Low Carbon and Loving It

For many years now I have struggled with the reality that, in spite of all my rhetoric of justice, compassion and humility, my affluent western lifestyle is inherently unjust, damaging and unsustainable. In the face of the inconvenient truths of climate change and global inequalities, the tiny steps we as a family have taken to live simply and sustainably appear miniscule.

So I have been both challenged and encouraged by Mark and Tom Delaney’s inspiring book, Low Carbon and Loving It. The Delaney’s are a remarkable family whose totally radical lifestyle has sat with me like an uncomfortable stone in my shoe: a stone that nevertheless challenges me to keep walking and try just a little bit harder. Mark and Cathy have spent most of the past two decades living in tiny one-roomed homes in Indian slums, bringing up their two boys, Tom and Oscar, in conditions which I know I could never cope with. In doing so, they have successfully managed to reduce their carbon production from the Australian average of 23 tonnes CO_2eq to much closer to the Indian average of 2.3 tonnes.

Mark and Tom’s book describes something of their journey in achieving this. They set out, in a very readable manner, the science of climate change and why we need to take is so seriously. And they provide lots of practical suggestions of how we, in the affluent west, can take steps to reduce our unsustainable carbon footprints and contribute to a more just and sustainable world.

Few, if any, would ever have the courage to follow in their footsteps (I know I couldn’t), but all of us can do something. And, as Mark and Tom point out, it is imperative that we do, if our children and grandchildren, and – more significantly – the billions of people across the world who have no choice in their lifestyles, are to have a future to look forward to.

As Lois and I have moved to Allesley and set up Breathing Space, Low Carbon and Loving It has inspired us to do bit more to make our home, our retreat centre, and our lifestyles just a little more sustainable. Our hope is that others, too, will come alongside us in doing so.

Low Carbon and Loving It is available in both paper and kindle editions on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Low-Carbon-Loving-Adventures-sustainable-Australia/dp/0648247708

November 29, 2015

An Invitation

Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.

Jesus Christ – the Message, Matthew 11:28-30

Learning to live

in the unforced rhythms of grace

Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion/the pressure of work/the stress of family life?

It seems so hard to find any real rest these days. We rush about from one thing to another, and life never seems to stop. It is so easy to feel burned out.

That is why I so love this invitation.

And I think it is an invitation to all of us.

Not just those who claim to be Christians.

Not just those who are super-spiritual and somehow above the rest of us.

This is an invitation for anyone – Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Atheist, Agnostic, or just plain not sure.

It is an invitation for anyone who is just feeling tired.

Come and take a real rest

Learn to live freely and lightly

Discover the unforced rhythms of grace

November 8, 2015November 8, 2015

Inheritance and Idolatry

The common interpretation of the word ‘inheritance’ is ‘what you get from your parents when they die’. In reality, though, an inheritance is far more than the material possessions left to you by your parents. What a child inherits from her parents is richer, deeper, and more profound than a sum of money. Who you are and what you become is a product of your inheritance: both the genes that are passed on to you, setting your potential, and the environment that you grow up in – your parents’ attitudes and behaviour, your wider family, and your influences outside the family – all combine to mould you into what you finally become.

No matter how hard we may try not to, as parents we inevitably pass on some of our values to our children. If what we value is riches, a comfortable life with all we could need or wish for, that is what our children will inherit – along with the binding greed, the fear of loss, and the indifference to the needs of others that such idolatry brings with it. If what we value is achievement, status, and power, that is what our children will inherit – along with the low self-esteem, the constant striving to be good enough, the bullying, and the exploitation that come with that idolatry. If what we seek is pleasure and indulgence, an easy life, fun and action, and a wide circle of friends, we will pass that on to our children – along with the emptiness that so often sneaks in with this idolatry, the fear of pain, and the loneliness of absent love.

Growing up to be a child, chapter 10

In this latest contemplative guide to Growing up to be a Child, we reflect on what we have inherited from our parents, both good and bad, and what we in turn may be passing on to our children…

Click here to go to the latest contemplative guide to Chapter 10 of Growing up to be a Child.

March 8, 2015March 1, 2015

Go simply in your lifestyle

As we enter the fourth week of Lent, we will spend time looking at the Bethany family: Mary, Martha and Lazarus. We will encounter their vulnerability, their love, their hospitality. We will think about our fragile, vulnerable world, and how we can go simply in our lifestyles, combining active care and contemplative devotion, careful stewardship and extravagant celebration, future hopes and present realities…

Click here to go to this week’s meditations