3/14 Creation Corner Column: Earth Day Sunday 2014 and Beyond

Creation Justice Ministries develops Earth Day Sunday
materials each year to help congregations celebrate and care for God's
Creation.  The 2014 theme is "Water, Holy Water" (see Job 5:10,
Psalms 104:10-13; Isaiah 43:16-21, Genesis 1:20, Hebrews 10:22, Exodus 17, Ezekiel 34:18, and over 700 other Biblical references to water).

Beyond a six-page introduction to the theme, the web site for 2014 and
topics for prior years offers adult and youth educational resources, sermon
starters, a bulletin insert (prayers and litany), and action steps for
congregations.

Materials for themes of prior years include climate change, energy and
faith, environmental health, food and farming, green building churches, land
and wilderness, and young adult fellowship.

Resources include those for biodiversity, the Chesapeake Bay, climate and
energy, environmental justice, faithful budgets and stewardship, analysis of
energy subsidies and poverty assistance programs.

Ecojustice includes all ministries designed to heal and defend Creation,
working to assure justice for all of Creation and the human beings who live in
it.

See http://www.creationjustice.org/earthday

Also in April:

1.  Soil and Water Stewardship Week, April 27-May 4, 2014, sponsored by your regional conservation district.  "Dig Deeper: Mysteries of the Soil" is the theme.  Educational materials for all ages and stewardship program insert/litany available.  Visit http://www.nacdnet.org/education/resources/digdeeper or call 1-888-695-2433 

2.  Earth Day, April 22, 2014.  "Green Cities" is the theme for over one billion people in 190 countries.  Sponsored by Earth Day Network (many partners).  http://www.earthday.org  

3.  Arbor Day, celebrated annually the last Friday of April, inspires people to plant, nurture and celebrate trees.  http://www.arborday.org  

And, if you missed this at http://www.lutheransrestoringcreation.org, from Peter Bakken:

Sign Up Your Congregation Now for the Lutheran Energy Stewards Initiative!

ELCA congregations and camps can apply now (deadline is May 1, 2014) for the Energy Stewards Initiative (ESI), a one- to two-year national program beginning in June.

The program helps congregations track and reduce energy use, lower their carbon footprint, and free up funds for other ministries.

The first ten camps or congregations to sign up will receive a FREE copy of the EarthBound video series!

Learn more and apply at:

https://sites.google.com/a/lutheransrestoringcreation.org/www/Home/project-elca-cuts-carbon-emissions

You can also sign up for an informational webinar on March 25, 2014 (7:00 p.m. CT) at https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5598175904190977281

 

 

Creation Corner Column: 2/14, Ten Commandments (environmental perspective)

The Ten Commandments: an environmental perspective

Exodus 20:1-17 (The Ten Commandments) reflected upon as nature is about to be reborn as Spring approaches. What can we do for God's Creation, the Earth?

1. Put God first, not the idol of your comfort, or economic materialism.
2. Do not worship nature.
3. Nature cannot be laid waste in God's name.
4. Honor the Earth. Seek to understand her, and work with her ways.
5. Avoid killing and poisoning the ecological system and its members.
6. Have a respectful regard for Creation; keep ourselves and the Earth good and pure.
7. Do not steal or make selfish use of forbidden fruit. If you do, the evolutionary balance God created will be upset, and nature will moan. We steal away the possibility of an inheritable earth, an inhabitable future, when we acidify the rain, deplete the protective ozone layer, add to global warming, lose species diversity, and cause deforestation.
8. Seeing the earth as our neighbor, we should speak well of her, defend her, explain her actions in the kindest way, overlook her weaknesses and mistakes, and speak only good of her. She is not to be betrayed or slandered or lied about. Nature is not to be challenged, exploited, or defeated.
9-10. When we do not covet anything of our neighbor's, we will not burn trash only to have our neighbor's space suffer its pollutants and wastes. We will not think we are wisely using earth's resources when we are actually leaving Creation poorer.

"The Earth is the Lord's": Thou shall not despoil it nor destroy the life thereon. That is a bold command. To set our attitudes and actions straight we should add: To preserve is worthy; to restore, divine.

The above was a Lenten meditation (March 16, 1994) by Lutheran layman Michael Ochs when he chaired the environmental task force of the Upper Susquehanna Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Lewisburg, PA. http://www.uss-elca.org/ .

Jan. '14 Creation Corner Column: Environmental Aphorisms, Quotes, Quips, etc. for the New Year

Environmental Aphorisms, Quotes, Quips, etc. for the New Year

Perhaps you are looking for some shorthand way to perceive God's good Earth, to motivate you on behalf of the integrity of Creation, or redeeming it. Consider the following in your search.

We've got to stop treating the Earth as dirt!

"The question is not what you look at, but what you see." Thoreau

"The children are our most endangered species." Daniel Berrigan SJ

Dilution is still pollution; it's no solution, merely delusion.

"The American people see themselves marching through wilderness, drying up marshes, diverting rivers, peopling the wilds, and subduing nature." Alexis de Tocqueville

"The earth is all we have in common. It is what we are made of and what we live from, and we cannot damage it without damaging those with whom we share it." Wendell Berry

"Food is the unifying fabric of humanity, connecting us to the earth and each other." Ed Kenney, chef

"If we do not permit the earth to produce beauty and joy, it will in the end not produce food either." Joseph Wood Krutch

If you can't spell it, or pronounce it, don't eat it.

"If economic growth and ecological health aren't reconcilable, which do we choose?" Jay Griffiths

"Our greatest problems result from the difference between how people think and how nature works." Gregory Bateson

"Anyone who thinks you can have infinite growth on a finite planet is either a madman or an economist." Quaker economist Kenneth Boulding

"We treat the earth like a business in liquidation." Herman Daly

"We are already fighting World War III, and I'm sorry to say we are winning it. It is the war against the Earth." Ray Dasmann

"What we most need to do is to hear within us the sound of the earth crying." Thich Nhat Hanh

"Zen is simple. Simple! So simple: Infinite gratitude to the past, infinite service to the present, infinite responsibility for the future." Goto, a Zen roshi in Japan

We are defined not only by what we create, but by what we refuse to destroy.

Judge each day not by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant.

"Leave the coal in the hole, the oil in the soil, the gas under the grass." unattributed saying

Use it up, wear it out, make do or do without.

Renewable energy is homeland security.

One solution comes up every morning (the sun!).

Whenever there is a huge spill of solar energy, it's just called a nice day.

Renewable Energy: The Answer is Blowing in the Wind.

Renewable is Doable.

The climate is changing faster than we are.

Climate change is not a matter of faith; it is a matter of science.

"Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires, and crippling drought, and more powerful storms." President Barack Obama

The Holy Land is Everywhere.

"There are no unsacred places. There are only sacred places and desecrated places." Wendell Berry

"Oh Beautiful for smoggy skies, insecticided grain, for strip-mined mountains majesty, above the asphalt plains. America, America, man sheds its waste on thee, and hides the pines with billboard signs, from sea to oily sea." George Carlin

I pledge allegiance to the Earth, and all the Life which it supports, One Planet, in our care, irreplaceable, with sustenance and respect for all. Unattributed

"Sing to the Lord, bless his name...Let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar...Let the fields exult...Then shall all the trees of the forest sing for joy." Psalm 96

"For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain..." Romans 8:22

Blogger Michael Ochs lives in Williamsport, PA.

Dec. '13 Creation Corner: Holiday gift books on Ecology & Religion

For the secular environmentalist thinking religion has nothing to say about the Earth, or for the person of faith who is an environmentalist, or for yourself, consider these books for holiday giving.

The Bible and Ecology: Rediscovering the Community of Creation. Richard Bauckham.

The Blue Sapphire of the Mind: Notes for a Contemplative Ecology. Douglas E. Christie.

Consider the Birds: A Provocative Guide to Birds of the Bible. Debbie Blue.

Earth-Honoring Faith: Religious Ethics in a New Key. Larry L. Rasmussen.

God's Good World: Reclaiming the Doctrine of Creation. Jonathan R. Wilson.

Language of the Fields: Tilling and Keeping as Christian Vocation. Daniel G. Deffenbaugh.

Love Letter to the Earth. Thich Nhat Hanh.

Making Peace with the Land: God's Call to Reconcile with Creation. Fred Bahnson and Norman Wirzba.

Option for the Poor and for the Earth: Catholic Social Teaching. Donal Dorr (a revision of his 1992 text, Option for the Poor: A Hundred Years of Vatican Social Teaching).

Rebirth of the Sacred: Science, Religion and the New Environmental Ethos. Robert Nadeau.

The Seven Pillars of Creation: The Bible, Science, and the Ecology of Wonder. William P. Brown.

Shalom and the Community of Creation: An Indigenous Vision. Randy S. Woodley.

Spiritual Ecology: The Cry of the Earth. Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, editor (over 20 contributors to inter-faith essays).

Why Animal Suffering Matters: Philosophy, Theology, and Practical Ethics. Andrew Linzey.

Also of interest:

Carbon Fast (daily actions to reduce one's carbon imprint), free on-line at www.macucc.org/carbonfast .

The Peaceable Table: Journal of Christian animal concerns and compassionate eating. Free on-line at http://www.vegetarianfriends.net/ .

Creation Corner Column 11/13 World Charter for Nature

World Charter for Nature

 

Adopted over thirty years ago, the World Charter for Nature was agreed to by 111 member nation-states of the United Nations. It followed an earlier declaration of over forty years ago. You may want to compare it with the ethics you try to abide by in ecological matters, and that of your national church body, political body, and any environmental advocacy group you belong to.

 

It first re-affirms the fundamental purposes of the U.N., then proceeds to note what it is aware of, convinced of, and persuaded by. Some general principles follow, and then functions and implementation measures are noted.

 

It proclaims five "principles of conservation by which all human conduct affecting nature is to be guided and judged."

 

1. Nature shall be respected and its essential processes shall not be impaired.

 

2. The genetic viability on the earth shall not be compromised; the population levels of all life forms, wild and domesticated, must be at least sufficient for their survival, and to this end necessary habitats shall be safeguarded.

 

3. All areas of the earth, both land and sea, shall be subject to these principles of conservation; special protection shall be given to unique areas, to representative samples of all the different types of ecosystems and to the habitats of rare or endangered species.

 

4. Ecosystems and organisms, as well as the land, marine and atmospheric resources that are utilized by man, shall be managed to achieve and maintain optimum sustainable productivity, but not in such a way as to endanger the integrity of those other ecosystems or species with which they coexist.

 

5. Nature shall be secured against degradation caused by warfare or other hostile activities.

 

You may also ask yourself what you think might be missing here, and why the United States was the only nation-state to vote against it.

Creation Corner Column, October 2013: Environmental Resources You May Have Missed

 

Biophilia: The Human Bond With Other Species. E.O. Wilson, 1984.

The Biophilia Hypothesis. Stephen Kellert and E.O. Wilson, eds. 1993.
 

Breaking New Ground: A Personal History. Environmentalist Lester R. Brown's autobiography (see www.earth-policy.org/books/bng ). 2013.
 

The Ecocriticism Reader: Landmarks in Literary Ecology. CheryllGlotfelty and Harold Fromm, eds. 1996.
 

Ecological Intelligence: How Knowing the Hidden Impacts of What We Buy Can Change Everything. Daniel Goldman, 2009.
 

The Human, The Orchid, and the Octopus: Exploring and Conserving Our Natural World. Jacques Cousteau and Susan Schiefelbein, 2007.
 

Planet Earth: An Illustrated History. Kelly Knauer, ed. for Time Life. 2008. Explores the atmosphere, pedosphere (land), biosphere (life), hydrosphere (water), cryosphere (frozen regions), and geosphere (subterranean earth).
 

Rewilding the World: Dispatches From the Conservation Revolution. Caroline Fraser, 2009.
 

Sacred Earth: Places of Peace and Power. Martin Gray, 2007. 137 portrayed sites; listing of 500 of the world's most sacred sites.
 

Simply Living: The Spirit of the Indigenous People. Shirley Ann Jones, ed. 1999. (Ethnophilosophical Quotations).
 

Slow Violence and the Environmentalism of the Poor. Rob Nixon, 2012.
 

http://www.worldchanging.com/ A sustainability website (and book) for solutions to planetary problems.

 

http://www.edge.org/ wide-ranging discussion of science and technology matters.

http://www.shalejustice.org/ A Pennsylvania-based coalition of organizations united for the environment.

 

Creation Corner Column 9/13: Reflections on Priorities, Principles, Projects

Reflections on Priorities, Principles, Projects

God touches all in the heavens and on earth; everything is full of sacred presence. Psalm 103:19

Here in the palm of my hand is a hazelnut, a small thing, round like a ball. It is all that is made; it is made by love. See in this little thing three truths: God made it; God loves it; God keeps it. In these three truths stay and grow. Julian of Norwich

The fragrance always remains in the hand that gives the rose. Heda Bejar

If you want your faith, you have to work for it. It is a gift, but for very few is it a gift given without any demand for equal time devoted to its cultivation. Flannery O'Connor

To choose what is difficult, all one's days, as if it were easy: that is faith. W.H. Auden

Conservation is a cause that has no end. There is no point at which we can say, "Our work is finished." Rachel Carson

We fasted, marched, picketed, sat in...We never succeeded, and we never quite gave up. That is the best that can be said for us. We must be content if it is to be our obituary. Daniel Berrigan, SJ

Everyone needs beauty as well as bread, places to play and pray, where nature heals and gives strength to body and soul alike. John Muir, environmentalist

The sole meaning of life is to serve humanity. Leo Tolstoy

To remember the past is to commit oneself to the future. To remember Hiroshima is to abhor nuclear war. Pope John Paul II

Nuclear war begins, I believe, in our hearts. And that is where it must end. Archbishop Raymond G. Hunthausen

The world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children...Under the cloud of war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron. Dwight D. Eisenhower

The seed never sees the flower. Zen saying

If you expect to see the final results of your works, you simply have not asked a big enough question. Arab proverb

Probably every generation sees itself as charged with remaking the world. Mine, however, knows it will not remake the world. Its task is even greater; to keep the world from destroying itself. Albert Camus

We are now reminded to be aware of our place upon this earth, and to fulfill our obligations to ourselves, our families, nation, and natural world and its creator. Joanne Shenandoah ("Prophecy Song").

God is wholly present in all creation, in every corner, behind you and before you. Martin Luther.