can see that renewable energy technology and other solutions are improving. As a person of faith, I pray that they will improve fast enough.
St Alban’s day is on the 22nd of June, but we celebrated it as St Alban’s Church yesterday (25th June). Our main services at St Alban’s are very traditional and that is how we celebrated the day.Normally of Saturday we have a less formal communion service at 5pm for our younger people with a simple service and an activity. It doesn’t matter if our services are elaborate or simple so long as they bring people closer to God.St Alban was executed by the Romans as a result of helping a Christian priest escape. Last week was also refugee week. St Alban helped Christian priest to escape oppression (it is perhaps stretching a point, but in modern terms become a refugee).There are many parts of the world where Christians are persecuted for their faith, and many other people are persecuted for their faith or political beliefs. As I think of St Alban I think about what I can do for asylum seekers and refugees. At Ark St Alban's academy our students with be considering that question in collective worship on Monday.
Today we celebrated The Mystery of the Trinity. The Trinity is a uniquely Christian idea of God. There is a lot of theology and philosophy about the Trinity, but actually the concept originates in the Christian experience of God. We experience God as Father, we experience God by knowing Jesus the Son, the we experience the Holy Spirit at work in our lives. While we experience God as these three different persons, we also know that there is only one God. The word Trinity comes from Tri- meaning three and [u]nity naming one.As a Christian the concept of Trinity is an important part of my idea and experience of God but I recognise that everyone’s experience of God, or something outside ourselves is different. For some people’s experience of, or the idea of God, is bad and they might reject the idea of God completely while other’s reject the idea of God on philosophical grounds. For Hindus God is experienced in many forms, though they still believe that there is only one God or ultimate reality. For Jews and Muslims, the oneness of God is the most important.Whatever we believe about God, respecting other people’s beliefs is important.
This week I have been preparing collective worship to celebrate the Ascension of Jesus. The Ascension comes 40 days after Easter Sunday so it’s always on a Thursday. There is a symmetry about Lent, Easter and Ascension. There are 40 fast days of Lent before Easter and 40 days of Easter before Ascension.The sequence doesn’t end with Ascension but carries on to Pentecost (when we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit), Trinity Sunday (when we celebrate the Christian concept of God being three {Father, Son, and Holy Spirit}, yet, one God) and Corpus Christi (when some Christians celebrate Holy Communion). There is reference to the Ascension of the Prophet Mohamad PBUH in the Qu’ran. This is very different concept. In Christianity Jesus is returning to the Father to take up his place within God. In Islam the prophet is shown heaven but returns to earth having been strengthen. They both have the theme of giving strength to carry on and carry our God’s purpose in the world. For Christians the Ascension is a step on the way to Pentecost, and the Holy Spirit coming at Pentecost is what gives Christians strength. For the Prophet Mohamad PBUH the vison of heaven is what gives strength. Atheists might look at the works of a philosopher or the example of good people to give strength. Wherever we find it, we all need a source of strength which is outside ourselves, at least some of the time.
