As earth day approaches and our concerns for God’s good creation increase I find myself seeking the mercy of God on all our activities. We need God’s wisdom to open our ears to hear the cries of our earth and to move into a more sustainable future.
Pray with us today for all God’s creation.
By Andy Wade –
Earth Day is gaining ground among Christians and, well, it’s about time! The theology surrounding our need to care for God’s good creation is as deep as our topsoil used to be, and as rich as the fertile earth that gave birth to the Garden of Eden.
There are a lot of big ideas out there about what we can do to celebrate this day, ideas about how to get involved in the grand movements we need to pull our world back from the brink of self-destruction. Please don’t neglect the big picture! But as I reflected on this, and having just returned from the Inhabit Conference which is all about localizing our faith, I wondered what it would look like to make a list of Earth Day practices for the neighborhood.
Here’s a short list of what I came up with – please share your ideas in the comments section below. This list begins with the things I’ve done (1-5) and moves toward the things I hope to put into practice by the end of the year (6-10) – remember, stewarding God’s creation is a lifestyle, not a one-off event.
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Create a front yard that invites community to enter, rest, and talk. How do we recognize and tear down natural and physical barriers to community and conversation? (See my “What If?” video at the bottom).
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Community Sun Tea and Herb Garden. This might be in your own yard or in some community space. Plant mints, lemon balm, and various flowers that tea can be made from and put instructions how to use them in your Little Free Library. Plant a variety of popular herbs like basil, rosemary, thyme, oregano, sage, and others. Have a neighborhood party to explain what you’re doing so the neighbors feel comfortable coming into your yard to harvest these gifts – then ask them what they’d like added to the space! -
Build a Little Free Library… and make sure there are some good garden and earth keeping resources in it! Again, this might be in your front yard or a community space. Even better, follow the model of the Lents District in Portland, OR and instigate a neighborhood Free Little Library revolution! -
Build a Little Free Nursery. This is an idea I came up with this spring as I looked at all the plants in my garden that needed dividing, all the volunteer plants, and the over productivity of my green house seed starts.
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Create a neighborhood orchard! Most of us don’t have room to plant a variety of trees and fruit bushes. Our yard is a pretty typical postage stamp space so we had to get creative. A couple of years ago we purchased two espalier apple trees with your neighbor and planted them on the boundary line. Six varieties of apples on one tree! But then I remembered that our other neighbor shares cherries from their trees and another Italian plums! What it we got together and intentionally planned what trees each would grow and how to share the abundance?
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Organize a Little Free Seed Library. There are lots of ways to do this. Most of us that garden buy our seeds and end up with way more than we really need. What if we took the extras and shared them with our neighbors? My next step on this adventure is to get serious about seed saving – the intentional gathering of seed from my organic and heirloom plants to save for next year – there’s a hidden abundance to share but we’ve been taught that we have to buy seeds every year!
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Create a community Tool shed. We already do a pretty good job of sharing tools with our close neighbors, but how about building a whole neighborhood tool library! I was sharing this idea, which I knew wasn’t original, with Brandon Rhodes of the Springwater Community and he told me his Lents neighborhood (yup, the same one I mentioned in the Free Little Library section) has a very efficient model already going! Here’s how it works in Lents district, PDX and here are a couple of other how to guides:
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Organize a Neighborhood Farmer’s Market Party.
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Get your neighbors together and carpool to your local farmers market. Find out if there are bulk items you can purchase together. Most markets also offer a festive atmosphere with great food to eat so plan to party with your neighbors at the market!
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Organize your own little backyard farmer’s market. One year we had more tomatoes than we knew what to do with but our cucumbers were dismal. Strangely enough our neighbors just two houses down had just the opposite problem! We would never have know if we didn’t talk to our neighbors. Neighborliness creates an abundant community!
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Organize a Toxic Block Party! This is an idea that came to me just a couple of weeks ago. What if we gathered interested neighbors together to purchase in bulk supplies needed to make earth and human friendly household cleaners? There are a whole lot of recipes and ideas out there but it’s even better together! Don’t stop there, use this party as an opportunity for your neighbors to bring all their toxic cleaners to your house for recycling at the next hazardous waste recycling event at your local dump? You could even take this a step further by inviting your neighbors to a “create your own earth friendly cleaning supplies” event. Most of the store bought cleaning supplies can easily be created with just a few natural ingredients. Here are some DIY non-toxic recipes you can explore.
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Create a neighborhood bee, butterfly, and beneficial insects sanctuary. Bring your neighbors together to talk about the effects of lawn weed & feed, herbicides like Roundup, and plants purchased from nurseries that use known toxins that kill beneficials. How can you work together to create a whole block of yards where bees, butterflies and beneficials can reproduce and thrive? This discussion should include what not to use on the garden/lawn but also what plants and habitats actually encourage a healthy environment.
This day is a celebration and a day of repentance as Rebecca Joy Sumner captures so well in her prayer for today which closes:
And on this day we mark to remember the land and all that lives in and on it, give us a seeming impossible cocktail of repentance, your undeserved absolution, good work to do with our hands, and rapturing wonder and joy in the beauty of this earth you have given to us and us to.
What are your ideas for localizing Earth Day in your neighborhood? Some of these ideas are great for people with houses but what if you live in an apartment? How would you live into Earth Day there? And how might we all move from Earth Day to the kind of stewardship that makes everyday a day we celebrate God’s amazing creation in ways that sustain and bring forth life?
- What does it mean to practice presence in your neighborhood?
- How do you cultivate place, community, right where you live?
Kepler Daisies by Dave Baab used with permission
By Lynne Baab
Sometimes we fall into the error of thinking that the notion of caring for God’s creation is something new, unique to our age. Psalm 104, which dates back well over 2,000 years and maybe a millennium more, expresses tenderness about the beautiful world God made, and shows God’s intimate involvement in it. John Stott called Psalm 104 one of the earliest ecological documents we have and C. S. Lewis referred to the writer of Psalm 104’s “gusto for nature.” Here are some selected verses from the Psalm. If these verses are true, how can we not take care of this precious world created and sustained by God?
Bless the Lord, O my soul.
O Lord my God, you are very great. . . .
You set the earth on its foundations,
so that it shall never be shaken. . . .
You make springs gush forth in the valleys;
they flow between the hills,
giving drink to every wild animal;
the wild asses quench their thirst.
By the streams the birds of the air have their habitation;
they sing among the branches.
From your lofty abode you water the mountains;
the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.
You cause the grass to grow for the cattle,
and plants for people to use,
to bring forth food from the earth. . . .
O Lord, how manifold are your works!
In wisdom you have made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
These all look to you
to give them their food in due season;
when you give to them, they gather it up;
when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.
When you hide your face, they are dismayed;
when you take away their breath, they die
and return to their dust.
When you send forth your spirit, they are created;
and you renew the face of the ground.
(Psalm 104: 1, 5, 10-14, 24-30, NRSV)
And here’s part of a poem, Auguries of Innocence, by William Blake (1757-1827) which expresses the rage and concern in heaven when God’s creation is violated. I love the passion in these words:
A robin redbreast in a cage
Puts all Heaven in a rage . . .
A dog starved at his master’s gate
Predicts the ruin of the State.
A horse misused upon the road
Calls to Heaven for human blood
Each outcry from the hunted hare
A fibre from the brain does tear.
A skylark wounded in the wing,
A cherubim does cease to sing.
Here are some suggestions for Earth Day, April 22 this year, and the week that follows:
- Each day this week find something in nature that you enjoy, and spend some time praising God for it.
- Ponder the ways you care for God’s creation, and commit those actions to God in prayer.
- Ask God to help you figure out one more way you might manifest your concern for the creation, one more action you might do consistently.
Lily by Aerylith used with permission
By Rowan Wyatt
A few years ago I was fortunate enough to be one of the botanists working to catalogue, store and germinate seeds at the Millenium Seed Bank. We had collections of seeds from remote places worldwide, some rather common seeds and some so very rare it was nerve wracking working with them.
I was one of a small group working with various Orchid seeds, as well as many other types of seed, and our tasks were to clean the collection of any detritus and remove any dead seeds, germinate a small sample using agar and growing them in various conditions to monitor how they grew in each climate. After germination the plants would be grown on in the glasshouses whilst the seeds were catalogued and stored in air tight containers, in a giant walk in freezer set to -35 deg C. The amount of seed in there was staggering. There were over a million collection bottles, each with its own unique charge of seed, and that whole collection a small fraction of the worlds abundant variety.
Germinating the orchid seeds was a difficult job. The conditions had to be spot on, no room for error or the seed would not grow, at all. The other seeds too had to have just the right conditions for growth to happen and I was always filled with joy and wonder when those first points of green began to protrude from the protection of the casing. I always used to think on the parable of the sower when I was at work, let’s take a look at it: –
Parable of the sower Matthew 13: 1-9
Seeds are incredible and wondrous things so it is inspired that Jesus used them so often to describe the word of God and so very dramatically here.
Howard Flint, the vicar at my church, recently suggested in a sermon that the parable of the sower should actually be called the parable of the earth as indeed it is really about the conditions that the seeds, God’s Word, is sown into. I completely concur with him in this and want to stretch things even further by saying the conditions for the earth to receive seed can also be seasonal.
We all go through seasons in our lives, they all very and despite our best intentions our ‘earth’ (spirit/soul) are not always in the best condition for a seed to penetrate and germinate. The smallest of things can cause our ‘earth’ to harden causing the seeds ‘Word’ to bounce away, never to germinate and grow. Jesus explains exactly what is happening here in his explanation of the parable.
As I said above, germinating a seed can be difficult but with the earth prepared in the right way the seed can flourish and grow and importantly bear fruit, in abundance. So in order to receive and let God’s word take root, deep root in us, our earth ‘soul’ needs to be prepared for it and the best we can do that is through prayer and worship.
Here’s a process to think upon: –
- The soul as a patch of earth, brown, tilled and ready to receive the seeded word of God.
- Trial gets in the way, the earth bakes closed, dry and hard, unyielding, the seed is snatched away. Needs the living water to soften it and make it ready once more to receive. Pray & read the word to make the ‘earth’ ready again.
- The patch of earth has not been prepared well, rocks and stones get in the way and the few seeds that take root have no foundations and soon become weak and die. Again, pray, read and worship. Take the Lord in quantity like a draught of quenching fluids on a hot day, drink deep of the living water and rake the stones (distractions/doubts) away.
- The Patch of earth is surrounded on either side by unprepared ground, weeds and thorns all of which invade and unchecked begin to choke the new seedlings till they are no more. Pray, pray and pray again, remove temptation and doubt, cut it back and throw it into the fire.
- The earth ‘soul’ is ready. Tilled, watered and fed, and the sower comes.
- The seed ‘word’ sown in that good, prepared earth takes root.
- Water it with the living water of Christ.
- Let it bask in the light of God.
- Strengthen it as it grows with supports ‘church, fellowship, partnering’.
- Watch as it bears fruit which is shared freely for all, and the seeds can scatter afresh.
In conclusion it becomes obvious that we need to prepare ourselves to receive the word of God. In the parable of the sower, Jesus is quite explicit that we will miss out on that bounty from God if we have not taken the time or effort to prepare our soul, spirit whatever word you choose to use, correctly. Through prayer, reading the Bible, worship (corporately or alone at home, in your quiet place), fellowship and communion our soul can be tilled and made ready to receive. How great it is to share so much with a humble seed.
by Christine Sine –
A couple of weeks ago, I was asked to prepare some readings for the Earth Day service at our church next Sunday. It encouraged me to pull out some of my favourite books on creation care, re-watched my favourite videos (like the ones included in this post) and reread some of my favourite quotes including this one:
When the Pharisees told Jesus to silence his disciples, Jesus replied, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out” (Luke 19:40) Does creation speak? Can it be heard? Can it be read?
The Christian community has long held that the Scriptures of the old and New Testament are “inspired” by God and the basis for faithful reflection in the church. At the same time, Christian writers have maintained that creation can be read as a text about God and that God has presented us with “two books” – Scripture and the natural world.
From the desert wisdom tradition of the fourth century we read: “A philosopher asked Saint Anthony: Father, how can you be enthusiastic when the comfort of books has been taken from you? He replied: My book, O Philosopher, is the nature of created things, and whenever I want to read the Word of God, it is usually right in front of me.” Augustine wrote, “Others, in order to find God, will read a book. Well, as a matter of fact there is a certain great big book, the book of created nature. Look carefully at it top and bottom, observe it, read it. God did not make letters of ink for you to recognize him in; he set before your eyes all these things he has made. Why look for a louder voice? Heaven and earth cries out to you, “God made me,”…. Observe heaven and earth in a religious spirit.”
Thomas a Kempis likewise suggested, “If you heart is right, then every creature is a mirror of life to you, and a book of holy learning, for these is no creature – no matter how tiny or how lowly – that does not reveal God’s goodness.
And Meister Eckhart wrote: Every single creature is full of God and is a book about God. Every creature is a word of God. (Introducing Evangelical Ecotheology, Daniel Brunner, Jennifer Butler and A. J Swoboda).
What is Your Response?
Watch the video above and read through the quote several times. Sit outside in your favourite garden spot, a local park, or on the beach. Go for a forest walk or visit a local waterfall. Take note of the different textures of leaves and flowers, the colours of petals and dappling of light and shade. Run your hands through the vegetation, crush a leaf and inhale its fragrance. In what ways does God’s second book – creation – speak to you? How does it reveal the goodness of God to you?
What is one practice you could institute in your life to enhance that learning process?
As Earth Day approaches, take time to get out into God’s good creation and contemplate the revelation of God it brings. At the same time, reflect on the impact of climate change and pollution. Here are just a few of the facts:
1. If everyone in the world lived the way people do in the U.S., it would take five Earths to provide enough resources for everyone.
2. 2015 was the world’s hottest year on record.
3. Average global sea level is expected to rise 7 – 23 inches before the end of this century.
4. More than a million species face potential extinction as a result of disappearing habitats, changing ecosystems, and acidifying oceans according to this article from MSNBC.
5. The Arctic region may have its first completely ice-free summer by 2040.
What is Your Response?
These facts overwhelm us, yet there are simple things we can all do, from a car-free day a week to a reduction in meat consumption to decrease our environmental footprint, cut carbon emissions and help reduce the human impact of climate change. Here is a list of 10 simple things all of us can try to be part of the solution.
Prayerfully consider the list. What is one practice you could institute in your life to help reduce environmental impact?
And if you are looking for more resources to help you celebrate Earth Day you might like to check out these posts:
Getting Ready for Earth Day – Some Resources to Consider
Getting Ready for Earth Day – Resources for Kids
Image by Steve Wickham/Charles J Sharp used with permission
Resurrection’s Power Makes Us Truly Unconquerable
“Death, where is your victory?
Death, where is your sting?”
— 1 Corinthians 15:55 (HCSB)
UNDER certain circumstances in life, you, me, and everyone else who abide in a particular power will be unconquerable. And it won’t matter what comes against us, with just one caveat… we must first learn this great power… it cannot simply be known, as in read and understood.
This great power is understood at a deeper level. It’s first and best known as an experience. It cannot just be known at an intellectual level. God loves us so much not to protect us from the opportunity of living this learning. God knows it’s the only way, in this world, that the learning will be meaningful.
Learning this great power necessitates the experience of pain, and the suffering of that pain to the point that it crushes us — that it renders us, for a time, deconstructed. Then, months and years later, for the remaining years of our life, we embark each day integrated with a revenant form of perspective. We live the death of Jesus, and carry it around with us, in order that His resurrection life would be revealed through us (2 Corinthians 4:7-12).
Death, at a spiritual level, no longer encumbers us. As it was for Jesus, it’s not where we remain.
Death no longer has the threat level it did. As we experience grief, we see it as the actualising agent for growth crucial to discipleship.
And not just that. We will have the capacity to endure pain (living the deathly experience) without it being as painful, because our perspective has adjusted our expectation. We no longer expect a pain-free existence. No, we expect pain. We come to expect difficulty in life. It comes with this life. We understand it and accept it. Gratitude becomes us. As does maturity. And we realise its great value; for growth, for peace, for healing, and for being the vehicle we use to enter heaven in our minds — for anticipation of that wondrous day ahead!
I do hope this doesn’t sound like a pipedream to you. It’s in keeping with the promises in the Bible lived out truly in billions of lives in history. I have experienced such things and they have become part of my being, but I don’t write this as any claim except to attest to the mercifully gracious glories of God’s truth:
Jesus’ resurrection becomes real in our life, when we apply the gospel wisdom.
This great and secret power goes counter to the world’s way, and against that grain, for it shows us the one and only unconquerable way, because we go against what seems the only way. The world would rather conquer the pain through myriad forms of anesthetising denial, and remain conquered, all the while pretending it has all the answers. The world cannot understand that pain is a reality that can only be accepted as impetus to victory.
Jesus’ resurrection proves we have a better way. The apostle Paul connects us to His resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15, and when we realise such a truth in our lives, through His power, we’re convinced, convicted, challenged, encouraged, and inspired. We’re motivated toward resurrection experience; the evocation of a miracle.
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Death necessitates a rise, a raising in resurrection power, if we believe death has a purpose. God has overcome death in Jesus, and He has shown us the way to overcome the horrors of this life — for this life is not all there is — and the horror is not all there is.
We have a hope beyond this life, and that hope reveals to us a hope in and for this life.
Death no longer has victory. Death no longer has victory as we see it defeated in what Jesus does in and through us as we struggle hopefully.
Death has lost its sting. Death has lost its sting when we claim the victory by being hopeful of the Holy Spirit’s resurrecting us at the proper time, as much as we’re thankful when it comes. Because it always does.
But that’s not all…
Resurrection has the fullest power when it manifests in loving community; when we take our victory and make it an asset for others.
There’s no power on earth like resurrection in community. We know what resurrection does in one life. Think of the gestalt when God brings about the power of resurrection in community! Such a community becomes a change-making entity for the Kingdom through His power.
by Tom Sine –
Tonight we will launch Live Like You Give A Damn! Join the Changemaking Celebration at the Inhabit Conference at the Seattle School of Theology and Psychology. Wish you could be with us. Tomorrow, at the conference I will introduce some of those who are already a part of this changemaking celebration.
In this post I want to introduce one of them to you. Brian Jones who heads the Innove’ Project will co-present with me and two other young innovators.
The back story is that several years ago the Colonial church in the Twin Cities area sold some property they owned for $2 million and decided to sponsor free enterprise competitions to make a difference in their community. Here is the “rad part” they invited anyone under 35 in the community to participate without being affiliated to their church or any church.
That first year Leah Driscoll won first place. Leah was deeply concerned that nearly 300,000 thousand of her neighbors live in a “food desert” where they didn’t have access to grocery stores or fresh produce. Leah and her friends launched Twin Cities Mobile Market, designed to serve those in “food deserts” who don’t have access to fresh produce and reasonably priced food. Leaders in the congregation volunteered as coaches and mentors to get these important ventures launched.
“Join me as we visit the Twin Cities Mobile Market and Leah Driscoll, who not only came up with this creative social innovation but has been very busy since the contest launching this innovative venture….This first bus has been transformed into a grocery store on wheels and is busy serving some of the underserved communities in the Twin Cities. Leah is now raising money for a second bus.”
Watch the attached video of Leah on her first bus before it became a successful mobile market serving neighbors before we show it at Inhabit tomorrow. Tomorrow is also the last day to purchase Live Like You Give a Damn: Join the Changemaking Celebration, at our super discount pre-order price.
What would happen if churches in all our communities started inviting the changemaking ideas of the under 35 not only in our churches but in our community as well?
Let us know if your church decides to be this rad or any other examples you have seen of churches anywhere inviting the innovative ideas of the young in our churches or communities to make a difference a real difference in the lives of their neighbors…. We will share your best stories!
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