Plenary, 04 Oct 2006
Meeting date: Wednesday, October 4, 2006
Official Report
415KB pdf
Time for Reflection
Good afternoon. The first item of business is time for reflection, which is led today by the Rev Leith Fisher of Wellington church in Glasgow.
I had just arrived back from holiday in late August and was busy wading through a minor mountain of accumulated mail and e-mail when the phone rang. The call was a request to be involved in the imminent launch of a little booklet called "Our Sacred Earth—a guide for becoming more eco-friendly in your faith community." I think that it is a wee gem. It has been produced by the youth committee of the Scottish Inter Faith Council.
That youth committee is made up of young people from 10 faith traditions. They meet regularly and they share a vision to promote religious understanding in our land by building friendships, hosting conferences, workshops and retreats and undertaking practical projects together.
The booklet contains a number of quotations from the various faith traditions, each emphasising that the care and cherishing of the earth is one of the fundamental imperatives of that faith. It also contains a brief sketch of the huge ecological challenge before us and a useful list of contact organisations. The main body of the booklet is taken up with a substantial series of practical steps that we can take as individuals and organisations to conserve energy and reduce waste.
For me, it is a seed and sign of hope that this interfaith group of young people, instead of concentrating on the differences between their religions, have poured their efforts into a project that has significance for everyone, whether Christian, Muslim, Jew, Hindu, Buddhist, atheist or agnostic, and which embraces all humanity—indeed, creation itself. So often these days, religion is portrayed as being either esoteric and other worldly or sectarian and divisive. However, here we have a group of Scottish young people that has produced a little work that is inclusive and down to earth with a vengeance. To do that, they have had to move out of their traditions, forge new relationships and get beyond stereotypes and prejudices. How well they have done that.
They recall us to the earth that we share for a time and to the common cause of caring for and cherishing, under God, this unique, diverse, huge, strong, fragile creation as part of our working together for the common good and the common weal of the world and all its people. By their practical hints, they show us how we can eat this elephant which threatens to crush us–as Desmond Tutu says–,
"one piece at a time."