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Good morning. ‘Sustainability’ is a word which has found a place in many areas of our life, whether it’s the way we farm or package our food or build and heat our houses.  And the United Nations has declared this to be the year of ‘sustainable tourism’, making ‘sustainability’ the theme for today, World Tourism Day. 

It’s not just about avoiding harm, it’s about nurturing mutual relationships between visitors and local people, and between people and the natural environment.  There are lots of different forms of tourism, and today is about encouraging us to build into a visit some kind of reciprocal element that enables mutual flourishing.

Over the years, I’ve been a Christian minister in several ‘tourist destinations’ in Wales.  In one of them, Llangollen, the church as well as the town was on the visitor itinerary. It stands in a beautiful setting on a river bank and has a striking interior, where we’d put information on display about its history but also about the life of the church today.

And since then I’ve continued to encourage visitors to the holy places in my care, keeping the buildings open so that anyone can just drop in. People come to explore the history of the building, to enjoy its beauty, or just to sit and rest a while They may come outside of service times but we think of them as our Monday-Friday congregation, and invite them to participate in whatever way seems appropriate- even something as simple as dropping a pebble into the water in the font to make a prayer. By that action they are sharing in the life of the church - sustaining us, and I hope, finding something that in return sustains them. 

Gracious God, help us to travel well through this life, respecting the earth and its peoples, bringing blessing to one another in the gifts that we share. Amen