Care for Creation

One attribute that distinguishes human beings from other creatures is our enormous creativity.  We have the ability to construct cities, build cathedrals, write operas, heal the sick, educate children,instantly communicate with people on other continents, create lakes, heat and cool our living spaces, develop agricultural methods to feed billions of people.   These almost god-like abilities led the ancient Hebrew storytellers to describe us as “a little lower than the angels.”   But we also have incredible abilities to destroy.  We blast the tops off mountains to extract coal; we draw so much water from some great rivers that they dry up; we poison the waters of our streams and bays.  Species of living things are becoming extinct at an accelerating rate.  In this century we risk killing vast numbers of people and causing great suffering by exhausting our natural resources and pursuing policies that exacerbate global warming.

Presbyterians take this seriously. Loving your neighbor involves protecting your neighbor’s natural resources.   Violence against nature is violence against one’s neighbor. Repeatedly the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) has declared that we have a Christian duty to care responsibly for God’s creation. In 1990, the 202nd General Assembly asserted:

 "The church has powerful reasons for engagement in restoring God's creation:

• God's work in creation is too wonderful, too ancient, too beautiful, too good to be desecrated 
• Restoring creation is God's own work in our time, in which God comes both to judge and to restore.
• The Creator-Redeemer calls faithful people to become engaged with God in keeping and healing the creation, human and non-human.
• Human life and well-being depend upon the flourishing of other life and the integrity of the life-supporting processes that God has ordained.
• The love of neighbor, particularly "the least" of Christ's brothers and sisters, requires action to stop the poisoning, the erosion, the wastefulness that are causing suffering and death.
• The future of our children and their children and all who come after is at stake.
• In this critical time of transition to a new era, God's new doing may be discerned as a call to earth-keeping, to justice and to community. "

The Care of Creation Group hopes that this web site will be of service to you in your journey towards greater faithfulness.  

Many congregations identify a period of time in Spring for special celebrations and rededication to Care of Creation.  This often centers around Earth Day, April 22 and many congregations identify the Sunday closest to April 22 as EARTH DAY SUNDAY.  This year April 22 falls on a Sunday, which will thus be EARTH DAY SUNDAY. 

Congregations mark the occasion in many ways.  A simple litany of thanks for the beauty of the earth.  A more elaborate liturgy focused on God's goodness and the need for stewardship of creation.  A sermon on the topic of God's covenant with humankind and all creation.  An adult education class.  An activity for children.  An outdoor activity after worship.  Planting trees or native plants.  A picnic in the beauty of nature.  All of these are possibilities.

Some congregations do not think that one day is enough and plan a week of events, or a month.  Now is the time to start planning.

One of the best sources for ideas for EARTH DAY SUNDAY celebrations is the National Council of Churches Eco-Justice Programs.  Their site provides materials used in past years, examples of what other churches have done, and a planning guide.

Within our own presbytery we have a Speakers Bureau, listing people who will make presentations for adult education programs.

What a great opportunity to celebrate the goodness of God's Creation and to rededicate ourselves to better stewardship!

Congratulations to First Presbyterian Church of Howard County in Columbia, Maryland Presbyterian Church in Towson, Light Street Presbyterian Church in Baltimore and Towson Presbyterian Church, who have been among the first in the nation to be certifed as Earth Care Congregations by the Environmental Ministries office of the Presbyterian Chrch (USA).

Earth Care Congregations are congregations that have committed to the “Earth Care Pledge” and accomplished a specific number of steps toward caring for God’s Earth in four categories: worship, education, facilities, and outreach.

The Creation Care Group hopes that more congregations in the Presbytery will become certified as Earth Care Congregations to show their committment to caring for God's Creation.  Here's how.

Read the blog of the Environmental Ministries office of the PCUSA  here.