Net Zero by 2030
A letter from the future
Dear 2020,
It was always going to be an ambitious target. Some said it was meaningless because there was no accurate baseline to measure it from. But the way and speed of travel was clear! This Synod decision recognised a climate emergency that required emergency action!
When you consider all the blocking and politicking of climate deniers in the early years of the millennium, how they laughed at the Diocese Environment Group's suggestion of photo-voltaic cells on south facing church roofs etc..- what we have achieved seems miraculous.
We were reflecting on this, as we sat round in our yurt, prayer/communications pod we had built in the nave of the church in the early 20's. Heated by electricity from the roof photo-voltaics and the wind generator, our state of the art communications equipment allows us to join other churches in our cluster for the Sunday Eucharist. The biggest tussle we had (after telling the DAC that the yurt was de-mountable, so we did not need a faculty!) was convincing everyone that the near presence of a priest was not necessary to consecrate the bread and wine at Holy Communion. It seems silly, but thousands of years of doing it one way makes change difficult. Now almost every one accepts that when he said, "Do this.... " and "I am with you..." Jesus was not joking! And the proof of the pudding is in the eating.
The dispersed schools use our pod during the week. They come in after a small group of us say morning prayer together. In the evening the Parish Council uses the equipment to link to the District and County Council meetings. We had not realised that in setting things up for conference calls to enable widely shared worship and do synodical government at distance, we could also serve the wider community.
Now more people come into church week by week than ever they did before the emergency; and the community owns it as their space. And yes, they seem to recognise it as God's space too! The clear window in the east wall of the yurt allows one's gaze to be drawn to the ancient altar, even in the midst of secular business.
There's a clear sense of God's hand upon us. Something we have seen in the growth of numbers when the community gathers, wrapped up warm in their outdoor clothes in the main body of the church, at Christmas and Easter.
There have been some losses of some heritage churches as local groups of Christians have voted to gather in one another's homes. Now some some planned ruination is in hand, so the outline of the buildings remain in the landscape. But the gains have far outweighed the losses. Isolated individuals have been included in in ways that were unimaginable before digital inter-connectability.
Getting clergy out cars and onto electric bikes was quite a tussle, especially the bishops and archdeacons. But some of the older members of the church remembered back to the 1970's when dear old Bishop Maurice Wood addressed the issue of transport in rural parishes with the gift of mopeds for the clergy!
Yes, it can be done. We wish you luck our lives depend on it.
With love and prayers,
2030
Dear 2020,
It was always going to be an ambitious target. Some said it was meaningless because there was no accurate baseline to measure it from. But the way and speed of travel was clear! This Synod decision recognised a climate emergency that required emergency action!
When you consider all the blocking and politicking of climate deniers in the early years of the millennium, how they laughed at the Diocese Environment Group's suggestion of photo-voltaic cells on south facing church roofs etc..- what we have achieved seems miraculous.
We were reflecting on this, as we sat round in our yurt, prayer/communications pod we had built in the nave of the church in the early 20's. Heated by electricity from the roof photo-voltaics and the wind generator, our state of the art communications equipment allows us to join other churches in our cluster for the Sunday Eucharist. The biggest tussle we had (after telling the DAC that the yurt was de-mountable, so we did not need a faculty!) was convincing everyone that the near presence of a priest was not necessary to consecrate the bread and wine at Holy Communion. It seems silly, but thousands of years of doing it one way makes change difficult. Now almost every one accepts that when he said, "Do this.... " and "I am with you..." Jesus was not joking! And the proof of the pudding is in the eating.
The dispersed schools use our pod during the week. They come in after a small group of us say morning prayer together. In the evening the Parish Council uses the equipment to link to the District and County Council meetings. We had not realised that in setting things up for conference calls to enable widely shared worship and do synodical government at distance, we could also serve the wider community.
Now more people come into church week by week than ever they did before the emergency; and the community owns it as their space. And yes, they seem to recognise it as God's space too! The clear window in the east wall of the yurt allows one's gaze to be drawn to the ancient altar, even in the midst of secular business.
There's a clear sense of God's hand upon us. Something we have seen in the growth of numbers when the community gathers, wrapped up warm in their outdoor clothes in the main body of the church, at Christmas and Easter.
There have been some losses of some heritage churches as local groups of Christians have voted to gather in one another's homes. Now some some planned ruination is in hand, so the outline of the buildings remain in the landscape. But the gains have far outweighed the losses. Isolated individuals have been included in in ways that were unimaginable before digital inter-connectability.
Getting clergy out cars and onto electric bikes was quite a tussle, especially the bishops and archdeacons. But some of the older members of the church remembered back to the 1970's when dear old Bishop Maurice Wood addressed the issue of transport in rural parishes with the gift of mopeds for the clergy!
Yes, it can be done. We wish you luck our lives depend on it.
With love and prayers,
2030
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