This season our community Christmas project is going to be for the JEM womens refuge homes in our local area. They currently have 18 women and children in the homes and around 5-10 ladies who previously lived in the homes return for Christmas.

http://www.jem.org.au/

We have been asked if we can help JEM by collecting the goods needed to make up Christmas presents for the women and kids for their Christmas day. This is a great mission for all ages – including our kids to be a part of!

Over Sundays in November you may like to donate any of the suggested items below and drop them in the basket at church:
Gift items for Women
Shower gels/Nice soaps
Jewellery
Nice stationary
Journals
Little knick knacks to put in stockings – like lip balm, lolly treats, single face masks etc.
Socks
Anything to do with nails
candles / oil burners ect.
Perfumes / nice body spray (impulse etc).
Chick flicks (dvds)
Worship cds
Make up
purses/handbags
Hair products
Singlet tops (any colors) (Sizes range from 8-14)
fun summer pajamas (sizes range from 8-14)
Nice mugs
heat bags
any vouchers (like single movie tickets, $5 boost vouchers, $10 Supre vouchers etc)
board games/puzzles

For the Children (ages are: 6 weeks (atm) (female), 3 months (atm) (female), 3 and 1/2 yrs, (male) 6 years (male), 8 years (female), 13 years (male).
Coloring books/activity packs
Coloring pencils
Dora the explorer things (for 8 yr old female)
Childrens toys
Baby toys/clothes
Childrens socks/towels
Childrens books
Simpsons things (6 yr old 13 yr old male)
stocking fillers (fun lollies ect)
Kids pajamas
Things for the bath
Childrens dvds
Childrens games
Fun small things from national geographic 

This is an article by our friend Phil Falcke who is currently studying a Bachelor of Science at Monash Uni.

Industrial-scale fishing is pushing most of the world’s fish stocks beyond the ability to cope.  All indicators suggest that most, if not all of the world’s fisheries are heading towards rapid collapse and extinction. In addition to mass removal of fish from our oceans’ ecosystems, we are selectively removing the larger predator fish at the top of a food chain that feed on smaller fish lower on the food chain.  When all these larger fish are used up, we move to the smaller fish, a process known as “fishing down the food chain”. Removal of the top predators in an ecosystem has cascading effects down the food chain. Numbers of prey that predators use to feed on can increase in number, reducing on the prey beneath them. This effect reaches all the way down the food chain to the aquatic algae, plants and photosynthetic bacteria that ultimately produce the food to sustain an ecosystem. Not surprisingly then, the absence of predators can cause collapse in food chains and ecosystems.

Reducing the population sizes of select fish species can also have genetic consequences.  Smaller population sizes of fish lead to increased inbreeding, reducing their genetic diversity.  Lower genetic diversity reduces the fitness of the fish, increasing the development risk of physical defects, sickness and disease.  Once small enough in number, species can enter what is called the downward “population spiral”, where lower populations of species reduce the physical fitness of individuals, leading to increased death and lower rates of breeding, and so on.  Once the spiral has been entered into, it is extremely difficult for a species to recover.

Some solutions have been proposed, for example, eating only herbivorous fish from the bottom of the food chain (This minimizes impacts on the food chain), and setting up of marine reserves to increase sustainable breeding populations of fish.  However, there are problems with the solutions offered.   It is extremely difficult to change human eating behaviour (think about how much you love tuna).  It is also doubtful that placing bans on the extraction of certain fish will help, as this leads to price hikes which fuel an already flourishing illegal fishing trade.  The effectiveness of marine reserves has yet to be demonstrated effectively.

It is clear though, that the main problem is gross over-extraction and over-consumption, driven by the demand and sale of fish.  As a planet, we need to drastically reduce the amount of fish we eat, especially while we try to figure out how we can fish sustainably, and while fish populations recover.

To get a good understanding of the fishing debate, this scientific journal article by Daniel Pauly and others is well-worth getting to know:
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v418/n6898/full/nature01017.html

The Australian Marine Conservation Society has released a guide to choosing fish from sustainable populations, and is a great step in the right direction:
http://www.amcs.org.au/default.asp?active_page_id=1

There is a great podcast from The Science Show on ABC Radio National. It’s called, “Will there be any fish left in 2050?” available from the itunes store (under podcasts).

Lent Week 6 -  Eating Sustainably

Readings

Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions.

1 John 3:18 (New Living Translation)

Teaching about Salt and Light

“You are the salt of the earth. But what good is salt if it has lost its flavor? Can you make it salty again? It will be thrown out and trampled underfoot as worthless. “You are the light of the world—like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and then puts it under a basket. Instead, a lamp is placed on a stand, where it gives light to everyone in the house.

Matthew 5:13-15 (New Living Translation)

Action and Prayer

Our food – where and how it is grown and processed, and the impact on the environment is a huge contributing factor to climate change. By becoming more aware of the impact our food choices have on the earth, we can make better choices that ensure environmental sustainability, and use our ‘vote’ when we shop to change our grocery culture.

A typical Melbourne shopping basket has traveled a staggering 70,000 kilometres – equivalent to almost two trips around the world. By purchasing an orange grown in Mildura rather than California, you reduce food miles from 12,879 km to 567kms.

In Central America, 40% of all rainforests have been cleared in the last 40 years , mostly for cattle pasture to feed the export market (often for US beef burgers.)

Animal products make up 34% – the biggest part of our eco footprint.

Action Ideas this Week

Buy locally grown and ‘product of Australia’ items as much as possible.

Buy from local, independent, small-scale shops rather than the big supermarkets.

Buy ethical. See the Ethical Consumer Shopping Guide at www.ethical.org.au for the environmental record on companies. For some products, where the production in not environmentally sustainable to grow in Australia, it may be better to choose overseas brands. Interesting reading!

Grow your own. Start a veggie patch. Compost your veggie scraps to use as fertiliser and complete the whole cycle! www.organicgardening.com

Have at least one dairy-free or meat-free day each week. The global livestock sector generates 18% of global emissions – more than all forms of transport. Reducing 150g of red meat each week saves 10,000 litres of water and 300kg of greenhouse pollution in a year. Try kangaroo instead – it’s a much more sustainable meat and is healthier for you. Farming kangaroo is less damaging to the soil, uses less water, produces less methane and does not require deforestation.

Eat more unprocessed foods. Also, organic foods are grown chemical and pesticide free , and are produced with less harm to the environment.

Prayer

Allow this passage to guide you in prayer for the earth and our brothers and sisters all over the world.

Isaiah 65:21-25 They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox; but the serpent– its food shall be dust! They shall not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain, says the LORD.

Carbon Fast Week 4 – Switch Off

Our society has become so dependent on a wide range of electrical appliances, using them indiscriminately as though the energy sources that power them are infinite. Not only is our dependence on appliances and gadgets unsustainable for the environment, but they can clutter up our lives without us noticing.                                                                                                                                    While these appliances are designed to make our lives easier (and they do have benefits!), as they sap the earth of energy, they can also keep us so busy that we forget how to let ourselves and God’s creation rest – practicing the essence of Sabbath.  Part of the key to sustaining ourselves for the work of justice is to take time to enjoy God’s good creation.

90% of electricity used in Australia is generated from coal, a high greenhouse-polluting fuel.

Australia has nearly 8 million households that produce around 14 tonnes of greenhouse pollution each per year.

Switching appliances off instead of using standby mode alone saves up to 10% of household energy use and up to 700kg of greenhouse gases.

Action Ideas this Week

- Switch off appliances at the ‘off switch’ or powerpoint instead of leaving them on standby. Switch off computers, TVs, stereos, large appliances and unplug mobile chargers.

-Switch yourself off and spend some time in nature. Practise the simple discipline of awe, reflection and rest, as God did on the last day of creation in Genesis.

-Calculate your carbon emissions.

See www.abc.net.au/tv/carboncops/calculator.htm or www.acfonline.org.au/custom_greenhome/calculator.asp?section or www.epa.vic.gov.au/ecologicalfootprint/calculators

-Switch off lights and electrical equipment for one day. Try it on a Sunday and make it a true rest day.

Prayer

Spend some time in prayer, ask the Holy Spirit to guide you in prayer and seek God about a time in your week when you can be intentional about ‘switching off’ and seek restoration and renewal in that space. This restoration can be either for you, or God’s creation of both.

Lent Week 4 Carbon Fast – Switch Off

Readings

Leviticus 25:4-5

⁴ but during the seventh year the land must have a Sabbath year of complete rest. It is the Lord’s Sabbath. Do not plant your fields or prune your vineyards during that year. ⁵ And don’t store away the crops that grow on their own or gather the grapes from your unpruned vines. The land must have a year of complete rest.

Psalm 23

A psalm of David.

¹ The Lord is my shepherd;
I have all that I need.
² He lets me rest in green meadows;
he leads me beside peaceful streams.
³ He renews my strength.
He guides me along right paths,
bringing honor to his name.

Questions For Reflection

Q. In the Bible, God instituted a pattern of rest and renewal, not only for humans, but for the land and even for himself. How does this challenge the world’s pattern of constant consumption and exploitation of the earth’s resources? How do we benefit from rest and recreation?

Q. All of nature moves in cycles of growth, dying, rest and renewal. How can we recognize these patterns in our lives? How can we develop a rhythm of awe, reflection and rest?

This week we are offline a bit so we are sending everything in one for you to meditate on over the week. Great stuff!!

Lent Week 3 – Carbon Fast

Reduce, Re-use, Recycle

Reading

Matthew 6:19-26 (New Living Translation)

Teaching about Money and Possessions

¹⁹ “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. ²⁰ Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹ Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.

²² “Your eye is a lamp that provides light for your body. When your eye is good, your whole body is filled with light. ²³ But when your eye is bad, your whole body is filled with darkness. And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!

²⁴ “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.

²⁵ “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are?

Romans 12:2

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Questions for Reflection

Why does Jesus say we cannot serve wealth and God?

Is more better? In what ways can living with less be good for us?

Lent Week 3 Carbon Fast – Action and Prayer

Watch The Story of Stuff Video

www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GorqroigqM&feature=player_embedded

To transform our throw-away culture, we must buy less, and re-use and recycle more. It is easy to forget about the energy, water, chemicals and fuels used to produce everyday items like clothes, appliances, plastic bottles, paper or a packet of chips.

For example the manufacturing of plastic for bottled water produced more that 2.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2006, not including the energy for transportation. It also took 3 litres of water to produce 1 litre of bottled water.

Half of the forests that originally covered 46% of the Earth’s land surface has been removed, and growing demand for wood threatens those that remain.

Australians have the fourth-highest eco-footprint in the world. An eco-footprint is an indication of the total amount of land required to supply all the resources on person’s lifestyle demands. If every human was to maintain the lifestyle of the average Australian, it would take the resources of four planets!

In Australia’s current consumer economy, about 80% of all saleable products end up as waste, on average within just six months.

Action Ideas This Week

-        Think before you buy. Ask yourself do I really need this? Can I get it second hand? How does this decision nurture the earth? Buy second-hand and recycled roducts. www.evolve.org.au and www.freecycle.org.au for ideas

-        Recycle more. From the usual paper, plastic and glass to motor oil, electronics and bikes. See acfonline.org.au/articles/news.asp?news_id=160

-        Buy reusable, not disposable! Avoid unnecessary packaging. Bring your own containers/bags when shopping. Most plastice bags take more than 500 years to break down.

-        Boycott buying water. Bring water from home.

-        Compost food scraps into soil fertiliser, cutting landfill waste by up to 50% and producing a quarter of the greenhouse gases the food scraps would generate in landfill.

-        Reduce the amount of stuff you have. Give something away to someone who will really use it.

-        Explore making good and gifts rather than buying. Explore repairing rather than replacing. Explore sharing and bartering. See www.lets.org.au for a community based bartering system.

-        Organise a Swap shop day or Share list in your community.

Prayer

Spend some time meditating on these thoughts and ask the Spirit to guide you in prayer. Hold out your hands as a symbol of openness and emptying ourselves of the need to possess more things.

In Timothy 6:6-12, the Apostle Paul writes that “contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into destruction. For the love of money is a root of all evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. But flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith.”

Simplicity is not just frugality, but being content with what we have and focusing on God.

Lent Week 2 – Swap to clean or low energy, save water.

How did you go last week? What actions did you take to reduce transport emissions? Great work! What were the benefits? We look forward to more stories on Sunday.

For meditation and Prayer

For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbour as yourself.” - Galatians 5:14 (NIV)

‘Love does no harm to its neighbour’ (Romans 13:10).

Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you in Prayer as you soak in these passages.

If you have time, watch one of the short films at http://www.tear.org.au/advocacy/campaigns/climate-change/carbon-fast/study2 to see our neighbours stories and how they are affected by climate change. The first short film is Ursula’s story. Ursula lives in the Carteret Islands, near PNG. Due to changes in the climate, seawater is swamping the islands making them uninhabitable. Ursula and her people have realised they will have to leave.

“While the citizens of the rich world are protected from harm, the poor, the vulnerable and the hungry are exposed to the harsh reality of climate change in their everyday lives.” - Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Facts about Energy and Water Use in Australia

Residential energy use, including transport, creates around 20% of Australia’s annual greenhouse gas pollution.

Only 1% of Australia’s electricity comes from solar energy, a clean renewable energy source, despite Australia being a solar hot spot of the world.

Despite the relative scarcity of water, Australia’s per capita water use it the third highest among OECD countries, after the USA and Canada.

Climate change is an issue we share with our neighbours all over the world. Poor communities are already looking to how they can play their part to reduce emissions. For example on the coastal plains of Bangladesh, one of TEAR’s partners is encouraging more efficient cooking stoves and organic methods of agriculture. What responsibility does the Australian community have, and God ‘s people have in this?

Action Ideas for this Week

-       Put the gas and electricity on a green plan. To swap to Green Power, see www.greenpower.com.au

-       Reduce the temperature of your clothes wash. For example washing at 30C will use 40% less energy than hotter programs.

-       Swap to compact fluorescent globes, which last up to ten times longer and use around 75% less energy than a standard incandescent globe.

-       Turn your heating or cooling down by just 1C to cut 10% off bills and greenhouse pollution.

-       Switch the showerhead over to a water-saving one. It costs around $20 and takes 10 minutes. Reduce your shower time to four minutes.

-       Connect a grey water diverter or hose from your laundry or bathroom to your garden.

-       Mulch your garden and reduce evaporation by 70%. Look in to permaculture. See www.permablitz.net

Ideas For home owners:

-       Replace electric hot water systems with solar systems. Water heating is the second largest source of household greenhouse gas emissions and accounts for 50% of electricity bills. Check for rebates.

-       Install insulation in your ceiling, reducing heating and cooling emissions by 40%. Check for government rebates at environment.gov.au/energyefficiency/index.html

-       Air conditioners are power-hungry and threaten the stability of the electricity grid during peek power demands in summer. Consider the alternatives: ceiling fans, solar-powered evaporative coolers (www.coolmax.com.au/coolmax/solar) or explore installing more shading, awnings, trees and sails.

-       Install a rainwater tank. It’s the biggest single way to save water.For example see www.handytank.com.au. Once installed, it can cut your water bills by 50%.

Lent Week 2 – Swap to clean or low energy, save water

The created world is God’s masterpiece: He crafted it lovingly to reflect His character. God’s attitude to creation indicates that it is precious and wonderful, in and of itself. To love God and to be like Him is to care for the things that He cares for.

Reading

If you have time, read Genesis 2.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=genesis%202&version=NLT

Here is a portion:

“And God saw everything that he hade made, and indeed it was very good… The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden to work/tend and watch over it.”  Genesis 2:15

In Genesis 2, God sees that “there was no one to till the ground” (Gen 2:5), so God forms man (adam) from the ground (adamah) to care for it. This Hebrew wordplay(adam/adamah) expresses humankind’s solidarity with the earth; we are connected and dependent upon it for life.

Questions for Reflection

In what ways are we dependent on the environment? In what ways has our society insulated us from this dependence?

What do you think it means to ‘rule over’ and work the earth as God’s stewards?

Note: the Hebrew word for ‘to work’ (or ‘to till’), abad, can also be translated, ‘to serve’, and the word for ‘to take care of’ (or ‘to keep’), shamar, also means ‘to preserve, protect’.