The Coat of Hopes is visiting the Sheffield Methodist District in July and August on its journey around Britain.
The patchwork coat has been made, worn and walked by hundreds of people during its pilgrimage from the south coast of England to COP26, the UN climate summit, in Glasgow autumn 2021.
The coat is made up of pieces of blanket into which people have worked their griefs, remembrances, prayers and hopes for the place they call home. It walks ever calling those who encounter it, or who share it, into the present. Supported by its warmth (love) – to bear its weight (responsibility). So, each might "wear the promise that we all belong together" as we seek to respond with our whole self to the climate and ecological emergency.
The Coat's journey in the district is as follows and you are invited to visit, wear it and walk with it:
More dates and locations will be announced in due course.
Jenny Carpenter from the Sheffield Circuit and Former Vice President of the Methodist Conference said: "I am delighted as a Christian climate activist and long-time supporter of South Yorkshire Climate Alliance to welcome the Coat of Hopes to Sheffield. Do come and see it and even try it on during its stay in and movements around the city. It incorporates many individuals' hopes and fears for much loved places. Care for the planet is a vital plank of all the world faiths, and climate justice is a requisite for the peace we long for.
"The Coat is arriving in the first week of a new government of whom much is expected. Climate and the environment need to be further up the agenda. My hope is that the Coat of Hopes will inspire us to press our newly elected MPs to make the Climate and Nature Bill a priority. They must also back the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty that originated with nations most severely affected by climate change, while having contributed least to the problem. As one of the slogans at the recent "Restore Nature Now" rally declared, There's no economy without the ecology."
Find out more about the coat visit https://www.coatofhopes.uk/
Registered Charity no. 1129363
admin@sheffieldmethodist.org
0114 270 9990 / 0114 430 0255
Sheffield District Office
Room 47, Victoria Hall Methodist Church
Norfolk Street
Sheffield
S1 2JB