Manzini Parish continues on their journey of Earth Keeping

By Mncedisi Masuku, Diocese of Swaziland

Wednesday March 2 has been a historic day in Manzini Parish, Mathanda when members of the church decided to have a short service under a marula tree which is one of the trees that has cultural significance in the Swazi Culture.

We gathered under the tree to share a bit about Climate Change before starting our tree planting around the church. We have been using Season of Creation II for prayers and readings; Rev. W. Dlamini led us into a brief Bible study and Mncedisi Masuku talked briefly about the scientific aspect of how Climate Change is connected to deforestation and green-house gas emissions, and how tree planting benefits the eco-system balance.

Readings for the discussion were,

Isaiah 24:1-6

Psalms 98:1-9

Matthew 8:23-27

After the readings it was discussed how in the gospel of Matthew we see Jesus calming the storm, which shows that Jesus is above all nature. We need to go back to Christ if we are to fight and win Climate Change, as he is the solution and can teach us how to be stewards of the earth.

After the short service under the tree, we moved forward and put faith into actions. We planted 31 trees which will serve as wind breakers for the church along the surrounding fence. It was a wonderful experience. We also planted five indigenous plant species that are now at risk of extinction due to deforestation; we are saving them for future generations.  We saved one fruit tree to plant at the Good Friday service.

The main purpose of the day was tree planting but the service would not be complete if we left litter around the church compounds. It was then decided to do a clean up exercise to leave the church green.

Did you know cutting down on meat can save the environment? It is not easy for most of us but cutting down on beef can go a long way in saving our deteriorating environment. We shared a very nice chicken stew and some green vegetable. It was a wonderful fellowship.

We are so grateful to the government of Swaziland for providing us with these trees from the Environmental desk. We committed ourselves in taking care of them when we made our last prayer, blessing the work of our hands. So help us Lord.