Eco Contemplative Practice for use in church services

On 6 October for the Harvest Eucharistic Service bringing the Season of Creation to a close at St James’s Piccadilly, the eco group was invited to introduce a contemplative element to the start of the main Sunday Service. Many people found this inspiring, so we thought others would be interested to hear about this. Here is the text that was used to introduce it:

“We’re entering into a really long tradition this morning, of Christian contemplation grounded in creation. Beginning in the third century, the desert fathers and mothers practised the art of attention, Prosoche (pro-so-chi), which included their sensory experiences.  

These early Christian contemplatives engaged all their senses, everything, they really knew that contact with their surroundings included everything they could see, but also transcended and went far, far beyond that. They sought a vision of the world as a whole. They realised that ‘to dwell in the place of God’ is to live with particular, intense awareness. Of living within an intricate web of relationships, which constantly shifted and changed.  

St Antony, for example, fell in love with a particular place in the desert where he built his cell. He planted a garden and gave himself fully to the life of that place. He lived within this beautifully reciprocal, fluid relationship between place and spirit, and his interior and exterior landscape.

So now we’re going to experience this contemplation for ourselves, and move to move out into the Courtyard or Garden, for about 5 minutes {give people longer if that is feasible.}

Please keep silence if you can, and allow some aspect of the created world to really hold your attention – to contemplate you. Maybe that will be a plant or piece of bark or a stone. Or simply look up at the sky, feel the air on your skin, or listen to the sounds.

(Version to use if too wet and this is done indoors): You can move around the space. Maybe you look and hold the things in front of you in the pews, the altar and reredos behind me, the fossils in the stone, or maybe the sound of rain outside.

See if you can gaze or listen as if for the first time. As you do, you might feel that creation contemplates you in return.

You’ll hear the sound of the singing bowl to call us back together again.”

Monthly eco contemplative liturgies

Every month in the garden at St James’s and on Zoom, there is an Eco Contemplative Liturgy before the main Sunday service, with has readings, prayers and a more extensive period for being in contemplation with the garden and its inhabitants. Further information from ecochurch@sjp.org.uk.

 

The above contemplation is based on The Blue Sapphire of the Mind. Notes for a Contemplative Ecology by Douglas E. Christie. Oxford University Press.

 

 

 

There is an interesting discussion on Climate Justice in relation to Islam, Hinduism and Christianity on the Radio 4 website for another month. The programme was Beyond Belief 19 August 2019: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0007qbq

 

In particular, Martin Palmer (founder of the Alliance for Religions and Conservation) speaks about his current initiative to enable faiths to invest in initiatives and products that are in line with their beliefs, including action on climate change. http://www.arcworld.org/projects.asp?projectID=660

On Friday 12 July LSC members attended a visit arranged by Eco Church at St James’s Piccadilly to Beddington Zero Energy Development housing community in the borough of Sutton.

BedZED is the UK’s first large-scale eco-village. 20 of us from St James’s, Kensington Unitarians, Greenspirit and Sustainable Haringey arrived for the tour of the site, conducted by Katherine Lund-Yates of https://www.bioregional.com/ which champions One Planet living.

 

Participants were impressed with what they saw\;

 

 

“Thank you so much for organising the Bedzed visit. I was very pleased to visit this iconic zero carbon housing community because it is often cited as an exemplar site.  It was interesting to hear about the things that have not worked so well, in addition to things that have been a success. In particular, it is heartening that a sense of community has been fostered on the site and that people are keen to stay. It looks like a well-loved space and is bursting with greenness! ”   PH

 “Seeing Bedzed was an encouraging insight into a cohesive community where eco-living solutions are made straightforward and accessible. It was very insightful being able to see inside a home; I was able to get a real sense of the quality of living and ‘comfortablity’ that the residents experience – and that living in a sustainable way, with a vastly reduced ecological footprint, needn’t be without creature comforts. For that reason, Bedzed seems to appeal to a broad demographic.” OH

“There was much to impress us at BedZed. A sustainable community that people clearly enjoy living in; innovative technology; small gardens for every property, even the studio flats; well insulated properties and very low fuel bills. But the bit that impressed us most was the meadow, shared by all the residents. We visited on a warm, sunny day and it was filled with bees and other insects enjoying the meadow flowers – a special open space available to everyone.” ST

 The only disappointment expressed was “I found it inspirational, if disappointing that the BedZ example hasn’t become the norm by now.” CT

 Bioregional are developing new schemes using the One Planet Living sustainability framework. Go to https://www.bioregional.com/one-planet-living/get-involved-with-one-planet-living

For two short videos about the work of BedZED and Bioregional, see

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFrqRJbCmIQ and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60es4dTm8Q4

Thank you to David Carter for organising the visit as well as lunch places and a walk by the river Wandle and around Beddington Park, where people were thrilled to see a demoiselle.

Thank you also to Katherine Lund-Yates of Bioregional for giving us an informative tour of the scheme and for answering so many questions.

 

Report on lecture by John F. Haught

Living Spirituality Connections, in partnership with Eco Church at St James’s, hosted this lecture by John F Haught, distinguished Research Professor at Georgetown University, on 2 June 2019.

Professor Haught with the event Chair, Rev Lucy Winkett. 

Professor Haught emphasised the importance of religion learning from findings in geology, biology and cosmology, and of integrating these into our contemporary theological understandings. He focused on the importance of a sense of purpose and meaning in the universe. He related what he had to say closely to the content of Laudato Si, the Pope’s encyclical on care for our common home, issued in 2015, which is informed by modern scientific understandings of our place in the universe. Professor Haught is also greatly influenced by the writings of radical theologian Teilhard de Chardin, who regarded the universe as in development towards a future where all will be fulfilled.

In John Haught’s view, like Alfred North Whitehead and Process Theology generally, the universe has always been restless, and the divine is a source of novelty and disturbance as much as of stability.

He spoke of the importance of regaining a deep sense of connection with nature, which had been present in the Medieval period, but largely was lost after Descartes and the Enlightenment. This connection was also lost as a result of the “ontology of death” which became dominant in Christianity, and which enables us to tolerate the death of nature.

It is vital that we re-form our connection to all things, which has been present from the first movements of the Big Bang. The values of physical constants were set at that time that later enabled the components of life and mind to develop. In the new cosmic story which we have gained from scientific endeavours, there is a sense of deep time, in which human life appears very late in the history of the cosmos.

John Haught suggests that an important way of reconnecting with all of life is to recognise the anticipatory view of the evolution of life, in which we are still moving towards fullness of being, and need to be patient about our lack of complete understanding of the purpose of life at this time. We need to retain a sense of hope about the future and to trust that what’s going on in the cosmic drama is leading towards greater revelation of beauty and meaning in the whole of life.

Feedback from participants in the event included: “A revelation!”, “Absolutely excellent”, “brilliant”,  “inspiring to deep thought and new awareness of a comprehensive view of the world and the cosmos still unfolding.”, and “Please more talks like this. Really inspiring.”

Professor John F Haught is author of over twenty books: if you’d like to read some of them, a good place to start is:

The New Cosmic Story: Inside Our Awakening Universe. 3 Nov 2017

 

 

 

 

 

Brighthelm, Brighton, 8 June 2019

This event, exploring the Living Spirituality Connections’ theme for the year, has been empowering, encouraging, informative and inspiring, according to the feedback from participants. Our keynote speaker, award-winning environmentalist and solutionist Nicola Peel, was “Awesome, inspiring, deeply moving, deeply sad” but, “I was so glad of the solutions put forward” said a participant. Nicola’s explanation and illustration of biomimicry was particularly interesting and encouraging. The “What can I do?” section of her talk was very useful and gave people thoughts about what to follow up.

Workshops by Philip Roderick, Sandy Elsworth, Alex Mabbs, and Nicola Peel, were described by participants as follows:

Philip “I was reminded again of the incredible value of carving out time and space to replenish my spirit and thereby renew my activism.”

“Wonderful leadership – quiet presence and acceptance. Interesting tool for learning and reflection.”

Alex “Well navigated around the spiritual and Christian. Really thought-provoking.”

“Very helpful in terms of identifying a positive and practical approach, avoiding hopeless despair or judgmentalism.”

“Linking the health of the planet and people, with a deep seated spiritual dimension.”

Sandy on the Great Water Challenge:

“The scientific input was particularly interesting with the implications helpfully dawn out.”

“Fantastic, informative, animated.”

Nicola “Good to combine experience and practice.”

“Really worthwhile. Enjoyed discussion and I added to my to do list.”

“Lots of thoughtful and inspiring stuff.”

Writing about the whole event, Deborah Colvin (Sustainability Champion at St James’s Piccadilly) said:

 “I really appreciated the explicit co-mingling/admixture of science, spirit, activism and contemplative approaches in this event.  This is the third time I have heard Nicola talk about how human flourishing and earth flourishing can coincide, using her work in the Amazon as examples. Each time I hear Nicola, I have more ideas e.g. this time, making a water-catching sail for my porch roof to fill a water butt.

The workshops were excellent. Philip Roderick’s Green Grace was great, and gave me ideas we can implement in the Eco Contemplative Liturgies we put on in the church garden.  Sandy Elsworth’s Great Water Challenge gave us really good practical information. Water is not considered nearly enough when we are thinking about the environmental crisis.

I would like to see more of this kind of event, with outputs from the groups which go directly to politicians.”

The day was co-created by Earth Church at Brighthelm http://brighthelm.org.uk, Living Spirituality Connections, and Spirit of Peace http://www.spiritofpeace.co.uk.

People in several areas are thinking of doing a similar event in the future.

To find out more about Nicola Peel’s work go to http://nicolapeel.com and https://www.eyesofgaia.com/

People from Living Spirituality Connections and St James’s Church Piccadilly at Parliament Square

 

 

About 12,000 people gathered in Westminster on Wednesday to put pressure on politicians, according to the organisers the Climate Coalition and Greener UK, whose members include aid agencies, social groups and conservation organisations. At least 195 MPs who met campaigners

Campaigners, religious leaders and people of various faiths, led by the former archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams proceeded along Whitehall on a walk of witness.

Rowan Williams said he was proud the UK was taking the climate crisis seriously. “I compare it with the great struggle 200 years ago with ending the slave trade. Parliament took an option that wasn’t easy, it must have felt risky at the time facing massive entrenched global culture – and things changed,” he said. He went on to say that we have become absolutely irrational as a species, and need to recover an enriched rationality.

On Sunday LSC will be at the Eco Fun Palace Day at St James’s Piccadilly with an art stall and a labyrinth walk. The strapline for Fun Palaces is “Everyone an artist, everyone a scientist.” and all the activities are participatory. Fun Palaces are being created all over the UK on 7 and 8 October: http://funpalaces.co.uk/ For news of the St James’s Eco Fun Palace go to: http://www.sjp.org.uk/…/eco-church-7-october-2017-at-st-jam…

I hope to get a chance to dip your toe in at one of these events.

Petra Griffiths

 

Fun Palaces – Everyone an Artist, Everyone a Scientist

Fun Palaces – Everyone an Artist, Everyone a Scientist

funpalaces.co.uk