The gospel reading for today is really quite apt as Jesus says ‘whoever welcomes a child in my name welcomes me and therefore God’ and later today, at St John’s we really will be putting a child in the midst of everyone as we baptise Kimberley.
Children in Jesus’ day would have been devoid of status or rights, they existed for the benefit of their parents, so welcoming a child really would have been like sending out a welcome to all on the fringes, the most vulnerable in society. And when we care for, or support those who are smaller or weaker than us, we are doing God’s work; we create space where others can feel God’s love and we do this in God’s strength. Therefore, as children of God I urge you all to look for those opportunities to help and support others, bringing them into God’s love.
If we can humbly support those that need it, we will be those servant hearted people that Jesus speaks of when he says: ‘whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all’. Jesus doesn’t want his friends or us to waste time arguing and bickering, focusing on materialism, trying to outdo others – he wants them, and us, to understand that, in the Kingdom of God, it isn’t what we do best or what we have the most of that will place us first, it is by taking the place of a servant, simply caring for others as we admit our limitations and lean on God for strength. The values of the Kingdom of Heaven are different to the values of the world. However, we can start to balance that out.
In a recent daily meditation that I receive via email, I read something that made me really stop and ponder – it was taken from the Laudato Si written by Pope Francis, almost a decade ago, a letter addressed to all people living on this planet. He said: “The emptier a person’s heart is, the more the person needs to buy, own, and consume.” So, fill your heart every morning with God!
Can we do that? Can we fill our hearts afresh with God every morning and come from a place of faith into every situation? Setting aside arguments and a desire to be the best at any cost?
This letter written by Pope Francis sets out that it is our responsibility to care for our world and not ‘steal’ resources from future generations; how we must work for its sustainability and produce a common plan with differentiated responsibilities and an approach that puts care for the very poorest at the centre of the way we live our lives. The very poorest are affected most by our plundering of the planet. The most important way that we can begin to heal our planet is to allow God, daily, to heal our divided hearts so that we can come as God’s servants to make a difference and begin to heal this suffering earth, putting first those that have the least.
Creation is a gift, not a given. We see God’s power and genius as the architect and maker of creation. We also see God’s care and goodness for creation, and we must work alongside God to protect and sustain.
Some believe our hope lies in technical innovation, in new regulatory frameworks, or in political action. All of these are important, but they do not change human nature, I believe that modelling change and encouraging others to follow, slowly but surely changes human nature and as we, as a church family, aim to make changes to achieve the A Rocha Eco Church Awards, we must have hope, that as we start small we produce a ripple effect that will make a difference more widely.
On Friday night the young people of our church met, with bucket loads of pizza, to discuss how they would like to embody the idea of church family. What would they like to give and to get out of a group where they could meet similar aged young people.
Kimberley, the little girl being baptised today, suggested they could litter pick and tidy up around the church. Whilst as adults we may stand and pass comment on the fact that litter has been left, arguing over the lack of bins and so forth, the servant heart of God is already alive in Kimberley! What better way to demonstrate God’s love to our neighbours than by showing care for the places they live. Very often as adults we are humbled by the actions of the younger generation who generally just get on with things, without thinking that their opinions are the only way forward.
I’m sure we’ve all heard of Greta Thunberg – but there are a myriad of young people leading the way, often against governments and leaders of huge companies, taking action to fight to reduce climate change, to stop illegal logging, to reduce and stop the use of fossil fuels, reduce pollution, to stop plastic pollution and waste – and these young people straddle the globe, one young lady from India started campaigning aged 6, she protested outside the Indian parliament with a specific set of demands, including making climate-change literacy mandatory in schools. A young Ugandan activist has been physically threatened, had his placard and phone impounded and his Twitter account suspended – but he is more determined than ever to keep on campaigning as he’s since found out that the flooding that caused his family to flee their home was almost certainly linked to climate change.
Love and care for creation are an essential dimension of our faith, therefore, caring for God’s creation must be central to our Christian life. We are still in the season of Creationtide and this year the Season of Creation, with which the Anglican Communion partners, have the strap line: ‘the first fruits of hope’. When we work together with Creation, the first fruits of hope can emerge, and we must have hope that things can and will change. We honour the Creator when we care for creation. What can we each do to honour our creator and protect God’s earth for future generations?
Service: Rev Rebecca Yates, 22nd September 2024. (St Luke’s Church Peterborough UK)
Readings: Jeremiah 11.18-20; Psalm 54; James 3.13-4.3, 7-8a; Mark 9.30-37