Learn | Pray | Act | Advocate... for all Creation | |
Engage in Creation Care this Lent | |
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Lent is a perfect time to consider the ways that Christians are called to care for all of creation, and there are many ways to do that.
- Sign up to receive daily meditations during Lent.
- Organize a study for Sunday school at your church.
- Pledge to do a carbon fast and share ideas and challenge others in your congregation. Create pledge cards so that others may share what they have chosen to do.
- Contact a local environmental group and ask what you can do to help for the 6 weeks of Lent.
Explore resource suggestions below.
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Sign up for daily meditations:
Creation Care curriculum suggestions:
How to "Fast" from Carbon:
Volunteer with Environmental Groups:
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Come See Us at Convention | | |
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The Commission on the Integrity of Creation will be at Diocesan Convention in February. Be sure to stop by our exhibitor's table for great information and the chance to win a door prize.
We will also be hosting a workshop during the breakout sessions entitled "Practical Ideas for Creation Care Ministry," at which we will offer suggestions for forming a creation care ministry within your congregation, including getting buy-in from church leadership, forming green teams, and looking at how to weave this ministry into all aspects of parish life: spiritual formation, worship, building and grounds, fellowship/parish life and outreach. Hear concrete suggestions and be inspired to start and grow a creation care ministry at your church.
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Never Stop Learning - Upcoming Opportunities | |
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Prov. IV/V Environmental Network Monthly Meeting
Monday, Feb. 10, at 12 p.m. CT
The February gathering of the Province IV and V Creation Cate Network will feature the Rt. Rev. Cathleen Bascom, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Kansas, who will lead a conversation on important new programs within and beyond The Episcopal Church, including the passage this past summer of Resolution B002 - Build Eco-Region Creation Networks for Crucial Impact, authorizing the formation of Episcopal Bioregion Networks. Zoom link for the meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82932843412 (password: 5)
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Plastics Toolkit Launch
for Faith Communities
Wednesday, Feb. 12 - 6 p.m. CT
Join the ecumenical organization Creation Justice Ministries for the launch of this tool-building webinar featuring the unveiling of Beyond Plastics' Toolkit for Houses of Worship. This important resource builds on the work of faith communities who engaged with our Plastic Jesus annual resource, offering practical strategies to reduce plastic use within your congregation and advocate for impactful policy changes. Join us for an inspiring conversation about how we, as people of faith, can care for God's creation, slow climate change, and protect the health of God's planet and people.
Register here.
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Building God's House
5-Week Course
Does the church possess a unique charism, or ability, that it can bring to creation care? Might it be missing out on playing a critical role that few others can play? This course examines the root cause of the environmental and social crises we face today, the unique role that churches can play in addressing it, the challenge this poses to the church as church, and the potential that it has for transforming and renewing it. This interdisciplinary course drawing on theology and social science consists of five weekly seventy-five minute online sessions from Tuesday, February 18 - March 18 at 6:30 pm CST.
The instructor is Robin Gottfried, Director of the Center for Deep Green Faith’s certificate program in Contemplation and Care for Creation, and Emeritus Professor of Economics at Sewanee.
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The Feast of the Mystery of Creation
Feb. 20, 6:30 p.m.
Since the 5th century, the Eastern Church has marked September 1 as the beginning of the year, celebrating “the day of Creation”, when God began the creation of the universe. Now there is an ecumenical movement across the western churches to establish a “Feast Day of the Mystery of Creation” on September 1st in the western liturgical calendars.
Learn about the history of this effort, its implications for preaching and worship, and its current status across the churches. We will consider how a deeper celebration of God the Creator can deepen our understanding of God’s salvation.
The Rev. Jerry Cappel is an Episcopal Priest in Kentucky and serves as the Director for the Center for Deep Green Faith.
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Join the Center for Deep Green Faith in a yearlong ecumenical program that shares the theology and spirituality of creation care. Learn to encounter the sacred in nature, interpret that experience, and reflect on its implications for your own life, your church, and society. This Contemplation and Care for Creation program starts in June of every year and ends in late April or May of the following year. After an initial virtual orientation retreat, participants will then spend the year meeting together online, and finish with an in-person retreat in late Spring.
For more information and registration, click here.
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What We're Reading
You are invited to join Gulf Coast Creation Care in reading What If We Get It Right? by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson. The group will meet monthly by Zoom to discuss. Email GCCC if you are interested. Take 10 minutes to watch "How to Find Joy in Climate Action," Dr. Johnson's TED talk that has been viewed over 2 million times.
What We're Preaching
Members of Episcopal Church of the Redeemer in Mobile completed the new creation care curriculm from The Episcopal Church, "Love God, Love God's World," and they found the course to be a great introduction for churches ready to grapple with environmental challenges as a call to discipleship. The group shared their experience with the congregation during a recent sermon time. Read their presentation.
Preaching resource - check out Wild Lectionary: A Preacher's Environmental Resource for reflections on lectionary readings from a climate justice perspective.
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Be an inspiration to others! We want to hear how your congregation is caring for creation through worship, education, outreach and advocacy. Reply to this email and a commission member will be in touch to learn all the details.
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Questions?
Schedule a parish visit?
Share your creation care story?
Contact:
In Alabama - Lella Lowe lellalowe1@gmail.com
In Florida - Sonja Crawford sonjacrawford6@gmail.com
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