Being Right and Fair to all our fellow creatures

 We held our September Eco Prayer meeting on 16th September at Shipley Baptist Church. As normal, we sought to Learn, Share and Pray.

Learn - Paul's instructions to the Christians in Colosse

We read Paul's words from his letter to the Colossians chapter 4 verse 1:

"Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven."

We asked ourselves who we need to be taking care to be right and fair towards, and how we might do that.

Paul's specific instructions concern slaves: people who were under the power of their masters and vulnerable to ill treatment by them. None of us have slaves, but we need to be careful to be right and fair towards:

1. Service suppliers and staff - we spoke about the "Do not abuse our staff" notices that we have seen in shops and services.  
2. Other creatures - in a very visible way, we humans rule over the land that they live on.
3. The land itself.
4. Producers - of the food we eat and the other things that we buy, many of them who live a long way from us and are much poorer than us and more vulnerable to ill treatment.

How can we navigate this complicated world in such a way as to be right and fair towards all these? We encouraged one another to appeal to the Holy Spirit, who lives in us, in the daily decisions and process of our lives. We also want to be shaped by the Bible, and by the advice of others both Christian and not.

Share - thank you for the rain! 

We thank God for the rain that is re-greening our land.

On a recent visit to Baildon Moor one of us was struck about how more trees and a new ecosystem is developing there since the land had a break from being grazed. 

It is also encouraging to see how many showings of the People's Emergency Briefing are happening in Bradford, and that the associated petition has gathered more than 120,000 signatures, so will be considered for a parliamentary debate.

We also shared news of some other upcoming local events:

• A follow-up event to the People's Emergency Briefing will be held at St Peter's Church on 4th October.
• Apple Day at the Bowling Park Allotments on 11th October.

Pray - for the humans and the other creatures

We prayed for the following things:

1. PEACE in Ukraine, Sudan, South Sudan, Congo, Lebanon and Iran.
   
   
2. In Bradford, pray for people to go to showings of the People's Emergency Briefing (and thank God that Bradford Council is helping publicise them):
• Clayton, Methodist Church 20 September
• Heaton, St Barnabas Church 25 September
• Bradford, City Hall 30 September
• Haworth, Parish Church 03 October
• Fountains Church, 11th October (one of us is helping to run this one, prayers particularly appreciated)
• Undercliffe, Community Works 23 October.
  
  and we prayed for the follow-up meeting at St Peter's on 4th October.
  
  
3. Also in Bradford, this Saturday (19th Sept) is the Nature Big Day Out at Bingley North Bog (part of the 1 year old Bradford Pennine Gateway National Nature Reserve). Pray for:
• Lots of people to come and
• be blessed by time in nature and
• discover that peat bogs and their creatures (curlews, herons, bats, kingfishers and dragonflies) are worth them caring for.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
4. During August, the world’s oceans outside the polar regions had their highest ever average surface temperature; this followed the highest recorded July temperatures. Pray for:
• Pray for ocean creatures affected by ocean heatwaves (corals, kelp, seagrasses).
  
• Low lying countries like Bangladesh, where people are affected by more frequent flooding.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
5. The UK government is considering whether to approve a new oil field (Rosebank) and a new gas field (Jackdaw) in the North Sea. In their manifesto Labour said they would not allow any new oil or gas fields.

Please continue to pray for these things 🌍🙏💚

Our next meeting will be on Wednesday 21st October at 7:30pm at Shipley Baptist Church, use this Facebook event to advertise it.