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BE A CRAZY NOAH! Girls Friendly Society is one of the oldest organisations in the Anglican Communion. They are focusing on three themes for a three year period: Praise and Worship, Gender Based Violence and Climate Change The GBFS held their South African National Conference in Paarl, and invited Rev Rachel Mash to share on the topic of Climate Change The session started with an enthusiastic singing of “Be green in the corner where you are” She shared the impact of climate change in South Africa. Firstly we are seeing flooding – just before Easter 500 people (including one GBFS member) lost their lives due to the ‘rain bomb’ that fell. As the oceans warm we get more evaporation and so we are seeing these torrential rains. The other impact is drought – as the earth dries up – as we saw with ‘Day Zero’ in Cape Town and now Gqeberha is affected.  These droughts are then followed by fires and the trees and vegetation become too dry. We are also seeing the impacts of plastic pollution – by 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in the oceans! Due to climate change people lose their lives and homes, we see a drop in crops which will lead to rising food prices and loss of jobs. So what can we do as Christians? We must remember that we are called to renew the face of the earth – we do not have a Planet B to go to! We need to become the activists – changing our actions but also inspiring and challenging others. God called Noah to build an ark – people thought he was a crazy person, but he saved the human race and all creatures. Now God is calling on us as to be crazy Noahs in the area where we live  – act local, fight plastic, don’t waste water and electricity, but also think global, get involved in marches, and be the climate activist. People may laugh at you and think you are crazy like Noah – but God is calling you! Ngena Noah!! Photo credit Zodwa Makhehle

“Let’s have more services outside!” This is the feeling of so many parishioners of all ages who enjoyed outdoor worship – many for the first time – during Season of Creation 2022, which was actively encouraged by the Johannesburg Anglican Eco-spiritual Initiative (JAEI). Many of the 75 parishes in the Anglican Diocese of Johannesburg followed either the Season of Creation 7 or the Burning Bush, from 1 September and concluding with St Francis Day on 2 October.  Exciting additional elements include potted arrangements in church, rosemary sprigs given out, tree planting, food gardens, new JoJo water tanks, youth pledges, paintings, handprint murals, clean ups, prayer walks, confirmation hikes.  Rev Martha Gordon #seasonofcreation

The World Council of Churches held its 11th Assembly from August 31 to September 8, 2022, in the German city of Karlsruhe. I attended the Assembly as a delegate from the Episcopal Anglican Church of Brazil and was asked to be part of the Committee on Programme Guidelines, which discusses the activities of the WCC for the following 8 years. The Assembly was particularly focused on the care for God’s Creation and the issues of environmental, economic and social justice, the three pillars of sustainable development. As a cross-cutting issue, which permeates almost all human activities, the three pillars were addressed in thematic plenary sessions, in approved documents, in ecumenical conversations, and in discussions about all forms of injustice. It also was the theme of many workshops held by participants in what was called the ‘networking zone’. The struggle of indigenous peoples to keep their ancestral lands and conserve their biodiversity, so important for their culture and spirituality, was particularly emphasized, together with Climate Change, which is already being felt acutely in Europe. It became clear that climate justice is the most pressing issue of our time for the Churches, and that it involves the quality of life on Earth and our very survival. In the final plenary, the report of the Programmatic Guidelines Committee, of which I was part, requested the Central Committee to create a Commission on Climate Change and Sustainable Development. Elisabeth Ivete Sherrill – ACEN Steering Committee participant for Brazil Photo WWC – Thematic Plenary – the wholeness of life

Bright light 🕯️Bright future 🔆 Let go and let God On the 3rd of September the Anglican Youth Fellowship in the Diocese of False Bay held a conference at St Peters church in Khayelitsha. Green Anglicans were invited to present to the conference. John-Paul Roberts from Green Anglicans did a bible study reflection with us on the book of Nehemiah. Touching on the aspect that like Nehemiah, we as young people need to lament the struggles that our fellow young people face because of the destruction of our environment, living in pollution, lack of clean water, air pollution and the like. To understand that in the story of Creation God made all things good, but we have broken it and made it bad.  JP inspired us as young people to see the context that we live in and see where we can act and what needs to be rebuilt so that this generation of young people and those to come may enjoy the beauty of creation, and just like in the story of Nehemiah the wall was not built by one professional builder, but all the communities helped in rebuilding the wall. Likewise, we need to work alongside our communities, and other organizations, civil servants and seek to fix what is broken. Green Anglicans has shown us that the young man and woman of the church are the future of tomorrow and the future of the church. We as the youth and adults of tomorrow hold a big responsibility not only to the church but on how we build a brighter future for our young ones looking up on us, how we treat the creation of our earth is important as we are saving the world for tomorrow. When we let go and let God as the youth, we are saying that we cannot put old wine into new wineskins as we have to have to bring new thoughts to the brighter future of tomorrow and make it bright. We were also empowered by other guests Mrs Bathandwa Dabula (former AYF member and now MU member), Lakhe Booi (Diocesan AYF Chairperson), Mel Awu (UCT Sport Administrator and International Toastmaster & ANSOC Coordinator for CPUT, UWC, UCT). We were blessed as well to have Bishop Margaret come through and say hello. Kagisho Phetlo and John-Paul Roberts #seasonofcreation

St Cyprian’s is going green! On 3rd of September during the Season of Creation St Cyprians Church in Langa launched its Environmental Desk under the leadership of Ms. Nandie Mandongana, an Environmental Councillor, in the Parish Council Committee. This came after 5 Members of Green Anglican teens attended a Workshop at St. Thomas, Rondebosch which was organised by the Province led by Rev. Rachel Mash, Bino – Makalanyane and J.P. Roberts, the Media and Communications Officer. The Green Anglican teens of our Parish could not wait when they were from the camp, they took Rev. Tshatshu, the current Priest in charge at St. Cyprian’s Church, LANGA, into task. He also did not hesitate to sell the idea to the whole congregation after consultation with the Parish Executive Committee. The idea was warmly welcomed by the Congregation. The 3rd of September is one of the remarkable dates at St. Cyprian’s as this is the date when the Environmental Desk was launched!! The activities of the day left almost everyone who attended, so motivated and informed about the environmental issues that are not affecting our Parish Community only, they are the Global issues. The presentations from our Environmental Club were superb!! Mr. Zukile Malusi, educated us on how to start the vegetable gardens, how to maintain them and the health benefits of having such gardens in our communities. This was followed by an Educational Presentation by Kanyisile Vena, a Marine Research Technician” highlighting very useful information on careers that are available in the Department of Environment, with more emphasis on marine environment. “Our marine life is highly threatened by human activities and the situation is expensive and takes long to reverse”, those were Kanyie’ closing remarks. This left our Youth (St. Cyprians., St. Columba and Holy Cross Green Anglican Teens) open-minded about their career choices to save our environment. Langa Community was not left behind as the Church was honoured to have an informative presentation from the City of Cape Town, Mr. Dingaan, on how to save our environment who also left a source document (book) He also promised to assist the Church whenever a need arise as long as it will save our environment. The arrival of Mr. J.P Roberts was a cherry on top as he brought some plants as a gift to St. Cyprian’s Church. Thanks to our Programme Directors Sino Makawula and Sine Ndlwana who, after the speeches, led us to the Vegetable garden, a legacy of the environmental desk, with the aim of improving the health of Langa residents through its organic produce. Rev Tshatshu blessed the garden before planting took place. A proper guidance on the logistics of planting was given by Mr. “Zuks”Malusi to our Elderly women, Mrs Ramatlakane and Mrs.Tena who hope to be the first recipients of the produce (spinach) during harvesting time in November. The ceremony was closed by a delicious meal prepared by Nomonde Toko, one of the Parish chefs. St. Cyprian’s is optimistic that other Parishes will follow suit. Nandie Mandongana #seasonofcreation

At its Provincial Standing Committee, ACSA passed a resolution pledging support for the Anglican Communion Forest RESOLUTION ON THE COMMUNION FOREST Noting that the Communion Forest was launched at the Lambeth Conference The high levels of land degradation in Southern Africa The importance of creating green spaces in order to: Create shade especially as we will  suffer increased temperatures  due to climate change Create green spaces for rest and recreationincrease biodiversity Offset carbon emissions and reduce air pollution This PSC pledges its support to the Communion Forest and requests each Diocese to: Commit to tree growing , not just planting – trees need to be watered and cared for Incorporating tree or plant growing as part of confirmation process Incorporate tree or plant growing  as part of baptisms, marriages, funerals, patronal festivals, conferences and other events Proposer: Bishop Vicentia Kgabe Lesotho Seconder: Rev Nitano Muller False Bay #communionforest Several Dioceses have already launched the Communion Forest, in this picture we see the Diocese of Mthatha Youth Executive planting palm trees at their Diocesan Youth Conference