Rachel Mash

This year Earth Hour was celebrated with a difference. Due to #lockdown because of the corona virus, across South African and Mozambique people either joined as individuals or on zoom calls and said the Earth Vigil prayers. There was a strong sense of being part of one planet , and our future depends on each other EARTH HOUR VIGIL   Prepare one central candle and small candles enough for each person   Power down All the lights in the building are turned off.   Reading Genesis 1:1-3 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters. And God said, “Let there be light,” (the central candle is lit) and there was light. God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light “day,” and the darkness God called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.   Greeting One Light is all around us. We often do not even realize it until it is gone and we are in darkness. Tonight we will celebrate amidst darkness, guided by gentle light that does not lead to the global warming of the planet. Light that will encourage us to reflect on who God calls us to be in this world. Let us take some time to pass the light to each other. You may greet each other with a comment such as “for inspiration,” “for courage,” or “for openness.”   At this point, the leader passes light from the first candle to members of the congregation, who in turn pass light to their neighbours.   Music: (suggest Taize – within our darkest night you kindle a fire that never dies away) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8BmvxqJH0g   Prayers Litany from Melanesia https://www.greenanglicans.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/prayer.pdf   A time of silence   Prayer for our Earth All-powerful God, you are present in the whole universe and in the smallest of your creatures. You embrace with your tenderness all that exists. Pour out upon us the power of your love, that we may protect life and beauty. Fill us with peace, that we may live as brothers and sisters, harming no one. O God of the poor, help us to rescue the abandoned and forgotten of this earth, so precious in your eyes. Bring healing to our lives, that we may protect the world and not prey on it, that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction. Touch the hearts of those who look only for gain at the expense of the poor and the earth. Teach us to discover the worth of each thing, to be filled with awe and contemplation, to recognize that we are profoundly united with every creature as we journey towards your infinite light. We thank you for being with us each day. Encourage us, we pray, in our struggle for justice, love and peace. (Pope Francis, Laudato Si) One God of the powerless, we choose to be without power. All May this choice permeate our lives. One God of gentleness, we choose to walk gently on this earth. All May this choice permeate our lives. One God of all creation, we choose to be in solidarity with all creatures on our planet. All May this choice permeate our lives. One May this simple gesture of turning out our lights be a moment of inspiration for ourselves, for our community, and for our world. May we leave this place empowered to live into this hour. May we continue to live simply and walk gently on this earth. And now let us go and live the message we dare to proclaim. All Amen.   The lights are turned on Final song – Shine Jesus Shine Adapted from Earth Hour Liturgy from Diocese of Niagara  

On  Saturday 14th of March, the Grahamstown Diocese hosted a  workshop St. Michael’s and St  George’s Cathedral hall in  Grahamstown, this day saw  35 attendees and we were honoured with ta delegation from the Provincial College of the Transfiguration (CoTT). We were warmly welcomed by Rev Gwen Mvula (the Diocesan Environmental Coordinator ) on behalf of the Diocese. We began by asking attendees to write down their expectations for the workshop, this was done to ensure that , the workshop would move towards what the attendees are expecting at the end of the day, most of the attendees wanted to achieve knowledge on “Environment and Church” and Empowerment of Youth/Children Ministry leaders. One key thing we always focus on is to create compassion amongst youth and children Ministry leaders, this enables them to pass on the knowledge and conduct lessons using the two manuals namely Ryan the Rhino for Children) and Care for Creation for teenagers, with more passion as they too can relate . We took time to look at the methodologies for each lesson plan as this plays a big role in the quality of the outcomes. And together did a few lessons which where inclusive of the methodologies. A big thank you Rev Gwen for having to organize this special day, Dean Andrew and mama Claire for hosting us.  

oday the Green Anglicans (Proudly Anglicans) joined hands with Mother’s Union members & the Youth in a tree planting exercise at Christ the King Anglican Church-Chilinde Anglican Parish in Lilongwe. Rev. Canon Christopher Mwawa led the team in planting 200 trees. #RenewOurWorld.#GreenAnglicans.

A WOODLOT  FOR  EACH ARCHDEACONRY The Diocese of Lake Malawi passed a Synod resolution put forward by the Environmental Department  (green Anglicans) – to establish at least one woodlot for every parish or station.   The Diocesan Synod declared that the third week of January (to coincide with the rains) should be dedicated to replenish the environment. The Green Anglicans in Malawi took the initiative to implement this endorsement   Further to that to kick start this initiative, this year we secured funding to procure fruit trees, and hence each Archdeaconry was requested to prepare land for establishment of a fruit woodlot of hundred trees. The planting of these trees was presided over by diocesan officers from the Secretariat, under the leadership of the Diocesan Bishop Francis Kaulanda. The Diocese of Lake Malawi is one of the largest diocese in Central Africa with seven Archdeaconries and fifty-four parishes, hence for a start it was important that each archdeaconry to be targeted. Come next year this should spill over to all the parishes that is if we are to reverse the status quo of impact of environmental degradation countrywide. OUTCOMES: Fruit and non-fruit trees were distributed and planted in all archdeaconries and the table below summarizes the total number of trees planted during the exercise;   ARCHDEACONRY  PARISH/SCHOOL Fruit Trees Planted Indigenous Trees Planted Total Number of Trees Planted Kasungu Archdeaconry Manyani Parish 45 200 245 Nkhotakota North Chizeo Parish 45 150 195 Nkhotakota South Mtekateka Sec. School 45 100 145 Ntchisi South Buzi Parish 22 300 322 Lilongwe North Dowa Hills Parish 55 310 365 Lilongwe South Chilinde Parish 45 200 245 Sunday School day in Salima Parachute-Sengabay Parish 50 50 100 GRAND TOTAL 1,617   1,517 trees have been planted and Christians in these areas are committed to take care of the trees to maturity levels.     The team is working tirelessly to make sure that the campaigns being pursed reach to all the parishes in Malawi.   The Green Anglicans would also like to extend the support received from all institutions that took part in this activity more importantly the Youth and how they mobilized themselves to support the event in addition to sourcing of additional funds to procure indigenous trees.        

On the 15th February 2020 the Diocese of Khahlamba hosted a workshop for Sunday school teachers, confirmation teachers and Youth leaders. The workshop was facilitated by Bino Makhalanyane from the provincial Green Anglican office based in Cape town. It covered the Care for creation and Ryan the Rhino which are the material currently used throughout the province for the Sunday school and confirmation classes. The workshop had great attendance from with a total of 50 Sunday school teachers coming from all the 7 Archdeaconries of the Diocese of Khahlamba. The workshop was also blessed by the attendance of Dean Rev Sibiya of the Diocese of Khahlamba who also shared a reading from the Psalms and encouraged that the creation must be taken care of. Bino kept the workshop was very interactive and at the same time very informative in that the attendees were very excited about the workshop as it served as an eye opener to them of the things affecting Gods creation.  Sinazo Songca                 The Diocese of Khahlamba hosted a workshop for Sunday school teachers which was facilitated by Bino. The workshop was conducted  to capacitate the Sunday school on the creation .   ……………………………….                                                         …. …………………………………….. Songca Date Green Anglican                    

Historic Creation Care Joint Training for Youth and Sunday school Teachers in Diocese of Swaziland The Diocese of Swaziland has recorded history on 21-23 February by hosting joint training on Creation Care. This joint training is following the number of resolutions that were passed by the Diocesan Synod in October 2019. Among the many resolutions on environment issues the Diocese of Swaziland passed a resolution that the Youth and Sunday school be taught on environmental issues. The Synod resolved that Ryan the Rhino Sunday School Manual and Youth and Creation Care manual be used as official documents in the Diocese to train youth and Sunday school. This training attracted a number of youth leaders, Sunday school teachers and youth conveners who all came in their numbers at St Michaels School. The Youth Chaplain and Sunday School Chaplain were also present in their collars to be trained with the young people.  The Diocese of Swaziland officially launched the two manuals as official documents for use in the Diocese of Swaziland. This was done by Rev. Cannon Wandile Dlamini who was representing Bishop Ellinah. The Bishop Representative made the official launch under the theme, “Walking the Extra Mile with our Young Ones on Creation Care”. He emphasised on the importance of involving young people as integral part of the Church which is the body of Christ. Other presenters at the training were the Environment Chaplain Rev Zama Sigudla. In his presentation he addressed the topic “Creation Care- Why the Church”. In his presentation he based his talk on Genesis 2.15 and stated that Humanity was placed in the Garden of Eden to care and guard the garden. He said up to date that is still the responsibility of Humanity to guard for creation and the Church is better positioned to do that work.  Another speaker was Ms Belusile Mhlanga from Eswatini Environment Authority who shared on the status of the Environment of Eswatini and how climate change has affected various sectors such as water, agriculture, food security, health and other socio-economic sectors. In her presentation she agreed with the previous clerical speakers that indeed God created a beautiful earth which humanity destroyed and the Church is duty bound to take action is restoring the earth. After the presentations the delegates were split into two groups where group one was for Sunday School Teachers and Group two was for youth Leaders and Youth Conveners. Miss Gugulethu Ngwenya from the Diocese of Mpumalanga facilitated how to teach Sunday school on Creation Care using Ryan the Rhino manual. The Sunday school teachers were fascinated by the energy and enthusiasm from the facilitator as they were converted into Sunday school children in the process. Miss Boipelo Tau from the Diocese of Pretoria facilitated together with Mncedisi Masuku from Diocese of Swaziland the Youth and Creation Care Manual. The youth was fascinated by the interactive nature of the manuals, games and mostly the Debate on energy. Overall the training was a success and history was recorded by joining the youth and Sunday school guild in the Diocese of Swaziland. The two guilds resolved to take the environment ministry to another level moving forward.