The Book of Scripture and the Book of Creation

We held our second meeting on 18th June, at Shipley Baptist again.

Psalm 19 and the Book of Creation

We looked at this quote together:

"The great Irish teacher John Scotus Eriugena taught that God speaks to us through two books. One is the little book, he says, the book of scripture, physically little. The other is the big book, the book of creation, vast as the universe…. 

Eriugena invites us to listen to the two books in stereo, to listen to the strains of the human heart in scripture and to discern within them the sound of God and to listen to the murmurings and thunders of creation and to know within them the music of God’s Being. To listen to the one without the other is to only half listen. To listen to scripture without creation is to lose the cosmic vastness of the song. To listen to creation without scripture is to lose the personal intimacy of the voice… In the Celtic world, both texts are read in the company of Christ."

    from Christ of the Celts, J. Philip Newell.

To try and put this in to practice we read Psalm 19 together, and shared some of what we had learnt from the Book of Creation.

Key to coloured text in the image:

• Gold/brown - from the book of Scripture (Psalm 19)
• Purple - our thoughts from the book of Creation
• Orange - our feelings from the book of Creation

As you can see from our notes on the image, this gave us a lot to think about. The psalmist says that the skies display knowledge, but what knowledge? When we look at Creation ourselves we see mixed messages:

1. Creation needs care
2. Creation does just fine without humans

This is something that we will need to explore in a future eco-prayer meeting 😉💚.

We agree with the psalmist about:

1. The goodness of God's ways and his plan for us
2. Confessing our sins and asking for forgiveness
3. His prayer of "May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be pleasing in your sight oh LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer" (we even knew a children's song with these words) . 

We also had a lot to say about how being out in Creation calms us, blesses us and changes our perspective.

A good summary of the whole Psalm might be:

1. God's creation has constant, reliable laws
2. God's laws in Scripture are constant and reliable
3. To me, personally, God is reliable: my rock and redeemer. 

Some Good News

(I forgot to write notes at this point so this section is a little thin)

We read on the Bible Society's website how St Mary’s church in Tadley has been transformed and blessed their community by creating a garden around their church.

This led us to talking about:

• How Shipley Baptist Church's garden is very well used by, and a blessing to the community.
• How we love the transformed Norfolk Gardens in Bradford City Centre

We have 8 new local nature reserves:

• Judy Woods (Royds and Wyke Wards),
• Littlemoor Park (Queensbury),
• Low Wood (Craven),
• Middleton Woods (Ilkley),
• Northcliffe Park (Shipley),
• Park Wood (Keighley),
• Prince of Wales Park (Bingley)
• Undercliffe Cemetery (Bolton and Undercliffe)

Pray

We prayed this prayer together based upon Psalm 65:

God you call forth songs of joy from all the earth

You answer us with awesome deeds of righteousness,

God our Saviour you are the hope of all the ends of the earth

You are the hope of the farthest seas,

When morning dawns and evening fades

You call forth songs of joy

God you call forth songs of joy from all the earth

You care for the land and water it;

You enrich it abundantly.

The streams of God are filled with water

To provide the people with grain,

For so you have ordained it.

God you call forth songs of joy from all the earth

You drench its furrows and level its ridges;

You soften it with showers and bless its crops.

You crown the year with your bounty,

And your carts overflow with abundance.

God you call forth songs of joy from all the earth

The grasslands of the deserts overflow;

The hills are clothed with gladness.

The meadows are covered with flocks

And the valleys are mantled with grain;

They shout for joy and sing

God you call forth songs of joy from all the earth

We also prayed for:

1. Actions following the UN Ocean Conference:
1. More countries to ratify the High Seas Treaty (currently 50, need 60) to protect 30% of international waters.
2. China to clamp down on illegal fishing, which it has promised to do through the Port State Measures Agreement; it has the largest fleet in the world.
2. Peace: for the blessing of the humans and the whole of creation.
3. Redemption: save your creatures, Oh God!
4. Mass Lobby of MPs on 9th July (organised by the Climate Coalition)
5. Monsoon season in India and Bangladesh:
1. Monsoon season is impacting India, with 80 per cent of its annual rainfall expected between now and September. Climate change has caused erratic weather, flash floods, landslides, droughts and extreme heat. Pray for protection for farmers.
2. Bangladesh has recently experienced severe flooding and landslides. One of Tearfund’s project areas has been severely impacted; they have been working closely with local partners to quickly support 160 families with basic food items.
6. Women farmers working in 50℃ in Iraq: Many of those working the field in Iraq to provide for their families are women. As the temperatures in areas of the country have reached 52℃ recently, the work is difficult and exhausting, and insufficient rainfall can mean that even after all the hard work, crops fail, forcing families into hunger. Pray for Tearfund’s local partners who are helping provide technical input and training for local farmers to help them irrigate their crops, even when the conditions are very dry, and are also helping them learn to market their crops to support their income.
7. Bradford Council - please pray for:
1. the ongoing Climate Action Plan consultation.
2. Volunteer Climate Ambassadors - looking for volunteers to talk to children and young people in schools, nurseries or colleges about climate change and sustainability. The aims is to help these settings develop climate action plans and operate in a greener, more sustainable way.
8. COP30 is in November in Brazil. Please pray for:
1. Countries to submit bold NDCs (emission targets); so far only 22/197 countries have submitted targets.
2. Agreement on the Tropical Forest Forever Fund (paying countries to conserve their rainforest)

Please keep praying for these things!

Our next meeting is Wednesday 16th July, 7:30pm at Shipley Baptist Church.