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Good morning!

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Today鈥檚 theme is at first sight a bit more frivolous than the rest of the week鈥檚 International Awareness Days.听 Today is Tree Dressing Day. Over this weekend we鈥檙e encouraged to adopt a tree in our community and literally dress it - not necessarily as a Christmas tree.

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Trees have always had spiritual significance around the world; there鈥檚 the Celtic clootie tree, where strips of cloth dipped in a holy well are tied to branches as prayer, or the Buddhist bodhi tree. Decorating a tree draws attention to the role trees play in our communities and our ecosystem. Maybe there鈥檚 a significant tree near you. An ancient oak, or a memorial to a loved one or just a beautiful, kinaesthetic reminder of the tree as the lungs of the earth.

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Environmental crisis underlies much human disease, poverty, inequality and displacement. 听

Global pandemic and economic collapse have diverted attention from the climate crisis, but everything is linked.

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If our Advent dream of a new world is to be born, then global cooperation and a reordering of priorities as never before is needed now. Dressing a tree can be a sign of commitment, a way for a community to come together, at a distance; a promise together to touch the earth more lightly.

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Christ the green shoot

From the stump of an ancient tree,

Creation groans with longing

For the birth of Peace.

May we walk as peacemakers

And future dreamers today and always. Amen.