Thank you for choosing to take the time to engage with this homegroup series about climate justice.
This series is a journey through scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, to help us reflect on and resource ourselves in the journey to climate justice.
We use the term climate justice in preference to climate change because Christian Aid witnesses the injustice of climate change every day. The communities that we partner around the world face the hardship and challenges of drought, flood and other erratic weather patterns on a daily basis. These communities have done the least to cause the problem, this is injustice.
The sessions follow an approach to reading and discussing scripture in community, an approach inspired by base ecclesial communities in Latin America and communities in the struggle of apartheid in South Africa. It is based on the approach of the Christian Aid Just Scripture project.
https://www.christianaid.org.uk/pray/join-in/just-scripture
It involves pausing to notice, it allows for a close and slow reading of the detail, it considers the context of the passage and how it applies to the context of our own lives. The passages are chosen to convey the journey to God’s vision of restoration, from the trees of the Garden of Eden to the leaves of the trees that are for the healing of the nations in Revelation.
Each session includes a short video in the introduction and an action that you can take in response.
Prayers are provided for some of the sessions and we have included a suggested opening and closing prayer below that you could use in each session. The prayers included in the sessions are taken from the recently published book, ‘Rage and Hope: 75 Prayers for a Better World’.
We hope you find this a helpful and resourcing journey.
Open our minds,
that we might contemplate
the wonders of your word
and be changed by them
Open our hearts
that we might encounter
the image of yourself
and be changed by each other
Open our mouths
that we might discuss
the injustices in your world
and be moved to take action
In your name, we pray, Amen.
May God bless us with wonder at creation’s glory.
May God bless us with fury at creation’s spoiling.
May God bless us with courage at this critical hour.
And may the blessing of God,
Creator, Son and Holy Spirit,
rest upon us and on all creation,
this day and for the future to come.
Amen