Bishops issue challenge for Lent - help take better care of the planet
The Earth is our home. It is beautiful beyond words. It is God’s gift to us and so we must take care of it! The Rt Revd Peter Hancock
Remember Lent, the time when you gave up sweets, swearing, talking, arguing, smoking or maybe just chocolate?
But it’s no longer a time when Christians simply give something up, it has become a time when we look to the bigger picture and think what can we take up that will improve the world around us.
With that in mind, this Lent the Bishops of Bath and Wells and Taunton have issued a challenge.
Bishop Peter and Bishop Ruth are inviting us to change our lifestyle so we can take better care of the world we live in and alter the things we do which damage the planet.
“Our care for the environment and for all that God has created is an obligation for us as Christians and part of our response to the Gospel. What we now know about climate change and the impact we humans make on the world we live in, means that it is imperative that we take this responsibility seriously.
“The Earth is our home. It is beautiful beyond words. It is God’s gift to us and so we must take care of it!” says the Rt Rev Peter Hancock, Bishop of Bath and Wells A series of everyday challenges have been set for the duration of Lent. Things people can do as individuals, with their families, or groups and in schools. Giving up plastic, reducing the amount of energy we use, thinking and changing our food shopping and buying habits, recycling, committing to reducing our carbon footprint and more. Each week will focus on a different theme celebrating the world around us and each topic has a set of six challenges which can be tried one a day, one a week, for the whole 40 days of Lent, with the aim that some will be taken up for a lifetime.
At the end of Lent it’s hoped we will all not only have learnt more about our impact as humans on the planet, but will also have altered something about our everyday lives which will go some way towards improving our environmental impact on the earth.
To download resources or sign up for daily inspiration, go to: www. bathandwells.org.uk/lent-livingWell.