Dear Friends,  

COP26 has started in Glasgow a year later than originally planned and with the stakes even higher.  Just before it started, Boris Johnson said it’s the “last chance to save the planet”, which hopefully will focus the minds of the delegates to produce some hard and solid plans to help reduce the impact of rising temperatures across the globe.  It’s interesting to look back at the speed of how the world responded to the Covid pandemic with the production of vaccines in double quick time. The impact of coronavirus was immediate and affected our health, our way of life overnight, and action was needed quickly which we are all truly thankful.  

With climate change though it feels like it has been bandied around for quite a number of years but only now is the world really waking up to a possible future catastrophe for our whole way of life and wonderful world we live in.

I don’t know if you are like me but I am trying different ways to reduce my carbon foot print but it seems an uphill struggle when the    challenge across the world seems so great and immense.

At times like this I am reminded of the words of the poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson who wrote ‘More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of’. These words encourage me to pray for God’s intervention that hearts and minds (including my own) will be changed so that we offer concrete hope to future generations.

So, please keep doing your own ‘bit’ for the environment and in the meantime I offer you this prayer for your use during the COP26 summit: 

Loving God,

We praise your name with all you have created.
You are present in the whole universe, and in the smallest of creatures.
We acknowledge the responsibilities you have placed upon us as rewards of your creation.
May the Holy Spirit inspire all political leaders at COP26 as they seek to embrace the changes needed to foster a more sustainable society.
Instil in them the courage and gentleness to implement fairer solutions for the poorest and most vulnerable, and commit their nations to the care of Our Common Home.
We ask this through Our Lord Jesus Christ your Son.
Amen

God bless and take care and stay safe and hope to see you soon. 

Glenn

Rev Glenn Coggins, Vicar of  the United Benefice of Stanley, Outwood and Wrenthorpe and Alverthorpe.

Dear Friends,  

You will have heard the saying that ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’. Well, in this case it was a recent Matt cartoon in the Daily Telegraph in which a man was dressed for work in a suit and holding a brief case and upon opening his front door he is a faced with a bricked up door. In the cartoon, he turns to his wife and says ‘did anybody tell us about the latest local lockdown restrictions?’ As lockdown eases and hopefully we continue travelling in the right direction, it is such a challenge for the   government to communicate clearly what we can and cannot do in our   daily lives. We know by now that information, instructions and guidance can get misinterpreted, ignored and half followed  and against this       navigating a path that allows for some easing of restrictions and keeping COVID under control is a job not many people would sign up for.

When one sits back though it’s amazing though how technology has allowed us to communicate and keep in touch. Just think how we can talk face to face with people at the other side of the world say in Australia.  We then have 24 hour news, social media and the likes of Google that offers you advice on anything under the sun and Wikipedia that puts the contents of the Encyclopaedia Britannia at your finger tips. But, with all this communication and access to information, getting one’s message over is such a struggle. People can get half the story, give up reading after the first paragraph, only hear what they want to hear or suffer information over load and switch the telly off.

I was reflecting on this the other day about how the early Church spread the message of Jesus across the known world. When you think that Jesus didn’t write a book, only gathered a few people around him during his three short years of ministry, and did not travel very far from his home town. And yet his message has spread to all four corners of the world and has transformed the lives of millions of people down the generations and helped countries build a good foundation for society to live and thrive. A couple of weeks ago we heard the story of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost  empowering those early disciples to go out and share the good news in words and action. The church has continued to take Jesus’ transforming message out and at St Peter’s we try live our lives following in Jesus’ footsteps and being a family together and sharing the good news with those on our doorstep. As lockdown eases we continue to gather for services and social events are starting to be booked. You are most welcome to join us at anytime and discover the life changing message of Jesus.

God bless, take care and stay safe, and hope to see you soon.

Glenn

Rev Glenn Coggins, Vicar of  the United Benefice of Stanley, Outwood and Wrenthorpe and Alverthorpe.