Season of Creation
Earth Day 2024
Earth Day originated in 1970 after Sen. Gaylord Nelson from Wisconsin witnessed the ravages of the 1969 massive oil spill in Santa Barbara, California. He hoped it would force environmental protection onto the national political agenda. It did lead to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency, the passage of the Clean Air Act and a dialogue on a host of issues. In our time it focuses on climate change
The theme in 2024 is “Planet vs. Plastics”. The organizing arm earthday.org has the main goal of a 60% reduction in the production of plastics by 2040.
To achieve a 60% reduction by 2040, earthday.org goals are: (1) promoting widespread public awareness of the damage done by plastic (2) rapidly phasing out all single use plastics by 2030 and achieving this phase out commitment in the United Nations Treaty on Plastic Pollution in 2024 (3) demanding policies ending the vast amount of plastic the fashion industry produces and uses (4) investing in technologies to build a plastics-free world.
Plastics are a threat to human health. As plastics break down into microplastics, they release toxic chemicals into our food and water sources and circulate through the air we breathe.
Scientists have found microplastics — or their tinier cousins, nanoplastics — embedded in the human placenta, in blood, in the heart and in the liver and bowels. Plastics can also carry other chemicals not involved in their production: “hitchhikers” absorbed onto plastics and later potentially released into the human body.
The chemicals in plastics have been linked to a variety of issues, including reproductive harm and obesity, organ problems, and developmental delays in children. Ingesting these plastics causes cell damage, which could lead to inflammation and allergic reactions, and once consumed, removing microplastics from your body is not an easy process.
Plastics surround us with the use of plastic bags, plastic containers, packaging materials and garments. (70% from crude oil releasing microfibers ). The small fragments linger for centuries. Animals die from our distribution of plastics
Cigarette butts (whose filters contain tiny plastic fibers), food wrappers, plastic bottles, plastic bottle caps, plastic grocery bags, plastic straws and plastic stirrers are among the most common pollutants.
In 1950, the world produced 2 million metric tons of plastic; in 2019, that number had grown to a staggering 460 million tons. And when that plastic breaks down, it splits into tinier and tinier pieces that can slide more easily into the human body.
Plastics can take anywhere from 20 to 500 years to decompose, depending on the material’s structure and environmental factors such as sunlight exposure.
Less than 14% of plastic packaging is recycled. With plastics being composed of several different polymer types, it is nearly impossible to recycle different plastics together as they melt at different temperatures.
Additionally, to be recycled properly, plastics need to be separated. This is not only time consuming, but costly.
Links
1. Disposable plastics
2. Single use plastics
3. Ocean plastics
4. Microplastics
5. Threat to human health
Take action
1. Sign the Global Plastic Treaty
2. Educate yourself on plastics
3. Reject fast fashion
4. Take a Plastic Quiz
Manage Your Plastic Use
Individually we cannot change industries or policies but we can make manageable changes in our lifestyles to counter the threats.
Earthday.org calls these the 5R’s- Reduce, Refuse, Reuse, Recycle and Remove
1. Reduce – Before you shop…
Ask yourself two questions when considering plastic products or products with plastic packaging – Do I need it? Can I use something else?
2. Refuse – Say “no” to plastics
The substitutes for plastics are the ones you choose which can make a contribution to the environment.
Some key tips
A. Avoid plastic straws – use metal or wood/paper based straws.
B. Use reusable shopping bags. And buy cloth or mesh bags to carry fresh produce to the cashier.
C. Select products without plastic packaging.
D. Note products that use plastic microfibers – such as nylon and polyester
E. Bring your own coffee cup to the coffee shop.
3. Reuse – Avoid single-use plastics
Use dishes, glasses, and metal silverware instead of their plastic counterparts.
Avoid plastic items going to the dump – When you finally decide to get rid of old clothes, toys, furniture, or electronics, donate them rather than throwing them away.
For young parents -Trying washable reusable cloth diapers instead of disposable ones.
Any food containers from restaurants are durable enough to be reused for kitchen storage. Make sure to wash them by hand—putting them in the dishwasher can expose you to toxins.
4. Recycle -Know your waste management company/county. This is not the best choice when dealing with plastics. It cannot replace the need for reducing consumption or refusing and reusing plastics when you can.
If you have to throw away something, segregate it and give it a chance to be recycled!. If recycling is the best option, you should do so following the rules of your community.
For Caroline county -Eric Johnson is the Solid Waste Superintendent email – ejohnson@co.caroline.va.us or phone number (804)572-6301.
For the most part, only recycle if you are positive that the item is truly recyclable.
5. Remove – “Get it outta here!
Plastic/litter clean-ups are great community events that let you meet the people who live around you while cleaning up your local community at the same time.
I try to take an hour or two to walk different paths in the neighborhood to pick up trash. The walking and stretching are good exercises and help the community at the same time.
Biodegradable plastics have emerged as a potential solution and are made from natural sources like plant-based materials and micro-organisms such as bacteria that can be used in a variety of industries such as packaging, construction, and healthcare.
Parish Creation Care Committee – Additional ideas for Earth Day
From the Diocese of Connecticut, April 12, 2024
1. Purchase silicone containers as a substitute for plastic containers from restaurants for takeout
From St. Peter’s, Cheshire, CT
A Campaign to Minimize Single-Use Plastic and Food Waste -Contain&Sustain* was awarded *The Jack Spaeth Creation Care Environmental Grant* through ECCT and gained additional financial support from St. Peter’s ECW fund. In late July we launched a matching grant community crowdfunding campaign through Sustainable CT that ended Sept. 2.We reached our $3,000 donation goal and earned the 1.5 dollar-for-dollar match to equal $7,633.30!**
These funds purchased 1700 compact, reusable silicone take-away food containers, which we are distributing FREE to community members. Our goal is to build awareness of food waste AND the waste caused by single-use plastic/styrofoam carry-out containers AND to change behavior to minimize their use in Cheshire
2. Use sneaker collection Highland Elementary, is doing a sneaker recycling drive for Earth Day. Used sneakers will be collected and sent to a company that recycles them and keeps them out of landfills.
A Poem for Earth Day
“The Peace of Wild Things” by Wendell Berry
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
Blessing of the Animals – Oct. 4, 2013 – 10 years ago
Friday, Oct. 4, 2013 (full size gallery)
Oct 4 is the day set aside to remember St. Francis with his respect toward nature and his example of living the life of Christ in abject poverty. Traditionally it is the day for the Blessing of the Animals worldside.
Every Blessing of the Animals is different. We had 8 dogs with 17 people – the same number of animals as in 2012 but this blessing was characterized by the number of children which contrasted nicely with last year’s more subdued gathering. It was definitely livelier on an unseasonably warm day for this year However, one thing is constant – Elizabeth Heimbach’s mouse treats. They’re worth coming out for even without an animal.
After an opening by Catherine on the life of St. Francis ( the prayer of St. Francis ), we used this service . First is a part where we comfort the animals and then the priest goes around and blesses each individually.
The animals seemed to enjoy the day and the Fishers got Jackie, a newcomer this year, to perform for us. And then the children performed with hoola hoops!
The extensive yard of St. Peter’s gets a workout on this day. There is something magical between children and animals and the pictures try to capture some of that. Nature cooperated with a blanket of sunlight through the early evening.
Newsletter, October, 2023
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Season of Creation – Forests (Deforestation)
This week we look at ground level to consider deforestation
Deforestation
Forests in our memories – From Michelle Cook, Intergen. “How do you think of forests? In your imagination are they places of peace and quiet? Are they places that scare you? Are you more at home in a eucalypt forest than in a mangrove forest? Sometimes forests can be places of fear. Think of all the old stories from Europe, the folk tales some of us may have grown up hearing. Stories like Hansel and Gretel, where children get lost in the forest. Stories like Snow White, where the beautiful young girl gets taken to the forest by the hunter so that he may kill her far away from witnesses. Forests in these stories are seen as places of secrecy, of unknown dangers and mysterious powers.”
“In Psalm 139 it is our bodies being knit together in our mother’s wombs that becomes known. God, the creator of everything, knows our bodies, and hear the Psalmist says to us that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. Even the workings of the womb, hidden from us, and felt by mothers, are known by God. The story of creation is retold in Genesis 2:4b-22. Adam is created from earth and is set in a garden – a forest of fruit trees – a garden of food. Here is a forest, where again, all is known. The chaos and desperation of the land, where nothing is yet growing, is contrasted with the richness and safety of the garden.”
Season of Creation 2023 – a retrospective
The image shows the challenges and work to improve the environment in the darker areas with the light areas, the work we are doing now and a promise for the future.
We did fewer projects and concentrated on the beauty of creation and the need for renewal. The Season of Creation was present in these areas:
- Five Sundays readings in the Season of Creation and highlighted a specific environmental area which we covered weekly.- Earth, water, energy, food (waste), deforestation. Link
- We began a new Christian Ed for Children ages 5-9 and they covered water
- The services during the month had the following different sections
Concluding the Season of Creation – Prayers for the Earth
Based on the Fifth Mark of Mission
To Strive
God, creator of the universe,
Fill us with your love for the creation,
for the natural world around us,
for the earth from which we come
and to which we will return.
Awake in us energy to work for your world;
let us never fall into complacency, ignorance,
or being overwhelmed by the task before us.
Help us to restore, remake, renew. Amen
Richard Rohr on St. Francis
Rohr is a Roman Catholic priest and writer. He is the founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation which brings together action and contemplation .
He recently created a video on St. Francis.
Rohr discusses St. Francis and his connection with nature which he refers to as “The First Bible”. Some points
1 The early Franciscans taught that the whole natural universe is the first Bible
2 if we murder and mangle and manipulate and destroy, how would we possibly have the skills to reverence and use, correctly, the written Bible?
3 You grant respect and reverence to nature and you let the animals talk back to you. Once you’re inside the enchanted universe where everything is granted subjectivity, you’re never lonely
Climate Change – and you – the big items
- A house with a furnace is like a car that idles all day. Swap your furnace for a heat pump, which works by extracting heat from one location and transferring it to another (Tax Credit : 30% of the cost paid by the consumer, up to $2,000/year,)
- Swap your gas stove for an electric stove, which will also lower indoor air pollution (rebate amount has not been publicized year)
- Install a programmable thermostat model to turn off the heat/air conditioning when you’re not home.
- Get a home or workplace energy audit to identify where you can make the most energy-saving gains. ( Tax credit – 30% of the cost paid by the consumer, up to $150)
- Consider Solar- This is a significant expense but can vary depending on the company you choose.
30% federal tax credit via Inflation reduction act. State – – A property tax exemption for the increase in home value after going solar.
Solar Renewable Energy Certificates (SRECS), which are financial incentives for generating clean electricity. You gain one SREC for every 1,000 kilowatt-hours generated by your solar panels, and you can sell the credits to local electricity providers and other organizations that are subject to renewable energy mandates. As of 2023, each SREC can be sold for around $45 to $70.
Solar alternative – Even if you can’t install solar panels, you can still be a part of the clean-energy economy. Check out – Old Dominion Electric Cooperative (ODEC) odec.com. ODEC has entered several long-term purchase power agreements for energy generated by wind, solar, and landfill gas resources. .
Your home – other
- Unplug computers, TVs and other electronics when you’re not using them
- Turn off lights you’re not using and when you leave the room. Change to energy-efficient LED bulbs
- Wash clothes in cold water. Hang-dry your clothes when you can
- Draft proof.
Drafts waste five to 30 per cent of energy. Those from basements and roofs cool the most. Seal doors, windows and chimneys in those areas first. Try testing with incense. Where the smoke wavers, a draft is blowing in.To seal leaks, make or buy a “door snake” and caulk and weatherstrip doors and windows. Look for non-toxic, eco-friendly caulks. You can also add small insulating covers underneath electric outlet wall plates on outside walls or beside cold basements and crawl spaces. - Insulate windows.
Hang heavy curtains to keep the cold out and the cozy in. A cheaper solution: insulation film, available at most hardware stores. This plastic shrink film is easy to apply and keeps in much of the heat that would otherwise escape. - Reverse ceiling fans.
Many ceiling fans have a reverse mode. When they turn clockwise, they push down warm air that pools near the ceiling and circulates it through the room. - Change furnace filters.
Dirty filters restrict airflow and increase your furnace’s energy demand by making it work harder. Replace filters at least every three months during the heating season.Better indoor air quality is a nice side benefit of this energy-saving tip. Consider switching to a washable filter, which reduces waste and is more effective. - Check your thermostat.
Every degree you turn it down can save between 1.5 and five per cent of your heating bill. A programmable thermostat will help you get efficient and consistent.Turn down the thermostat when you’re sleeping or out. It’s is the most efficient way to reduce your heating bill — and your eco-footprint.
Transportation
Carpooling
- Combine errands to make fewer trips. Remove excess weight from your car. Use cruise control.
Consider electric or hybrid or low carbon vehicle for your next car
Speeding and unnecessary acceleration reduce mileage by up to 33%, waste gas and money, and increase your carbon footprint.
- Properly inflated tires improve your gas mileage by up to 3%. It also helps to use the correct grade of motor oil, and to keep your engine tuned
Fly less and take alternate transportation
Season of Creation – Food waste
1. Food Waste
The local food banks and other distributors have worked out agreements with restaurants to help eliminate waste by taking foods they cannot sell due to sell by dates and redistributing the foods. Globally, the issue of waste is a large one.
World Wildlife Federation has covered the topic in its fall magazine.
“Today, 7.3 billion people consume 1.6 times what the earth’s natural resources can supply. By 2050, the world’s population will reach 9 billion and the demand for food will double.
“So how do we produce more food for more people without expanding the land and water already in use? We can’t double the amount of food. Fortunately we don’t have to—we have to double the amount of food available instead. In short, we must freeze the footprint of food.
“In the near-term, food production is sufficient to provide for all, but it doesn’t reach everyone who needs it. In fact, one-third of the world’s food—1.3 billion tons—is lost or wasted at a cost of $750 billion annually. When we throw away food, we waste the wealth of resources and labor that was used to get it to our plates. In effect, lost and wasted food is behind more than a quarter of all deforestation and nearly a quarter of global water consumption. It generates as much as 10% of all greenhouse-gas emissions. As it rots, it pollutes water and soil and releases huge amounts of methane, one of the most potent greenhouse gases.
“Another negative aspect of food waste is its connection to species loss. Consider this: Food production is the primary threat to biodiversity worldwide, expected to drive an astonishing 70% of projected terrestrial biodiversity loss by 2050. That loss is happening in the Amazon, where rain forests are still being cleared to create new pasture for cattle grazing, as well as in sub-Saharan Africa, where agriculture is expanding rapidly. But it’s also happening close to home.
“These wasted calories are enough to feed three billion people—10 times the population of the United States, more than twice that of China, and more than three times the total number of malnourished globally. Wasted food may represent as much as 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and is a main contributor to deforestation and the depletion of global water sources.
“By improving efficiency and productivity while reducing waste and shifting consumption patterns, we can produce enough food for everyone by 2050 on roughly the same amount of land we use now. Feeding all sustainably and protecting our natural resources.”
South Korea has a system that keeps about 90 percent of discarded food out of landfills and incinerators, has been studied by governments around the world. But the country’s mountainous terrain limits how many landfills can be built, and how far from residential areas they can be built.
Since 2005, it’s been illegal to send food waste to landfills. Local governments have built hundreds of facilities for processing it. Consumers, restaurant owners, truck drivers and others are part of the network that gets it collected and turned into something useful.
In the case of a restaurant when it gets to a plant. Debris — bones, seeds, shells — is picked out by hand though most facilities are automated. A conveyor belt carries the waste into a grinder, which reduces it to small pieces. Anything that isn’t easily shredded, like plastic bags, is filtered out and incinerated.
Then the waste is baked and dehydrated. The moisture goes into pipes leading to a water treatment plant, where some of it is used to produce biogas. The rest is purified and discharged into a nearby stream.
What’s left of the waste at the processing plant, four hours after Mr. Park’s team dropped it off, is ground into the final product: a dry, brown powder that smells like dirt. It’s a feed supplement for chickens and ducks, rich in protein and fiber, said Sim Yoon-sik, the facility’s manager, and given away to any farm that wants it.
For consumers, at apartment complexes around the country, residents are issued cards to scan every time they drop food waste into a designated bin. The bin weighs what they’ve dropped in; at the end of the month they get a bill.
Climate Change, More Book, Part 3 Reduce, Sept. 24
The first two chapters of the MORE book were required material to get to Part 3 – Reduce.
Understanding the significance of our need to reduce greenhouse gases from Part 1, led to calculate our carbon footprint in Part 2. We meet to strive towards net zero emissions by 2050. Net zero means cutting greenhouse gas emissions to as close to zero as possible, with any remaining emissions re-absorbed from the atmosphere, by oceans and forests for instance. Part 2 focuses on reduction to get to net zero.
How much do we need to reduce our carbon footprints? For Americans, that number is about 90 percent.The United Nations’ intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has said that if we don’t act now, we’ll be facing the severe effects of a warming planet as early as 2040. One example? 50 million people around the world, will be affected by coastal flooding.
This chapter lists 26+ ways for us to act.
Click this button 
on the bottom right of the PowerPoint window to enlarge
Season of Creation Podcast for Sept 24
The Prophetic Voices podcast of the Episcopal church has a series of episodes focused on the Season of Creation. The podcast is hosted by the Rev. Shaneequa Brokenleg, who is the Episcopal Church’s staff officer for Racial Reconciliation. The podcast explores the lectionary through the lens of social justice.
All episodes.
Here is this week’s Sept 24 podcast
Sermon, Proper 19, Season of Creation 3
Psalm 103; Romans 14:1-12, Matthew 18:21-35
Practicing forgiveness is part of the art of living fully, joyfully, and peacefully in this world. Last week, Tom provided us with that unforgettable image of a person standing in the ocean trying to hold a beach ball under the water—and how that effort meant that the person was not free to do anything else. Not forgiving, he pointed out, is like trying to hold that beach ball under the water.
In today’s gospel, Jesus tells a story about a king who forgave a slave in tremendous debt to the king. That slave, having been forgiven his debt, went out and refused to forgive one of his fellows who owed him money. In fact, the forgiven slave had the person in debt to him thrown into jail until the man could pay his debt to the slave the king had so generously forgiven.
The others who witnessed all of this went and told the king, who called the forgiven slave in. The king said, “You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?”
And the king hands over the slave to be tortured until he pays his original debt.
And then comes this zinger from Jesus.
“So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
That is, we suffer the consequences when we continue to be unforgiving people.
So I’m wondering—are there, in the end, limits to God’s limitless mercy?
Bulletin, Pentecost 16, Sept. 17, 2023
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Season of Creation – Energy
We have taken the five Sundays readings in the Season of Creation and highlighted a specific environmental area which we will cover weekly. (This week, energy ) How is this area affecting us ? What can we do at St. Peter’s and individually to improve our use of them ? We have added related scriptures.
Isaiah 40:28-31 “The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. 29 He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless. 30 Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; 31 but those who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.”
1. Power in the Bible
We think of power in the natural world as produced from various energy sources in nature -the sun, wind, coal, water, geothermal, oil, biomass and the atom (nuclear). Power in religious terms is spiritual energy God is unlimited and this spiritual energy is unlimited in contrast to the energy we seek in the physical world which is limited. The difference from the physical world is that we do not consume this spiritual energy; we reflect it. It can be adapted to many needs in this world.
A. Power is an inherent characteristic of God ( Rom 1:20 ). It is the result of his nature. God’s kind of power is seen in his creation ( Psalm 19 ; 150:1 ; Jer 10:12 ). His inexplicable power is the only explanation for the virgin birth of Jesus ( Luke 1:35 ). Power is always a derived characteristic for people, who receive power from God ( Deut 8:18 ;Isa 40:29 ; Micah 3:8 ; Matt 22:29 ; 1 Cor 2:4 ; Eph 3:7 ), from political position ( Esther 1:3 ; Luke 20:20 ), from armies ( 1 Chron 20:1 ), and from other structures that provide advantage over others. When humans perceive that their power is intrinsic to themselves, they are self-deceived ( Lev 26:19 ; Deut 8:17-18 ; Hosea 2:7-9 ; John 19:10-11
B. The Bible uses spiritual energy which is transmitted to humans. It begins with God’s generation of light. This illumination is the spontaneous effect of divine Love in action, of Truth manifested. The Bible then goes on to chronicle this energizing force in the lives of individuals and nations, such as Moses energizing his people, leading them out of slavery and introducing them to the laws of God and brought them to the borders of the Promised Land.
Later Jesus said, “I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.” n2 His great power to do good was generated by God.When he took Peter and John up onto the mount and was transfigured before them, “His face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.” n3 The sparkling spiritual energy the disciples saw in him was evident throughout his ministry, feeding thousands and calming seas. He told his disciples that they could move mountains if they had “faith as a grain of mustard seed
C Faith in God is a transformer. It transforms thinking. Holding to it and living by it can bring a solution to energy needs by causing us to be more inventive, more aware of resources close at hand, more accurate and disciplined, more universal in our concerns, and thus more equitable.
Paul especially images the living of the Christian life as an empowerment from God. The believer’s union with Christ delivers him or her from the power of sin (cf. Rom. 6-8) and introduces him or her to the “power of [Christ’s] resurrection” ( Php 3:10 ). Salvation and holy living provide the Christian with a “spirit of power” for witness ( 2 Tim 1:7-8 ).
D. For our use we may find spiritual energy can be generated through prayer.
Project Drawdown – a Plan to achieve drawdown
Climate drawdown refers to the future point in time when levels of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere stop climbing and starts to decline. Drawdown is a milestone in reversing climate change and eventually reducing global average temperatures.
Project Drawdown refers to the nonprofit organization with the mission to help the world reach drawdown and stop catastrophic climate change quickly, safely, and equitably. In 2017, a publication titled “Drawdown” became a New York Times bestseller, where it highlighted and described different solutions and efforts available to help reach this goal.
Project Drawdown is a climate change mitigation project initiated by Paul Hawken and climate activist Amanda Joy Ravenhill.
The main principles of the project are to:
What are the sources of emissions to be reduced?
These are the sources of emissions along with the “sinks” that help to offset the emissions:
A spiritual look at climate change:
The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves to its children.” –Dietrich Bonhoeffer
1. Creation is a reflection of the glory of God to be good stewards of God’s creation, which includes all of us who live within it
2. Climate change is a spiritual challenge. Handling climate change is part of how we live our faith.
3. We have a responsibility to care for the least of us. The poorest amongst us bear the greatest burden and risk of climate change.
4. We are called to respond to what we see around us. We are moral messengers for the common good, translate compassion into action.
Climate Change, Measure, Sept. 17, 2023
Full screen – press right button to open in new window
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – Achieving lower emissions
By Damian Carrington
“The Guardian”
“It feels impossible. The world has to slash carbon emissions by almost half in the next seven years to remain on track for just 1.5C of global heating and avoid the worst of climate impacts. Yet emissions are rising.
“However, tucked away in the recent (and devastating) landmark report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is a chart that provides the road map for an escape from catastrophe. It assesses with extraordinary clarity the potential for emissions cuts of more than 40 options. (See chart at the bottom of this article)
“The IPCC chart is a map of climate optimism. It shows we can cut emissions by half by 2030 with options costing at most $100 per tonne, which is a bargain when set against the further damages that climate inaction will inevitably bring.
“The simplicity of the chart is deceptive. It was compiled by a team of the world’s best scientists, based on 175 studies. Its power is amplified by the fact that it was signed off by all of the world’s governments, from the cleanest and greenest to the darkest petrostates.
“So what does it show? First, solar and wind power are by far the best option, with the potential to cut a staggering 8bn tonnes from annual CO2 emissions by 2030. That is equivalent to the combined emissions of the US and European Union today. Even more startling is that most of that potential can be achieved at lower cost than just continuing with today’s electricity systems.
Sunday Links, Sept 10, 2023, Pentecost 15, Season of Creation II
The Season of Creation returns
Lector: Andrea Pogue
Chalice Bearer: Alice Hughes
Altar Cleanup: Andrea Pogue
Zoom Link Meeting ID: 854 8811 5724 Passcode: 539098
Coming Up – Sept. 17
About the Season of Creation – Since the 1980’s, the Eastern Orthodox Church has designated this time each year to delve more deeply into our relationships with God and with one another in the context of the magnificent creation in which we live. The Catholic Church and Church of England also recognize this season. Various churches across the United States also celebrate the Season of Creation.
The central focus of the month is on God – God as Creator. In his letter to the Romans, right up front, Paul makes this statement. “Ever since the creation of the world, God’s eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things that God has made.” We know a lot about God simply by paying attention to God’s creation. And Jesus, who came that we might have life, and might have it more abundantly, used his own attention to and love of the natural world in his teachings and parables, to help the people around him find the abundant life that can become ours through him. To be with Jesus through scripture and through the bread and wine is also to see and to know God the Creator of heaven and earth.
The goal in worship then is to deepen our understanding of God as Creator, to celebrate God’s role as Creator, and to examine and deepen and widen our own relationships with God, creation, and with one another. In particular we need to work to recover the original splendor of the earth.
An example – Look around your neighborhood where the human influence has been positive and negative on nature. Celebrate the former and do something about the latter.
“Jesus was intimately involved with the natural world. When he spoke of God and God’s Kingdom, he almost always pointed to the natural world: seeds, the harvest, the clouds, vines, weeds, sheep, fire, water, lilies, bread, wine. Walk out into God’s wonderful creation – and be touched by the very hand of God.”
–Br. Geoffrey Tristram, SSJE