Sermon for the 28th of September - All Age Haverst

I have brought something to show you: what do you think this is?

I asked Father James to take this down from the wall in the front of the church. If you have ever looked up, it would hit you right in the eyes! It announces proudly that we have been awarded this prize, this recognition, of being an Eco-Church with a ta-da! Silver rating.

Out of bronze, silver, and gold, we have a silver ranking! Good for St. George's! Good for us! There are over 1,000 Silver churches in the U. K. now (In June, the 100th A Rocha Eco Church was awarded a Gold ranking in the U. K) There are 16,000 churches in all of England (and 42 cathedrals)......So, 1,000 out of 16,000---what do you think? This figure could be higher! But we are proud that we have achieved this.

What does that mean, exactly, that we are "silver?" It is not easy to become a silver church! We had to fill out a long form on the computer that listed all the things we do that are good for the environment:

What do you think some of these are?

think of our building---what could make it better for the environment? boiler/heat pump, solar panels, cleaning products recycled paper for the computer in the office

think of our garden---how could we make it friendlier to wildlife?

think of us, and our families---how can we change our habits to help our world have cleaner air and water?

think of how we can communicate this to others (your friends, the world)

Why do you think we are talking about this here, for our harvest celebration? as part of our worship of God?

We celebrate God's goodness in creation--all God's good gifts.

Do you have worries about climate change?

Do you think God wants us to be worried? (No! God wants us to restore Creation---to get up and do something about it!) What will you do?

So: Thankfulness for what we have (and the sharing of this food we have brought, with others)

and action to help restore what in Creation human beings have damaged.