Climate Sunday

Climate Change will affect everyone, in fact it is affecting everyone now. Weather events that were once every 100 years seem to be occurring more regularly. News of flooding from places across the world and close to home are saddening e.g. Brockweir in the West Country to Urvira in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo. We cannot ignore it as individuals or as a Church. Our aid agency Christian Aid, along with environmentalists have been warning us and governments of the effects of climate change for years. It will bring more extreme weather events and make agriculture in many countries much more insecure and homes much more vulnerable to events like flooding.

Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (CTBI) are calling for concerted action by the Churches to raise awareness of the issue and to increase the pressure brought to bear on politicians by ordinary church members. They are holding a Climate Sunday initiative beginning on Sunday 6th September prior to the UK hosting the United Nations Climate negotiations in November this year.

The Climate Sunday initiative asks all churches to hold a climate-focused service on a convenient date any time during the coming year beginning on 6th September 2020. At this service congregations will be encouraged to make a short and simple commitment to greater action to address climate change in their own place of worship and community, and to urge bolder action by governments. A variety of service materials and other resources can be accessed from the Climate Change Sunday website https://www.climatesunday.org/ . CTBI want churches and church members to see this issue as part of their normal discipleship and Christian mission. They want Christians to make a significant contribution to the national and international action on climate change.

The Mission and Society Committee of the Moravian Church sees the issue of climate change as being a matter of urgent concern and urges congregations to act on this. We have discussed a Sunday when we could hold a Climate Change Sunday within the Moravian Church. The date we have chosen is Sunday 9th May 2021. This Sunday is known as Rogation Sunday in rural areas and the tradition used to be that the parish boundaries were walked (beating the bounds) and prayers were asked for the crops in the fields and gardens. This still happens in some rural areas.

Rogation Sunday is a very appropriate date to consider climate change and commit to action considering the damage climate change is already doing to agriculture across the world particularly in poorer countries.

So please sign your Church up on the Climate Sunday website and let us know what you are planning to do.

sarah groves 2Sr Sarah Groves
on behalf of the Mission and Society Committee