Micah Australia updates : People's Climate March : Cuts to aid : Voices for Justice : Prayer vigils as advocacy

November Update Hi Everyone, here is your guide to Micah's latest events, actions and resources.

Events People's Climate Marches (27-29 November) This weekend world leaders will be gathering in Paris on the eve of the United Nations Climate Summit. Meanwhile, across the globe, millions will gather in their cities to create the biggest climate event the world has ever seen. Let’s stand together to protect God’s creation and stand with the vulnerable poor whose lives and livelihoods are threatened by climate change. Click here to find out when and where your local march is happening this weekend & take the opportunity to pray for the Climate Summit this week in personal and corporate prayer using this toolkit. Actions Dear Prime Minister After the biggest ever cuts to aid, Australia is on track to recording its lowest ever investment in aid. That's not something we want to see, so with the mid-year budget update just around the corner, please write to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, to ask him to stop the cuts and start investing in a better future for people in our region and for a world free from poverty. Once you've taken action, you may even consider hosting a 'Mailing Party'. Click here for more details and to take action.  Blogs Prayer as Advocacy In conjunction with our Voices for Justice gathering in October, hundreds of Christians from churches across the country gathered in prayer vigils as a form of advocacy to our powerful God.  Read about what happened in our latest blog and consider how you might use 'prayer as advocacy' this coming week as world leaders negotiate climate change targets which will have most impact on the poorest and vulnerable people in our word. You can download all prayer resources here. Micah Australia http://www.micahaustralia.org/

micahaustralia.org     (02) 8317 5080   |   info@micahaustralia.org   |   Suite 413/410 Elizabeth Street, Surry Hills, NSW 2010 Micah Australia is a coaltion of churches and Christian organisations raising a powerful voice for justice and a world free from poverty. Copyright © 2015 Micah.

Living Reconciliation, Creation and the Environment

In this Living Reconciliation video, the Revd Margot Hodson, vicar of the Haddenahm Benefice in Buckinghamshire, UK, referring to Paul's letter to the Colossians, speaks about the responsibility of all Christians to care for the Earth as God's creation. Mrs Hodson was meeting with other Christians at the conference “Reconciling a Wounded Planet” held at Coventry Cathedral 18-19 September 2015 to consider stories of hope in the face of the growing global environmental crisis.

POPE FRANCIS SPEAKS IN LAUDATO SI' - PRAISE BE TO YOU - ON CARE FOR OUR COMMON HOME

The latest papal encyclical was released to-day, 19 June 2015 AEST - 18 June in The Vatican.  The encyclical will take time to read closely and carefully, to digest it, and comment thoughtfully upon it.

Advocacy is indebted to Crux in providing the encyclical in a number of formats to make it easily accessible to people.  Advocacy has embedded the encyclical in this post where it can be read on-line or downloaded.  However, it is also available on Crux here in linked chapter by chapter outline for easy access and reading. Linked here is the encyclical as it was posted on The Vatican website.  Crux also contains recent commentary.

Comment

ABC - Australia: Key excerpts from the Pope's encyclical on the environment

The Age - Neil Ormerod: Pope Francis's views on global warming cold comfort for Canberra

The Guardian: The pope's encyclical on climate change - as it happened

The Washington Post: Ten key excerpts 

The Sydney Morning Herald:  

Papal environment encyclical a win for the Greens, challenge for Abbott

The old adage - "Never look a gift horse in the mouth" - seems to fit the Prime Minister, Tony Abbott

From Jody - Common Grace

Dear Friend,

Would you tweet Bill Shorten right now? Here’s why. 

Last December, we crowd-funded solar panels for Kirribilli House, the Prime Minister’s Sydney residence, as a gift for our nation. 142 generous Common Grace members contributed and a group of local pastors delivered news of the gift to the Prime Minister’s Manly office.

However in March, we were informed that the gift was rejected by the Abbott Government, in a letter from Parliamentary Secretary for Finance Michael McCormack MP, citing concerns about Kirribilli House’s heritage listing and the cost of cleaning the solar panels.

When the Australian Solar Council advised us the Government’s reasons for not accepting the gift didn’t stack up, local pastors again returned to the Prime Minister’s office with an open letter signed by almost 1000 Common Grace members, urging him to accept the gift. Mainstream media covered the story extensively.

Unfortunately this week, we received a second letter, again rejecting the gift. This time there were no reasons given.

Christians across Australia have expressed deep concern that our current Government has shown itself to be unwilling to lead in caring for God’s creation and is out of step with the rest of the world. While the world as a whole has added more new renewable capacity than fossil fuels and nuclear combined in 2013 and 2014¹, here in Australia, large-scale renewables investment has plummeted by 88% in 2014².

But if the PM won’t show leadership on renewables, then who will? We’ve given Mr Abbott two chances to accept the gift – perhaps it’s only fair that we give Bill Shorten at least one.

Tweet Bill Shorten and ask him if he will commit to install the solar panels gift on Kirribilli House if elected

As Christians, we take caring for God’s good creation seriously. We have a unique perspective that our elected representatives need to hear. Our world is a gift to share not a resource to exploit.

For us, this isn't about partisan politics – it is about love, justice and wisdom. This is putting into practice our calling to care for God's world and to show love to the world's poor who are most affected by climate change.

Will Mr Shorten accept our gift as a symbol that Labor is ready to show real leadership on renewables? Let’s tweet him and ask!

The Labor Party is set to make critical decisions about their climate justice targets at the Labor conference in July. If Labor commits to stronger renewables and emission reduction targets, it will pressure the Government to do the same and help to position renewables as a major issue at the next Federal election.

Let’s make sure Mr Shorten hears the message loud and clear – Christians want to see a clean energy future.

Click here to ask Mr Shorten to #acceptthegift

From Jody, Byron, Kylie and the whole Common Grace team.

 

P.S. Please continue to pray for PM Abbott, Mr Shorten, and all of our political representatives. Let's pray that they will realise their potential to create more just and sustainable world and lead with courage.

P.P.S If you don't have Twitter, that's OK. Share this graphic on Facebook from here.


References:
1. The Global Renewable Energy Boom: How Australia is Missing Out, Climate Council, 20/3/15
2. BNEF: New Clean Power Capacity Passes New Fossil Fuel Capacity … Never Turning Back, Clean Technica, 25/04/15

Common Grace
http://www.commongrace.org.au/

Sabbath Thinking piece #3: An Aboriginal Creation Story from Australia

Creation, honeybees, and worship

As members of the new Adam, Christians are in a position to perceive the deeper theological significance of the plight of honeybees. Rehabilitating honeybee populations is the theological equivalent of recruiting new timpani for the orchestra; it is a partial effort toward enabling our fellow-creatures to worship. Urban beekeeping is a grace given us to better worship God in creaturely interdependence against the obscuring of these relationships in our modern technological society. Participating in and facilitating scientific research into safer pesticides is akin to Adam’s tilling and irrigating Eden, investigating how best to encourage the mutual flourishing of creatures who share in a common Creator. In view of the freedom God has given to his creation, and looking forward to the final reconciliation of all things to the Creator that has begun in the resurrected Christ, the church should do what she can to facilitate and encourage attempts to rehabilitate honeybees. This would be rightly considered an act of proper praise and worship to our Creator.
 

The extract above comes from the article "The Worship of Honeybees: Colony Collapse Disorder and the Purpose of Creation by Richard R. Glover (BA, M Political Economy) whose interests lie in reflecting theologically on social, political, economic, and cultural issues. He blogs sporadically at richardrglover.wordpress.com.  It was published in Ethos.