• we cannot control everything in our lives
• modern medicine does not always have a cure
• death is the ultimate passage for each one of us

The overarching principle must be respect for life.

But we need laws to support the decision to withhold treatment. The bar must be set high: to avoid inflicting suffering which will not result in recovery. If the suffering of the family becomes one of the criteria, this may lead to a form of euthanasia. Hard, hard facts.

Even for us believers, it is almost impossibly difficult when faced with the death of a child, to accept that the purpose of our life is to know and love God, and be happy with God in all eternity.

We are in God’s hands; we believe we are not separated for ever. Can we find the strength to be happy for the dying person, who has gone to his or her true fulfilment?

Prayer

Dear Lord, have pity on these little ones who suffer mortal illness. Give their parents the courage to accept your Will and let their children go.

It has been said that our technology outstrips our wisdom. Nowhere is this more crystal clear than in Fukushima Prefecture in Japan. Siting nuclear reactors anywhere on the Pacific rim of fire seems foolhardy in the extreme. Did we learn nothing from Chernobyl? Nuclear energy – a clean servant, but a very dangerous master. In this Year of Science, we need to remember Marie Curie, and the price she paid for the discovery of radium.

Creator God,
Give strength and fortitude to the men working to contain the effects of the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant.
In your mercy, protect the Pacific peoples from the radioactivity polluting the ocean.

- fizzy drinks cost much less than milk
- food banks struggle to cope with greatly increased demand
- the free food shop in Auckland ran out of supplies in an hour
- unemployment is climbing.

Congratulations to Fonterra for showing corporate responsibility in holding the price of milk until Dec 2011

What can we do as a Christian community to love our neighbour?

We have an opportunity here to make our Eucharist real

-       by bringing foodstuffs in the Offertory procession, for distribution through our local food bank
-       by supporting our local branch of the St Vincent de Paul society.

The other likely outcome of higher prices for dairy farmers may be more difficult to combat – how do we act as responsible stewards of God’s creation in face of increased pressure for ‘cubicle cows’ in the Mackenzie Basin with consequent higher emissions of methane gas and excessive consumption of scarce water?

The Earth is the Lord’s, and all that is in it. Psalm 24.

Dear Lord, we pray that your Holy Spirit will guide all that world leaders and concerned individuals do in their efforts to care for our world. Amen.

From Trocaire prayer for Creation

Thoughtless is the least one can say; arrogant and adolescent are more appropriate.

It was not a late night talkback session or a bunch of ignorant mates in the pub – it was a serious interview with the Prime Minister, no place for a facetious and thoughtless remark about the representative of the Queen in NZ.

Although not particularly racist, certainly misjudged and offensive. Nor did the TVNZ spokeswoman improve matters by her thoughtless comment. Rightly, all concerned were chastised for their stupidity, after a general outcry of outrage from the public.

Does this sorry episode show that we are ethnocentric to the point that anyone a little different from ourselves may be insulted, with a view to improving the ratings? The insult to Susan Boyle also came from Paul Henry. What place do we give to the imperative to love our neighbour as ourselves, after first loving God with all our hearts and minds and strength.

Dear God, who made and loves us all, instil in our hearts the ability to see others as you see us, and treat them with respect and kindness.

Thank God, everyone is not convinced by National’s need to placate Act. A group of concerned, mostly Christian, citizens has set up an Alternative Welfare Working Group, which starts from the same position as the official Working Party, but takes a very different path. Meetings are being held up and down the country, asking beneficiaries and unemployed people for their stories. I was fortunate enough to be present last Monday at the meeting in Wellington, where people spoke from their hearts of how they experience the system and the people who have to operate it. The Group members listened attentively and commented where necessary to clarify concerns. Each small group was asked to put forward three main concerns after sharing together. These stories will be collated and presented to Government in November, with recommendations for improving the system. This is surely a better way to involve people in planning their future, so that they are enabled to own the solutions. Do we take seriously the words of the Lord to ‘love your neighbour as yourself’? Or do we turn a blind eye when our pockets are threatened?

Dear Lord, we ask you to put a heart of flesh in place of our hearts of stone, so that we see your beloved sons and daughters in those who struggle with mental or physical ill health and lack of employment.

What can we do to change this behaviour? Can we offer our young people challenges as they enter adulthood? Would an Outward Bound course be one way?

Are alcohol and drugs too cheap and easily accessible? Why not raise the price of alcohol, as with cigarettes? William Booth in the 1890s proved that was a real solution.

What about the high powered cars presently manufactured? What is the effect of the very popular TV programme ‘Top Gear’ on young men, with a thirst for speed and thrills, who watch skillful driving on a track and want to emulate these exploits on the open road? At 22, brains are not developed sufficiently to assess the risks of trying to outdrive a police car, and testosterone takes over. We are raising the age for obtaining a driver’s licence. Do we also need more targeted training for young drivers?

There is no escape from the realities of this fractured world. But there is a place of refuge. God is in our midst. I do need to be aware that God is here and allow Him through me to reveal Himself to His world. Ps 11 (adapted from Brandt).

Please, Holy Spirit, pour some of your wisdom into our young people.

Our ETS is little enough, but will be reviewed, for the fainthearted, in the light of Australia’s, Japan’s and the U.S.’s commitments next year. We need to stand by our decisions, to include all our greenhouse gas emitters, to do our wee bit for God’s creation. Everything that we have, everything in our world, has been given to us, to share and enjoy, but also to hand on to future inhabitants of Planet Earth, whether our descendants or people unknown to us.

We have a finite world, how can we continue ‘extracting resources’ – exhausting resources would be a more accurate description. We need to change our habits, no longer can we blithely drive everywhere, fly off on foreign holidays, eat meat every day, import luxuries as of right. What we are using up is stolen from our brothers and sisters, and it is the poor of the world who suffer because of our excess. How much do we really need?

We have been given intelligence, and there are many exciting and challenging developments in technology, to replace oil as the main source of energy. The Gulf oil rig disaster should make us question the wisdom of deep water drilling. The effects will be catastrophic for many species, including fisher communities all along that coast, for many years.

There are tragic choices to be made: governments do what the electorate wants. Where will we stand – clutching our possessions, our way of life? Or choosing the common good of others?  ‘Love one another, just as I have loved you’ (John 13:34).

Quite apart from the practical difficulties of cubicle cows:
- Setting up costs – buildings, etc;
- scarce water resources in the area;
- the logistics of feed: fresh grass for the cows; grain grown elsewhere in New Zealand or imported;
- huge amounts of effluent to be disposed of.

What message does this send to our trading partners? Yes, our cows need some shelter in the winter, but 8 months inside seems excessive. Do we expect a heaven without our fellow creatures, if we can contemplate using them as objects to get rich from? My 7 year old granddaughter summed it up for me when she said emphatically: ‘But that’s MEAN!’

We can no longer continue living the way we have been, because we live in a closed world that is being degraded by our actions. I am naturally frugal by nature, so the decision to use the car less was not too difficult – no parking worries. I love taking my dog up the many tracks in the Town Belt – free exercise – no gym needed! I try to buy locally-sourced food when possible. There are farmers’ markets in many towns now. The transition_towns movement has people helping people bypass the cash economy and build networks of solidarity. All these new initiatives give rise to hope. Yet all these actions have a minuscule effect in face of the problem, which can only be tackled at government and world level. It is up to us – all of us – to insist that our elected leaders take this responsibility seriously at Copenhagen. The consequences of delaying will far outweigh present pain, and rob our descendants of their future. Do we have the right to put such a burden on our children and their children?

We have a sacred duty to care for God’s creation, not just as owners or even stewards, but as part of an interlocking whole. Our collective greed has caused this situation. Are we not obliged in justice to alleviate it? We are in God’s hand, we trust in our Creator’s love for all of us, so ’Pray to God, but [insist our leaders] row away from the rocks’. [Hindu proverb]