Celebration

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=110 BGCOLOR="#990000" TEXT="#F7F7FF" bgproperties="fixed" background="040006e0dvldzz.png"> <div> <B>Ss Mary & John Churchyard</B><B> </B><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#FFFF33" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#FFFFCC" FACE="Arial" ><B>   |    </B></FONT><FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#FFFFCC" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B><A HREF="index.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Sage Oxfords Christian Environmental Gr"><U><B>home</B></U></A></FONT></div> <div> <B>Ss Mary & John Churchyard, Cowley Road: a peaceful sanctuary and the green lung of East Oxford</B></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=190 BGCOLOR="#00FFCC" TEXT="#080000" background="041bec00ezvmlk.png"> <div> <B>Back to: </B><A HREF="churchyard.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Ss Mary John churchyard"><U><B>Ss Mary & John churchyard</B></U></A></div> <div> <B>If you are interested in volunteering for any aspect of this project, please contact the coordinator:</B></div> <div> <B> </B><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><A HREF="mailto:ruthconway@abelian.net" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:ruthconway@abelian.net"><U><B>Ruth Conway</B></U></A></FONT></div> <div> <B><IMG SRC="69e751c0.jpg" border=0 width="117" height="284" ALT="Ruth Conway with the Ecocongregation award plaque" ALIGN="RIGHT" HSPACE="10" VSPACE="10"></B></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=370 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <B>Celebration</B></div> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <B>Celebration of Eco-congregation Award at Ss Mary & John Church, East Oxford</B></div> <div> <B>Sunday, 30 April, 2006</B></div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="6a096c80.jpg" border=0 width="150" height="200" ALT="Councillor Craig Simmons and Revd. Adam Romanis in Community garden" ALIGN="RIGHT" HSPACE="10" VSPACE="10">The celebration began with a Parish Eucharist, followed by a ceremony to mark the opening of a welcoming community garden in front of the church, and concluded with a LOAF lunch: Locally produced, Organically grown, Animal friendly and Fairly traded.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Sermon</B></div> <div> The preacher at the Service was <B>Dr Paula Clifford</B>, Head of Church Communications, Christian Aid. Here is a slightly edited version of her sermon:</div> <bR> <div> The Gospel reading for the day was <I><B>Luke 24 : 36 - 48</B></I>.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Jesus after the resurrection</B></div> <div> The appearance of Jesus to the disciples and in particular his request to eat something with them, is a sign that he is not a ghost, despite his ability to defy the laws of nature and enter closed rooms. It's a sign that he is the same human person whom they know for a fact to have died at Calvary - the person who was so clearly dead on the cross that the Roman soldiers had no need to break his legs to hasten his death. In his resurrection form Jesus clearly shows that the Son of God came to earth as a real human person with human needs; like us he was dependent on the world around him to supply those needs - food, drink, shelter; he shared our human condition so completely that he ended up dying a terrible and painful death; only to overcome death and return to the real everyday world before going back to his Father in heaven. And, Jesus tells his disciples, you are witnesses of these things.</div> <bR> <div> <IMG SRC="6a22ce10.jpg" border=0 width="300" height="225" ALT="Revd. Adam Romanis leads the end of the service in the Community garden." ALIGN="LEFT" HSPACE="10" VSPACE="10">But witnesses to what? Above all, certainly, to the miracle of the resurrection and to the fact that through the life and death of Jesus, God reached out to all of us and created a new and unbreakable bond between him and us. But the disciples and the Christian Church ever since have also been called to be witnesses to <I>how</I> Jesus lived his life on earth. And Jesus's ministry as recorded in the Gospels shows us a life given over completely to serving his fellow human beings and to showing God's love to them. In particular showing love to the most wretched of the people around him: the poor, people who were rejected by society and by their religion - the sick, the outcasts, people who weren't seen as respectable - tax collectors, prostitutes; people who were second class citizens - in that culture women and children. To all of these Jesus offered unconditional love and, where appropriate, healing of physical or mental illness, and the hope of a new and different life. This was how Jesus lived in Galilee; this was the Jesus who returned to his disciples after his death and told them `you are my witnesses'. The ministry of Jesus and the ministry of the Christian Church is to offer love and hope to all people but in particular to the least loved, the least privileged in human society.</div> <bR> <div> <B>The poor and the environment</B></div> <div> Now keep that thought in your minds, if you will, and come with me to central America, to the country of Nicaragua. Like all the countries in this part of the world Nicaragua has suffered an unusual increase in hurricanes and tropical storms, with all the flooding and general devastation that these bring with them. And you have only to think back to Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans last year to understand that in this situation the rich people can get out and rebuild their homes and their lives. The ones that suffer most are the poor. But in Nicaragua it seems to poor peasant farmers that the weather has gone mad. One of them is a married man in his late 30s called Juan Francisco, he has a wife and six children aged between three and 15. And he worries about drought: The rains are now coming in mid-June instead of at the start of May. Juan Francisco grows both maize (one harvest a year) and beans (two harvests). But if he plants the maize and it doesn't rain until June, he's not going to be able to plant the second crop of beans in August because he can't disturb the maize. If he loses this second harvest he will have to leave home and go to Costa Rica for six months to work illegally on coffee plantations and risk imprisonment. For reasons he doesn't know about or understand, the changing climate is ruining his life.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Us and them</B></div> <div> Now if we are faithful disciples of Jesus Christ we are concerned about people like Juan Francisco and about the reasons why his life, which was already difficult, at least by our standards, is rapidly becoming impossible. And this is where you come in. In signing up to the ecocongregation scheme you are demonstrating your concern for the environment and your willingness and commitment to doing something about it. No doubt people will enjoy the new-look churchyard; some of you will be glad you're doing your bit about saving energy and so on. But what you're doing is not just for the benefit of this church and the local community. You have become part of a movement that will, ultimately, benefit people like Juan Francisco and his children in Nicaragua,  as well as other poor people in different parts of the world: fishermen in Bangladesh who are being forced to leave their homes because the sea level is rising, and indeed people in New Orleans and elsewhere who simply lack the money, the education, the resources to start over again after disaster strikes them. I know that in the grand scheme of things yours is a very small step, but if we all take small steps, then great changes will follow.  Any steps you can take in your personal lives, as a church or as a community, any way in which you can make your views known to local and national governments - these will all make a difference to people in the poorest countries who are most affected by the changing climate.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Conclusion</B></div> <div> Caring for the poor and caring for the environment are integrally linked within our Christian calling in the light of God's relationship with us through his Son. In the words of 1 John `we are all God's children' and the words of Jesus `You are witnesses of these things'. And let's pray that we may know his strength to live every aspect of our lives accordingly. Amen.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Intercessions</B></div> <bR> <div> Items from our common life were brought to the front as visual aids to prayer. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Presenter 1: </B>I bring <B>flowers from the churchyard</B>, growing in soil rich in nutrients from other plants and animals, and dependant on sun, air and water.</div> <div> <B>Leader: </B>We give thanks for the miracle of life continually renewed and for the interdependence of all parts of God's creation.</div> <div> We admit our careless stewardship, depleting finite raw materials, polluting soil, water and atmosphere, and causing climate change by our profligate use of fossil fuels.</div> <div> We pray for the courage to find ways of living that are gentle on the Earth, reflecting God's love for the whole of creation.</div> <div> God in your grace,</div> <div> <B>All:</B> <B>make us channels of your love.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Presenter 2: </B>I bring <B>water, </B>essential for life<B>.</B></div> <div> <B>Leader</B>: We pray with those who wake up today desperate for water, whose land is parched, and where animals and people die of thirst.</div> <div> We pray with those who are working to provide access to clean water where there is drought, overcrowding, or toxic pollution.</div> <div> We pray that the Spirit will change hearts and minds where there is conflict over water, not least between Israel and Palestine.</div> <div> May we all look beyond our own needs to those of others, ready to share the resources that sustain life, peacemakers in situations of conflict, .</div> <div> God in your grace,</div> <div> <B>All:</B> <B>make us channels of your love.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Presenter 3: </B> I bring <B>fairly traded coffee, </B>for which Third-world producers have received a fair and guaranteed price, with a premium for training or health-care needs.</div> <div> <B>Leader: </B>We give thanks for farmers who through the fair trade movement are able to make a decent living for themselves, their families and their communities.</div> <div> We give thanks for people who campaign to make the world trade rules more just, agriculture more sustainable, and subsistence farming viable.</div> <div> We pray that our own consumer habits will strengthen these efforts.</div> <div> God in your grace,</div> <div> <B>All:</B> <B>make us channels of your love.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Presenter 4:</B> I bring <I><B>Africa Praying</B></I><B>,</B> a handbook for African Christians showing how their worship can be vital in breaking the silence and stigma surrounding HIV/Aids.</div> <div> <B>Leader:</B> We hold to God Governments, drug companies, and medical professionals, who are supporting the struggle to respond to the spread of HIV/AIDs.</div> <div> In our immediate community, we pray for the carers of those who are sick, distressed or lonely.</div> <div> May the Holy Spirit inspire the Christians in East Oxford so that we become a healing and compassionate church.</div> <div> We pray for those known to us in need of care ………</div> <div> God in your grace,</div> <div> <B>All:</B> <B>make us channels of your love.</B></div> <bR> <div> <B><IMG SRC="6a4f4960.jpg" border=0 width="244" height="150" ALT="Ecocongregation Award Plaque" ALIGN="RIGHT" HSPACE="10" VSPACE="10">Presenter 5: </B>I bring the<B> poster mapping matters of concern to people in East Oxford</B></div> <div> <B>Leader: </B>We pray for the people we meet on the street: our immediate neighbors, the shopkeepers and café owners of many different nationalities, students, young families, asylum seekers, people meeting up with friends or scouring the estate agents' windows. </div> <div> In the midst of the busy-ness and the traffic, we give thanks for the opening up of the churchyard, offering a green space, a burst of bird song, a moment of quiet reflection. </div> <div> We pray that we may be open to the interests and concerns of those passing through, ready to listen and respond.</div> <div> God in your grace,</div> <div> <B>All: make us channels of your love</B></div> <bR> <div> <B>Presenter 6:</B> I bring one of the <B>green vestments</B>, with a design inspired by the pathways and stone crosses in the churchyard, and my great-grandfather's Celtic-style memorial.</div> <div> <B>Leader: </B>We pray for all who have been buried in the churchyard over the years. We pray for those who have recently died …. and for those whose anniversary of death falls today..........</div> <div> May they rest in peace and rise in glory.</div> <bR> <div> We rejoice that the work in the churchyard and all our efforts as an Eco-congregation belong within  our worship. So we say together: </div> <div> <B>All:      C</B>reating God, you have given us a vision of a new heaven and a new earth …</div> <div>      <B>R</B>esources conserved</div> <div>      <B>E</B>arth tended</div> <div>      <B>A</B>tmosphere cleansed</div> <div>      <B>T</B>rees planted</div> <div>      <B>I</B>njustice ended</div> <div>      <B>O</B>ceans teeming</div> <div>      <B>N</B>ations at peace </div> <bR> <div>      <B>C</B>reator, Redeemer, Sustainer</div> <div>      <B>A</B>lert nations, enthuse churches,</div> <div>      <B>R</B>eceive our commitment and so entwine our lives with Your purpose that</div> <div>      <B>E</B>arth and heaven will then sing of your glory.     <B>     AMEN</B></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>