Friday

1

Wendell Berry

Saturday

2

Genesis 1:2

Sunday

3

World Wildlife Day

2019 Theme- ‘Life below water: for people and planet’ aligns closely with the Sustainable Development Goal 14 – Life below water, which focuses on marine species, and will be an opportunity to highlight the critical issues and values of marine wildlife to our everyday lives.

“Oceans regulate our climate, produce half the oxygen we breathe, provide nourishment for 3+ billion people, and absorb 30% of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere and fully 90% of the heat from climate change. To ensure that oceans and marine species are preserved and protected, nature-based solutions that bring together public, private and civil society partners need to be replicated and scaled-up.”

There are few images that evoke the words “vast” and “endless” as effectively in the human imagination as those of the ocean and the life teeming within it. Oceans and seas make up two-thirds of the world’s surface, and due to their depth even more than 99% of earth’s liveable habitat.

The resulting richness of ecosystems and species, Life below water, has sustained human civilization and development for millennia, from providing food and nourishment, material for handicraft and construction to the very air we breathe. 50% of the oxygen on Earth is produced in the ocean, every second breath we take.

Yet despite, or precisely because of, the perceived limitless nature of the oceans and marine living resources, their ability to sustain mankind and contribute to sustainable development has been severely impacted by unregulated or poorly managed human activities, including unregulated fisheries, pollution and climate change.

Prayerfully consider this ….

Monday

4

Richard Rohr

Tuesday

5

Wednesday

6

Hebrews 10:22

Thursday

7

Rivers of living water,
Rivers that flow from the throne,
Rivers o’erflowing with blessing,
Coming from Jesus alone.

Rivers of living water,
Rivers of life so free,
Flowing from Thee, my Saviour,
Send now the rivers through me.

Whoso is thirsty come hither,
Here is abundant supply;
Water transparent as crystal,
Come without money and buy.

Cleanse me, oh, cleanse me, my Saviour,
Make me a channel today;
Empty me, fill me and use me,
Teach me to trust and obey.

Then, and then only, Lord Jesus,
Through me the rivers can flow;
Thus and thus only will others
Learn Thy great fulness to know.

Now I surrender to Jesus,
Here I lay all at His feet;
Anything, anywhere only,
Just for His service made meet!

Friday

8

The Natural World: Wonder

 Thank you, Lord, for all you’ve made. Thank you for the trees, flowers, butterflies, animals, and people you have created in your image. Thank you for letting me share in the joy of your beautiful creation. Your light shines bright in my heart and I will do your will to protect the paradise of Earth. Thank you for blessing me with the gift of the world and making me in your image and creating me with the beauty of all things you made. I am grateful for the love you have shown me by placing me on this Earth with all the other things big and small. I love you God. Amen. —Tea Gonzales, St. Therese Catholic Grade School, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Theologian Fr. Thomas Berry (1914-2009) was a true friend of and advocate for nature. Like Joanna Macy and many others, he saw that we are on the cusp of a new era, a new way of living that is in harmony rather than competition with nature. Berry highlighted several important elements to this shift:

Renewing Earth: From Anthropocentrism to Ecocentrism

The task of renewing Earth belongs to Earth, as the renewal of any organism [even the church] takes place from within. Yet we humans have our own special role, a leading role in the renewal, just as we had the dominant role in the devastation. We can fulfill this role, however, only if we move our basic life orientation from a dominant anthropocentrism to a dominant ecocentrism. In effecting this change, we need to listen to the voices of Earth and its multitude of living and non-living modes of expression.

We should be listening to the stars in the heavens and the sun and the moon, to the mountains and the plains, to the forests and rivers and seas that surround us, to the meadows and the flowering grasses, to the songbirds and the insects and to their music especially in the evening and the early hours of the night. We need to experience, to feel, and to see these myriad creatures all caught up in the celebration of life.

Extinction Is Forever

We especially need to hear the creatures of Earth before it is too late, before their voices are stilled forever through extinction occurring at such a rapid rate. Once gone they will never be heard again. Extinction is forever. The divine experience they communicate will never again be available to humans. A dimension of the human soul will never be activated as it might have been. None of the wonders of the human can replace what we are losing. . . . We have lost sight of the fact that these myriad creatures are revelations of the divine and inspirations to our spiritual life.

Wonder, Beauty, Intimacy

Our inner spiritual world cannot be activated without experience of the outer world of wonder for the mind, beauty for the imagination, and intimacy for the emotions.

Gateway to Silence:
There is no path to peace, but peace itself is the path.

From Richard Rohr’s daily meditations
www.cac.org

Saturday

9

Ban Ki-moon

Sunday

10

Monday

11

SDG Goal 6: Ensure access to water and sanitation for all

·        By 2030, substantially increase water-use efficiency across all sectors and ensure sustainable withdrawals and supply of freshwater to address water scarcity and substantially reduce the number of people suffering from water scarcity.

Pray that this Goal will be achieved

Tuesday

12

The Word of God

Feasting table under a shading tree
Swaddling robe that warmly cleans
Mirror beautifying while it reflects
Sword that pierces yet never rejects
Light penetrating the blackest hole
Water filling and healing the soul

Alyssa Underwood

Wednesday

13

Thursday

14

International Day of Action for Rivers

Why do rivers enthral us? Maybe it’s because they’re teeming with life – everything from nibbling midges to flashing kingfishers and tilapia and kurper wiggling beneath the ripples. Perhaps it’s because water is so central to our existence and so vital to life. Possibly it’s to do with the tranquillity of a river; in countryside or in cities, the sight of water has an instantly calming effect.  On the flip side, rivers can be a powerful destructive force which in flood.  Rivers so amazing!

Rivers are important for the country’s economy because water from the rivers is a basic natural resource essential for various human activities.  The rivers provide water for irrigation; they provide fertility to the soil; carry water and nutrients to areas all around the earth. They play a very important part in the water cycle, acting as drainage channels for surface water. Rivers drain nearly 75% of the earth’s land surface. Rivers provide excellent habitat and food for many of the earth’s organisms

Prayer:

We remember the rivers God created in Eden and across our planet, rivers that are the lifeblood of Earth and vital for all that lives.

We remember the streams of our past, the pools and ponds where we played and the feeling of celebration as we splashed each other.

We remember and rejoice.
Thank you, God, for rivers, streams that flow with the water of life.

Friday

15

Reflection:

Pope Francis – Laudato Si

28. “Fresh drinking water is an issue of primary importance, since it is indispensable for human life and for supporting terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Sources of fresh water are necessary for health care, agriculture and industry. Water supplies used to be relatively constant, but now in many places demand exceeds the sustainable supply, with dramatic consequences in the short and long term. Large cities dependent on significant supplies of water have experienced periods of shortage, and at critical moments these have not always been administered with sufficient oversight and impartiality. Water poverty especially affects Africa where large sectors of the population have no access to safe drinking water or experience droughts which impede agricultural production. Some countries have areas rich in water while others endure drastic scarcity.”

Prayerfully reflect on this

Saturday

16

 Carefully and prayerfully consider this statement.

Sunday

17

The Lord’s Prayer (Re-read)

All Our God, father and mother,
from, through and to whom all lives flow,
Your name is holy for you water every creature with life.
May the ‘waters rolling in justice’ come down among us
and dwell as in your presence.
Give us water sufficient for our living,
and help us to share water and other resources with those who are dying of thirst.
Forgive us our insincerity, insensitivity and irresponsibility
in saving and preserving water, and for our abuse of creation.
And teach us to forgive one another.
Lead us not into the temptation of accumulation,
greed and power over water,
and deliver us from avaricious life styles.
For your word is like water cleansing us from evil,
your reign is righteousness flowing like an ever-flowing stream
dismantling the powers and principalities
from generation to generation,
from history to history, for ever and ever.
Amen.

Taken from “Water Justice” Creation Time 2013

https://water.oikoumene.org/en

Monday

18

Tuesday

19

Water: Reflection (Genesis 26.17-22)

 ‘So Isaac departed from there and camped in the valley of Gerar and settled there.
Isaac dug again the wells of water that had been dug in the days of his father Abraham; for the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham; and he gave them the names that his father had given them. But when Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found there a well of spring water, the herders of Gerar quarrelled with Isaac’s herders, saying, ‘The water is ours.’ So he called the well Esek, because they contended with him. Then they dug another well and they quarrelled over that one also; so he called it Sitnah. He moved from there and dug another well, and they did not quarrel over it; so he called it Rehoboth,  saying, ‘Now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.’

As Genesis tells of the struggles between ancient peoples over water, it reminds us that God’s will is that water be available to all, not just the few.  Isaac moves from Ezek (“contention”) and Sitnah (“quarrel”), two wells of dispute, to a third place where he digs a further well which he calls Rehoboth (“broad space”) This name reflects his recognition that land and water are the gift of God: “Now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.” There is room for both Philistine and Israelite to flourish in the land; God has provided water for both.

“Reflections on Water”
A companion to Water and Sanitation: A People’s Guide To SDG 6
A rights–based approach to implementation
Prepared by UN-NGO Mining Working Group, 2017

Wednesday

20

World Meat Out Day

Whether we like it or not, Climate Change is here and it is here to stay!  Just how much the climate will in fact change largely depends on Planet Earth’s population in mitigating its effects.

It is no secret that the raising of livestock for food has in some areas caused a huge amount of green-house gases (primarily methane) which does have a negative impact on climate change.  While the jury is still out on the extent to which meat production is having a negative effect – the fact is that a huge population of cows produces a huge amount of methane gas (simple maths!)! … and methane is undeniably worse than carbon dioxide when it comes to affecting the climate … there is just not as much methane in the atmosphere, otherwise we would already be in a far more serious predicament!

Giving up meat won’t save the climate (or the planet), but we know that “every bit helps” and by at least cutting down on meat consumption we can certainly do our little bit towards the mitigation of Climate Change and eat well while doing so!  Our pockets will also thank us as meat is not cheap, so veges are a good alternative!

Eat vegetarian today!

Thursday

21

International Day of Forests and Trees

The theme of this year’s celebrations is ‘Forests and the foundation of forests, but a forest is much more Education.’.  This day celebrates and raises awareness of the importance of all types of forests

Imagine you’re walking through a forest … perhaps you’re thinking of a collection of trees …. with their rugged stems and their beautiful crowns.  Yes, trees are than what you see, and new research in this area reveals that a forest is more than you can see or perhaps even dreamed of!

Underground there is another world, a world of infinite biological pathways that connect trees and allow them to communicate and allow the forest to behave as though it’s a single organism. It might remind you of a sort of intelligence … this is the Wood Wide Web!

Trees secretly talk to each other underground. They’re passing information and resources to and from each other through a network of mycorrhizal fungi – a mat of long, thin filaments that connect an estimated 90% of land plants.

So, now we know that forests aren’t simply collections of trees, they’re complex systems with hubs and networks that overlap and connect trees and allow them to communicate, and they provide avenues for feedbacks and adaptation, and this makes the forest resilient.  But they’re also vulnerable, vulnerable not only to natural disturbances like borer beetles that preferentially attack big old trees but large-scale logging.  One or two hub trees can be cut down, but there comes a tipping point, because hub trees are not unlike rivets in an airplane – take out one or two and the plane still flies, but you take out one too many, or maybe that one holding on the wings, and the whole system collapses.

So, now how are you thinking about forests?  …… Differently?

Creator God,
Out of chaos you brought order.
Out of nothingness you brought life.
In the middle of all life stands the tree.
Trees provide the air that nurtures all your creation.
Birds make them their homes.
Cats climb them for protection.
Trees recycle life that has come before.
Bless the trees of this word, loving God.
Remind us to serve as their caregivers and protectors.
Give them long limbs and long life.
The gift of their breath is as special to us as the breath of the Holy Spirit.
Amen

Friday

22

World Day for Water

 World Water Day 2019 theme:  ‘Leaving no one behind’.

Water is that colourless and odourless substance found all over Earth. Water is made up of billions of molecules. Water on our planet flows as liquid in rivers, streams, and oceans; is solid as ice at the North and South Poles; and is gas (vapor) in the atmosphere. Water is also underground and inside plants and animals.

And water is LIFE!

Every living creature needs water survive …

Water: A Gift from God

Water was present at the start of Creation and the whole history of God’s work is framed by rivers. The Garden of Eden was fed by the life-giving water of rivers. Water gushes and flows through the pages of Scripture. The last book of the bible reveals the image of the River of God bringing life and healing. Water is mentioned 722 times in Scripture and has many spiritual meanings. Why does water hold such a prominent place in the Bible?

The Biblical lands were dry lands and without water there would be no life. They had no great rivers such as the mighty Nile of Egypt. Apart from the river Jordan, the people of Israel were dependent on rainfall for their water. So these scriptures resonate with us in our water scarce country. The people of Israel knew the pain of thirst and the hunger that comes when the crops fail. So water became for them the symbol of spiritual life.

Water symbolizes many things in Scripture. It is the image used to describe salvation: “With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation” (Isaiah 12:3)

Water symbolizes cleansing of sins and purification: “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water” (Hebrews 10:22).

Water is a symbol of spiritual life: “For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water” (Jeremiah 2:13)

As Anglicans we become part of the family of God through the sacred waters of baptism. And yet we have lost the sense of sacredness of water by seeing it as something that comes out of a tap. How can we reconnect with water as something holy and precious? Christians know the name of the river that Jesus was baptized in–the Jordan River. And yet where did the water come from that was used for your baptism? Where is your River Jordan? Can you identify it and see if it is clean and free from rubbish?

In our weekly Eucharist we partake of water and wine and bread. This is to remember that both water and blood flowed from Jesus side”. One of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water flowed out” (John 19:34).

The challenge for us as Christians is to reclaim the sacredness of water. Can we do this liturgically in our services, by linking the service of baptism with a concern to protect the river from which it flows? Can we help our congregations to understand that we do not only partake of wine, but wine and water by emphasizing that part in the service? Can we use water liturgically for services of healing and sacred moments of absolution? Many churches have holy water at the door of the church but we do not teach about it. Can we re-claim this practice as a living part of our faith – as we are sent out into the world, we are cleansed

Revd. Rachel Mash
ACSA Provincial Coordinator of Green Anglicans

Saturday

23

World Meteorological Day

2019 theme is “The Sun, the Earth and the Weather”

Meteorology is the scientific study of the atmosphere that focuses on weather processes and forecasting. Meteorological phenomena are observable weather events which illuminate and are explained by the science of meteorology. Those events are bound by the variables that exist in Earth’s atmosphere.

The World Meteorological Organization plays a crucial role in contributing to people’s safety and welfare. Its work is important in providing food security, water resources and transport. This organisation also plays a significant role in tracking the impacts of Climate Change and the availability of water internationally.

 Lord, thank you for the gifts you have blessed scientists with.  May they commit to using them responsibly in your honour. Give them a fresh supply of strength to do their work. Anoint their projects, ideas, and energy so that even their smallest accomplishment may bring you glory.

Amen

Sunday

24

Water Creed

We believe in God
who has created and is creating
and who breathes life and purpose
into all of creation.
We believe in Jesus,
Son of God,
Living Water,
Bread of Life,
Our Way and Truth,
Light and Love.
We believe in the Spirit
who danced over the waters
at the dawn of creation.
and who calls us to join
in that dance of joy
with the whole of creation today!
We believe water is a precious gift
for the benefit of all,
not a commodity
for the benefit of the few.
We believe water teaches us to thirst for justice,
peace, reconciliation, love and hope.

Monday

25

Tuesday

26

His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew

Wednesday

27

Thursday

28

A Child’s Water Prayer

Splish Splash!
Drip Drop!
Water of Life,
You wash over the world.
You quench our thirst,
Water plants and trees that give us food,
Wash us clean,
Tumble over rocks and roots in rivers,
And ebb and flow in oceans.
Thank you for water!
Help us use water wisely, carefully and joyously.
Amen.

Thandiwe Dale-Ferguson

Friday

29

Saturday

30

Earth Hour

The theme for Earth Hour 2019 is “Reduce, Reuse, Change the Way We Live”.

Earth Hour is all about celebrating our planet and its huge variety of life! – an annual event, when millions of people and thousands of business worldwide turn off lights and shut down most electrical appliances to celebrate sustainability and show their support for strategies that will help solve the problem of global warming.

Our connection to Earth and nature is undeniable: our planet’s gain is everyone’s gain.

Switch off your lights between 20:30 and 21:30 tonight!

Sunday

31

 Pay heed to the water, air and earth:
Creation’s wonderful bounty.
They are harmed for the want
of being listened to:
They cry… and too few hear;
they slowly die…and too few grieve.
And yet
through those who give attention
who reach out with reverence
to touch, embrace and tend;
through those who marvel, wonder, kneel
and joyfully splash the water,
healing comes
and there are kernels of hope
for the future of ‘our common home’
and its sacred waters.
Be still, be aware,
be just, be fair…
Know that I am God!