The 13th of December is the defining moment for faith organizations and churches to conduct a church service and ring bells, sound conch shells, or beat drums or gongs 350 times.
For centuries, across the world musical instruments like bells and drums have been used to warn people of imminent danger ”“ but also to call people to religious service, marking important moments in worship and seeking to connect to God. Sunday 13 December marks the height of the talks at United Nations climate negotiations in Copenhagen.
At 3 p.m. ”“ marking the end of a high profile ecumenical celebration at the Lutheran Cathedral in Copenhagen, the Church of Our Lady where the Archbishop of Canterbury will be preaching ”“ the churches in Denmark will ring their bells, and Christians around the world are invited to echo them by sounding their own bells, shells, drums, gongs or horns 350 times.
Ecumenical partners, including the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance, envisage a chain of chimes and prayers stretching in a time-line from the Fiji Islands in the South Pacific ”“ where the day first begins and where the effects of climate change are already felt today ”“ to northern Europe and across the globe.
[blockquote]The 13th of December is the defining moment for faith organizations and churches to conduct a church service and ring bells, sound conch shells, or beat drums or gongs 350 times[/blockquote]
Well that sounds a useful thing to do. Maybe if we all do that and jump up and down together what is left of the ice sheet will come crashing down.
Let’s move it to Dec 21 and see if we can’t get the sonic vibrations to usher in the Millennium!
Don’t Danes and their government already support strong action against climate change? If so, this would seem to be a case of ringing to the already-converted.
I wonder if these churches sounded a similarly energetic call against genocide in Darfur and southern Sudan. Or whether they’re giving similar attention to religious persecution in China, India, or North Korea. You can’t do everything at once, but there’s something to pressing concerns to which secular remains largely indifferent.
#2, or mve it to December 22, 2012 and wait for the Mayan invasion from outer space?
[b]CLIMATE [i]JUSTICE[/i]?[/b] Ya gotta be kidding me!!!!
Why is everything a justice issue issue these days?
BTW, I was feeling fairly passive-aggressive yesterday, so in honor of Al Gore, I decided to burn my leaves in the fire pit (which I had never used before). I smoked a cigarette while I did it – and I must admit, the entirety of the experience was quite cathartic. Now, if I could just find some leaded gas and CFC-propelled deodorant. Oh well…a guy can dream, can’t he?
“CLIMATE JUSTICE? Ya gotta be kidding me!!!!
Why is everything a justice issue issue these days?”
I have to agree! I was in a meeting not long ago. Someone suggested that the time of the meeting be changed because some members of the committee couldn’t make the meeting (though they agreed to be on the committee knowing full well the time).
However the trump card was played…”This is a justice issue!” was declared of the need to change the time slot.
I calmly asked what category Apartheid, Tibet, and the continued success of American Idol fell into if the schedule of our committee meetings was a “justice” issue.
I am getting justice-overload.
[i]Fiji Islands in the South Pacific – where the day first begins and where the [b]effects of climate change are already felt[/i][/b]
Are they talking about the recent 20 cm rise in sea level?
The one that takes it back [i]UP[/i] to 1970 levels?
Short memories and childish minds. “Do not let the world squeeze you into it mold (scheme, in Greek), but be transformed (metamorphosed, in Greek) by the renewing of your minds.” Rom 12:2.
Evidently there are some C of E minds in rather desperate need of renewal, or perhaps merely a First Year course in oceanography, followed by one in paleo-climatology, provided they can handle something like an undergraduate course in the sciences.
This is a justice issue!–#6
Make my day, RJHhend1 [#6]: What’s “justice overload” to you is also hope to me.
ECUSA’s ruling revisionists regularly justify their heavy-handed tactics by declaring, “This is a justice issue.”
But if people now invoke that phrase to reschedule meetings, then its its power is doomed. Overuse will turn it into a joke.
Bernard Baruch, an astute investor, reputedly declared that it’s time to sell your shares when speculative frenzy reaches the point that the newsboy starts offering you tips about the market.
Here, I believe, your fellow committee member’s invocation of “justice issue” may similarly indicate that this sort of excess will start wearing thin.
[blockquote]CLIMATE JUSTICE? Ya gotta be kidding me!!!!
Why is everything a justice issue issue these days?[/blockquote]
Yes, “climate justice” is an utterly idiotic phrase. The intelligence of the individual who seriously uses this phrase must immediately be called into question.
But, why? Why is everything a “justice” issue these days? Because it allows those folks instant moral high ground. “What, you don’t want justice? Then, that only means you’re a ‘b!got’ or ‘prejudiced’ or something! You must HATE the object of my concern!” And, then, they don’t have to argue or defend their stance on any issue (or think at all, really). After all, there’s no point in arguing with a “b!got”, right? They can just dismiss you as an extremist or something.
“Then the herald loudly proclaimed, ‘This is what you are commanded to do, O peoples, nations and men of every language: As soon as you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes and all kinds of music, you must fall down and worship the image of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. Whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace.’ Therefore, as soon as they heard the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp and all kinds of music, all the peoples, nations and men of every language fell down and worshiped the image of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.”
It’s good to see Nebuchadnezzar’s orchestra has been updated for the Climate Justice Movement’s needs. It seems that the concept of the “Burning Fiery Furnace” has been updated, as well. If TEC has learned anything in recent years, it is that we must keep up-to-date!
Do they do change-ringing or just happy-clappy climate ringing? Same question for those gongy conchy thingys, too.
Do any of these churches preach the true Gospel rather than a social gospel?