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Religion Forum Index » Christian Methodist Forum » Earth Day
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| zayton |
 Posted: Tue Mar 30, 2004 10:36 pm |
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Guest
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Earth Day 2004: Discovering Harmony Between Spiritual and Earthly Issues
By Holly Halverson
(UMCom) -- When you think about honoring Earth Day as a congregation, what
comes to mind? Sharing pamphlets on recycling? Passing out free seedlings
from your local nursery? Reminding folks to make sure they deposit all candy
wrappers in trash cans?
For a couple of congregations in Arizona, Earth Day is more than an annual
holiday. At Prescott United Methodist Church, it's a time to revive
awareness of the sacredness of life-all life. The Rev. Tim Lusk calls it "
'an issue of stewardship'. It's very clear from a biblical point of view
that we have a responsibility to know that how we impact the earth and the
environment is how we impact that which God has created."
"It's very clear from a biblical point of view that we have a
responsibility to know that how we impact the earth and the environment is
how we impact that which God has created."
To Lusk, it's a spiritual focus like any other. "My soul cannot be separated
from the physical world that God has given us."
The Rev. David Wilkinson of Tucson's Saint Francis of Assisi in the
Foothills United Methodist Church leads his congregation in celebrating "the
very essential part of the kingdom of heaven in our midst." Earth Day is
when "we will dwell on our need to be as responsive to the earth as we are
responsive to the needs of our family, because our existence is dependent on
the earth."
The following are some ideas based on what these churches have done to
emphasize sustaining the earth. See if their ideas spark any of your own as
you celebrate Earth Day this April 22.
a.. Invite a professor to give a seminar on issues local citizens face; in
Lusk's high-desert region, problems with water and bark-beetle infestation
of their forest are of concern.
b.. Bring in lots of plants and encourage people to take them home to
beautify their yards.
c.. Center the liturgy, litany and music around environmental themes.
d.. Use as a sermon subject Saint Francis, who was said to have communed
with plants and animals.
e.. Make it a priority to sustain your own community. Global issues have
received lots of attention, but enviromentalists are now saying that if we
deal with local issues, this will drive the national and global ones. Lusk
says, "We need to be sensitive to the land and the environment that's right
on top of us."
f.. Acknowledge during worship that God is incarnate in all of creation.
g.. Sell tote bags for groceries so congregants can avoid using throwaway
paper bags.
h.. Keep your celebration balanced. "What we mustn't do," Wilkinson says,
"is neglect human beings and focus just on nature."
i.. Emphasize "zeroscaping" -creating a scenic yard with low-water-use
plants. This proves to people "you can have wonderful, lush landscaping
without using water you shouldn't be using," Lusk says.
j.. Have someone act the part of an endangered species. At Wilkinson's
church, a few years ago, someone spoke as the condor. This person explained
"what it was like to disappear from the face of the earth." Then
representatives of extinct species described losing their lives to human
foibles.
k.. Plant a community garden. Use some of its produce to benefit a food
bank or homeless shelter. Let local city kids learn where food really comes
from.
l.. Make environmental sustenance a lifestyle. Wilkinson's
soon-to-be-built worship center will be completely heated and cooled with
solar panels.
m.. Remind your congregation that a holistic approach to life is really a
traditional one. "There were places within Christendom over periods of
history that were much more in tune with that inner connectedness than our
modern-day culture is," Lusk explains. "We need to reclaim that as a
church-our heritage, essentially."
n.. Respect nature every time you use it. For Wilkinson's congregation,
this meant that when they transplanted 360 cacti around their campus, they
didn't kill any in the process.
o.. Learn from the ways plants and trees grow. "Nature reminds us of how
we can best relate to human beings, because nature loves us
unconditionally," says Wilkinson. "We do all sorts of crappy things to
nature, but (it) still bloom(s), (it) still come(s) back."
Let Earth Day inspire your church's appreciation for conscious conservation. |
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