your hands. 3 Everything that lives and moves about will be food for you. Just as I gave you the green plants, I now give you everything. 4 “But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. 5 And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each human being, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of another human being. 6 “Whoever sheds human blood, by humans shall their blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made mankind. 7 As for you, be fruitful and increase in number; multiply on the earth and increase upon it.” 8 Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him: 9 “I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you 10 and with every living creature that was with you—the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you—every living creature on earth. 11 I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be destroyed by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.” 12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: 13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. 16 Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.” 17 So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.”

soul and body in hell. 29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. 30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

### Reflection

##### May the words of my mouth and the meditation of all our hearts here this morning be acceptable to you, O Lord and our strength, Amen

Today is the start of Creation time, a six-week period when Churches Together in Britain and Ireland remind themselves of what is means to care for this planet we live on: God’s planet. I am constantly amazed how God shows and points me in ways to encourage me, which I can then share with you via a podcast, conversation or through worship;’ and today is no different.

I have just returned from five days away in Cornwall, with my eldest daughter Katharine, her husband Jonathan and my grandson Mathias. And for those who heard my Podcast this week entitled a ‘Bubble of Peace’, these words may be familiar to you. Three situations occurred where I felt God’s presence near me, nudging me to reflect on these precious times.

- • first recollection was when each morning I would • first recollection was when each morning I would sit in the front porch outside the cottage. It was sheltered from the wind and rain with the morning sun streaming onto my slate seat. On the Wednesday the storms came. The rain had battered the surrounding fields, but by 9am, although the sun was shining, the winds were very strong and making a real howling sound. As I sat there, I felt no breeze, only the sun on my face, and the words of Elijah came to my mind: ‘the Lord is about to pass by’. As I got up from my seat and peeked round the porch, I saw in the sky a

Matthew 10: 10: 28-30, read by Hannah Earnshaw 28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both