Adults

Deforestation in Haiti is a severe problem. In the 1920s, 60% of Haiti was forested, now just 2% of forests remain.

Give 20p for each local park or green space where you live.

Glasgow is a green city, that is a city in which avenues of trees abound and verges are set with dafoffils and crocuses.  Manchester, likewise has abundant tree-lined streets, huge tubs of flowers on tarmaced verges.  And so it goes on.  Everywhere I have lived, rural, suburban, urban, inner city, there has been greeness, and plenty of it.  I have never lived more than ten minute's walk from a park or a green space.  As I look out from my living room window I see large expanses of green - the lawn in front of the flats opposite, and a triangle of grass in a road junction with several establiushed trees, and at this time of year, a mass of multi-coloured crocuses (croci?).  So how should I count the parks of spaces?  Oh dear, back to semantics!  I will stick with those I visit regularly or pass in the course of my everyday journeys to/from church...

Cross Park, Victoria Park, Kelvingrove Park, Glsgow Botanical Gardens

Athole Gardens (private, no ball games, no running, no smiles.... defiant flowers!

The triangle at the road junction

The central reservation on Great Western Rd, with a host of daffodils worthy of a Lakeland poet!

And the lawn hidden behind my block of flats

Eight spaces @ 20p... £1.60

My Pledge

Today - £1.60

Total - £25.85, five prayers, one rant, one memory and one e-petition signed

Adults

2 million deaths every year are a result of exposure to indoor smoke from cooking fuels.

Give 40p if your oven runs on electricity or gas

Yesterday in a very brief post I alluded to how different my week could have been.  Today's CYB (Count Your Blessings) comes scarily close to part of that.  A major fire round the corner from my home on Sunday night has left several people temporarily homeless, with some having to be treated for smoke inhalation.  As I read the CYB leaflet I thought "ouch".

In the UK people use disposable barbecues or camping stoves indoors with, sometimes tragic consequences, either because they are unaware of the risks or because they think it won't happen to them.  Maybe some have been unable to afford electricity or gas so resort in desperation to other means?  And then of course there are faulty appliances and unscrupulous landlords to think about...

Anyhow, back to the blessing counting... I have an electric oven and will cheerfully pay my 40p

My pledge

Today - 40p

Total - £24.25, five prayers, one rant, one memory and one e-petition signed

Being a minister is always a privilege... you are granted access to some of the most private and vulnerable parts of people's lives.  If I may be permitted to emulate the style of a social media status updates, then I want to say:

But for the grace of God this week could have been so very different:

Today has been privileged;

That is all.

At last night's service, one of the questions posed was along the lines of 'what is the difference between "whistling in the dark" and "singing in the wilderness"?'

It's a really good question.  In the small group I was part of, we tried to define 'whistling in the dark,' an expression with which not all were familiar.  Opinions ranged from the very literal, recalling how in times of literal darkness as a child singing or whistling had been a means of generating courage ("whenever I feel afraid, I hold my head erect, and whistle a happy tune, so no-one will suspect I'm afraid...") via a kind of fake or baseless confidence, to a sense of futility ('whistling in the dark' not so different from 'whistling in the wind').  However we understood it, there was a sense that it most probably did not, or could not, really inspire courage or hope or whatever it was we felt we needed.

Singing in the wilderness, by contrast is motivated by hope, by a sense that this is not all there is, that we will, eventually, reach the other side.  It has a quality of defiance, determination and tenacity.  Rather than singing to drive out fear, we sing to bolster courage.  In instead of evading despair, we foster hope.

I think that there is probably another difference.  Whistling in the dark tends to be a solo enterprise, something we do when we are on our own (or feel we are).  Singing in the wilderness can, and often does, have a corporate edge to it.  Yomping songs, campfire songs... these are shared with others.

Whether it is private whistling or corporate singing, I guess there is a choice about what it is we express, and how or why that is.

I know a few people who have found themselves cast into wilderness places recently, and it is no small undertaking to sing in the wilderness - far easier to succumb to despair or bitterness, anger or fear, hopelessness or even aggression.   But the songs of the wilderness, so often in the minor key, and aching in their honesty are beautiful and hope-filled, if only we have the courage to join in and the ears to hear.

This week the focus shifts to ecological issues...

Adults

The world’s poorest people are on the frontline of our changing climate – and they’re suffering first
and hardest.

Give 50p for each light turned on unnecessarily in your home and 20p for every electrical appliance left on standby.

When we were growing up there two things my Dad was very strict on - keepng doors closed, and swtiching off lights when you left a room.  The motivation wasn't ecological but a blend of practical (to keep the warmth in) and financial (to keep costs down).  Unplugging the television at night was also one of his 'things', a safety conern that seems to have long since disappeared.  So the prospect of leaving a light on 'unecessarily' is one I find hard to relate to; I am more likely to sit I the half dark than the opposite.  And the only thing I could leave on 'standby' is my televsion, which I don't.

In good conscience, I can give myself a 'cheap' day.

Oh, and in the words of my dad, "were you you born in a field?  Shut the door! We're not heating the whole of [town/village/city] you know"

My pledge

Today - zero, just some memories

Total - Total - £23.85, five prayers, one rant, one memory and one e-petition signed