Climate Change and Children's Game

On Sunday 27th July, in the later part of our church's morning service, we had a discussion - about Climate Change. Half the church were invited to be Cynics, to play the role of people who aren't convinced we should bother about it, and half were Activists, passionate advocates of the idea that this issue is vital. And it worked quite well - people got in to role, we aired some of the issues, and maybe we even came slightly closer to convincing one or two 'real-life cynics' that human beings are largely responsible for the speed of the world's average temperature increase - and that we can still do things to make a difference. But, although that was the part of the service which took the most planning, there was another moment earlier on, when the children were playing a game, when Good News came to life! It was a game of uncovering pairs of cards, which had pictures of times when we get stuck or of times when we get 'unstuck' - and one girl, getting into it, shouted out, "I like this game!" Of course, the adults' discussion was vital - not a game, but even an issue of life or death for millions of people most vulnerable to the effects of irreversible climate change - and yet it was also vital to hear a child declaring that she liked a game we were playing during worship! It all matters ...