Creation Care Network E-news |
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Dear friends,
• Sabbatical (May-June-July)
Today marks the beginning of my 3-month leave for study, refreshment, and renewal. I’m eager to learn more about Earth-honoring forms of Christianity and to reflect more deeply on our contemporary social/ecological predicament. Look for your next newsletter on September 1.
• On Earth Sunday, the Third Sunday of Easter, I was blessed to preach at Sts. James & Andrews Episcopal Church in Greenfield. In “Walking our way to climate hope,” I interpreted the familiar story of two disciples walking the road to Emmaus as expressing in a nutshell how those of us “engaged in the battle to save life as it has evolved on Earth can draw strength and sustenance from the wellsprings of our faith.”
I was invited to give the opening presentation for a webinar hosted by Church of England’s Environment Programme, on the topic “Why we need to preach on Creation care.” The webinar featured a panel of speakers from around the world – Kenya, India, Brazil, and the U.K. It was moving to hear Anglicans from such a range of contexts speak about how their Christian faith informs their efforts to preach about climate change. The webinar brought attention to the website, Preaching for God’s World, which provides weekly notes for busy preachers who want to connect the lectionary texts with Creation care and environmental justice.
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• All-points bulletin! The green banner has gone missing! Sts. James & Andrew Church in Greenfield is custodian of the four beautiful Creation banners that the Rev. Molly Scherm and St. Andrew's (Sewing) Guild created in 2019 for our diocesan convention. We are missing the green banner (the second from the left), as well as all four poles and stands. If you have information, please contact the Parish Administrator of Sts. James & Andrew: office@saintsjamesandandrew.org. Thank you.
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Wednesday, May 3, 17, & 31 (every other Wednesday, ongoing)
4:30 – 4:50 p.m. • Online (free)
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Tuesday, May 16
1:00 – 4:30 p.m. (Eastern) • Online ($35; scholarships available)
Hosted by The BTS Center, this gathering for spiritual directors and spiritual companions will be led by Justin Ferko, Rev. Dr. Stephanie Perdew, and Rev. Dr. Wanda Stahl. This gathering is intended for those who have some training and experience with spiritual accompaniment; students currently enrolled in a spiritual direction training program are also welcome. For more information and to register, visit here.
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Thursday, June 22
7:30 – 8:30 a.m. (Eastern) • Online (free)
Anytime you need a place to be with others in your grief and love for our shared home, please join The BTS Center for Lament with Earth, a seasonal, worship-filled gathering online featuring music and liturgy from The Many. This upcoming event will focus on The Season of Via Positiva and All Beings. For more information and to register, visit here.
In a healthy environment, our first spiritual moments are moments of awe and wonder, and delight. The mystics call this the Via Positiva. When we allow these gifts to penetrate our souls the organic response includes gratitude, reverence, and joy.
— Matthew Fox
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Thursdays, May 4, 11, 18, & 25
7:30 p.m. (Eastern) • Online ($105, scholarships available)
Hosted by Deep Green Faith, this four-week course focuses on dirt: how important it is in the Bible; how all of us are already in relationship to dirt; and how our discipleship can take responsibility for dirt. The class includes readings, lectures, conversations, and exercises in prayerful dirt discernment. The course instructor is Dr. Colin Cornell (Office of the Provost-Candler School of Theology Postdoctoral Teaching Fellow, Emory University). For more information and to register, visit here.
A weekend retreat and workshop
Friday, May 5 – Sunday, May 7, 2023
Hosted by Provinces IV and V Creation Care Networks, this in-person weekend retreat will engage those involved in ministries of Creation care in deeper theological study, sharing of resources and ideas, opportunity for fellowship, nature contemplation, and spiritual renewal. The weekend event will include presentations, conversations, nature walks, and prayer on the beautiful grounds of the Sisters of Nazareth convent in Nazareth, KY. All those interested in Creation care (from any diocese) are invited. Registration deadline is April 14. For more information and to register, visit here. The Rev. John Lein (Project Manager of An Episcopal Path to Creation Justice) will lead one of the workshops.
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Monday, May 8 – Thursday, May 11 • Online (free)
From May 8 - 11, people of faith will gather to learn how banks and asset managers continue to invest in the fossil fuel industries that are destroying communities in the U.S. and around the world – and then find out how to hold these financial institutions accountable.
Sponsored by GreenFaith, this event will amplify the voices of frontline leaders of Turtle Island (what we now call the United States) and the Global South, whose communities bear the direct brunt of financial decisions made by Chase Bank, Bank of America, Vanguard, BlackRock, and others who invest in harmful oil and gas extraction.
This summit is for you if you’re just making the connections between faith, finance, and climate, if you’re a money manager rooted in just climate values, or if you are part of a community wrestling with these questions. Learn more and register today!
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Wednesday, May 10
1:00 p.m. • Online (free)
In Atlanta, faith leaders have been involved in a struggle to confront violence in multiple forms as they seek to prevent the destruction of the Weelaunee Forest for the building of a police training center in a predominantly Black community. Through their actions for a just world, these faith leaders have additionally sought to honor Manuel “Tortuguita” Terán who was killed by the Georgia State Police while protecting the forest. This webinar will feature faith leaders from Atlanta as they share with us about the ongoing pursuit of justice in seeking to stop Cop City.
Click here to register for this monthly installment of UCC’s Creation Justice webinars, co-hosted by the Rev. Dr. Brooks Berndt (Minister of Environmental Justice, United Church of Christ) and the Rev. Michael Malcom (Executive Director, Alabama Interfaith Power & Light and the People's Justice Council.
• Environmental Sundays at Saints James & Andrews
Sunday, May 21
11:00 a.m. • Sts James & Andrew Episcopal Church, Greenfield (free)
Completing its series of special creation care events every third Sunday of the month, the Green Team at Saints James & Andrew (8 Church St., Greenfield) is hosting a presentation on effective political action to address the climate crisis. Everyone is welcome to attend. Bring a brown bag lunch. Snacks will be available. For more info, contact Ella Ingraham (ejmai127@gmail.com).
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Interfaith Summit 2023
Sunday, June 4
4:00 – 6:00 p.m. • Hybrid (Tufts University & Zoom)
CREW (Communities Responding to Extreme Weather), a program of the Massachusetts-based non-profit, Better Future Project, is planning its annual Interfaith Summit. This year’s theme is “Stories of the Spirit: The Role of Communities in Responding to Extreme Weather.” This will be a hybrid event, and everyone is asked to register, whether you’re attending in person (Tufts University, 474 Boston Ave, Medford) or online. To register, sign up here and you’ll receive information closer to the event date.
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The Anglican Consultative Council (ACC), an international body that meets regularly to facilitate the work of the churches of the Anglican Communion, recently passed a resolution to hold a moratorium on new fossil fuel development and to support the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty. For background on this decision, please go here. To sign the treaty, please visit here.
• If you want your advocacy spread more evenly throughout the year, sign up for EPPN (Episcopal Public Policy Network) action alerts. These cover a broad range of issues, including climate and the environment. They also hold a weekly “off the record” Zoom call to update advocates on a broad range of issues. Register here to get the zoom link.
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It’s All About Love: A Festival for the Jesus Movement
July 9-12
Baltimore, Maryland
Come to a churchwide festival of worship, learning, community, and action for the Episcopal branch of the Jesus Movement! It will be held Sunday, July 9 through Wednesday, July 12, at the Baltimore Convention Center. Register by May 8 for Early Bird rate of $185.
“It’s All About Love” features three Jesus Movement festival “tents” – Evangelism, Creation Care, and Racial Reconciliation. Each tent will offer an evening revival worship service and major plenary speaker, plus dozens of day-time workshops, panels, practice opportunities and other ways to engage. Stick with one tent or explore across the tents, following the themes of: worship and liturgy, formation, justice and advocacy, leadership, preaching, stewardship, and youth and children. For more information and to register, visit here.
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2023 Season of Creation (September 1 – October 4)
• This year the Diocese of Western MA will mark its TENTH annual celebration of Creation Season! It’s not too soon to start dreaming about how your congregation will honor this special season, which begins on World Day of Prayer for Creation (Sept. 1) and ends on Feast of St. Francis (Oct. 4). Look for a summer announcement of our updated Season of Creation liturgical resource, which was warmly received last year.
• SeasonOfCreation.org is already assembling resources for 2023. This year’s theme is “Let Justice and Peace Flow.” The world we humans have known, enjoyed and celebrated is changing rapidly beyond repair. Biodiversity is being lost at a rate not seen since the last mass extinction. The hope of keeping average temperature increases to 1.5 degrees Celsius is fading. The futures of young people are threatened by the cascading impacts of the loss of biodiversity and a changing climate. Industrialization, colonization and the extraction and consumption of resources have created great wealth, unequally distributed. We are presently more aware than ever of the link between fossil fuels, violence, and war. Sign up here to receive the latest resources and news.
• Would you like to learn more about the Creation Care Justice Network (CCJN), a network of Episcopalians in Massachusetts? We have 3 working groups: Action and Advocacy, Spiritual Practice and Grounding, and Communications and Networking. You can be involved with one or all of them. For information about the Action and Advocacy group, contact Alex Chatfield or Sue Swanson. Contact Lise Hildebrandt for information about the Spiritual Practice and Grounding group. Contact Liz Good for information about the Communications and Networking group. Meetings of the Creation Care Justice Network membership are held as needed. Green Justice News, the monthly newsletter of CCJN, will be issued during my sabbatical, so please send an email to CreationJusticeEpisMA@gmail.com to receive it!
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Blessings,
(The Rev. Dr.) Margaret Bullitt-Jonas
Missioner for Creation Care (Episcopal Diocese of Western Mass. & Southern New England Conference, UCC)
Creation Care Advisor (Episcopal Diocese of Mass.)
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Ashfield pond and hill. Photo: Robert A. Jonas |
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Opportunities for engagement |
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Sign the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty
An equitable plan for the wind down of existing fossil fuel production, where nations with the capacity and historical responsibility for emissions transition fastest, providing support to others around the world
Read more
fossilfueltreaty.org
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No Faith in Fossil Fuels: A Climate Finance Summit
May 8-11. Hurricanes. Excessive Heat. Crop failure. The loss of biodiversity and human life around the world. All of it is horrible- and could have been avoided. Climate destruction is being bankrolled by large corporations and their executives who..
Read more
actionnetwork.org
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Preaching for God's World
Preaching for God’s World is a resource for preachers, offering thoughts and reflections on each Sunday’s readings by providing weekly reflections from activists, theologians, and church...
Read more
preachingforgodsworld.org
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If you've enjoyed this newsletter, please feel free to forward to one or two friends you think may be interested.
Blessings!
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MBJ photo: Tipper Gore, 2014 |
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