We are a small Episcopal Church on the banks of the Rappahannock in Port Royal, Virginia. We acknowledge that we gather on the traditional land of the first people of Port Royal, the Nandtaughtacund, and we respect and honor with gratitude the land itself, the legacy of the ancestors, and the life of the Rappahannock Tribe. Our mission statement is to do God’s Will in all that we do.

Season of Creation

Caring for God’s Creation – Virginia Creeper, a Native Plant

Part of caring for God’s creation is to be intentional about what you choose to plant on your property.  Native plants are best, for they provide food and shelter for the birds and animals that are native to Virginia.  These plants and animals have evolved together and so need one another to thrive. 

Virginia Creeper is an easy to cultivate as a ground cover, even though it has a climbing habit and will use trees as its trellis if left to its own devices.    Its compound leaf has five leaflets, which helps to distinguish it from poison ivy, which has a compound leaf with three leaflets.  A carefree vine that needs little attention other than occasional pruning, Virginia Creeper foliage turns a dramatic red color in the fall and produces  highly nutritious dark purple berries that thirty-five species of birds enjoy eating, including woodpeckers, titmice, chickadees, white-breasted nuthatches, thrushes, robins, catbirds, bluebirds, cedar waxwings and sparrows. Birds also use Virginia Creeper bark as nesting material.  Virginia Creeper leaves also serve as food for several types of moth caterpillars, which means that birds also have access to caterpillars, which they need in order to successfully raise their young. Read more..

Introducing – The Obedient Native Plant

The Obedient Plant is a native flower of North America that grows 4′ tall in full sun with moist to medium soil.

Obedient plant gets it’s common name from the fact that one can bend a flower to the side, and it will stay put.

It attracts bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds. It blooms tall spikes of pink tubular flowers for six weeks in late Summer.

The native range of Obedient Plant is North America, East of the Rocky Mountains, with the exceptions of Florida, Connecticut and Massachusetts. So it should grow in variety of climates.

Here is a video describing how the Obedient Plant is obedient.

The tipping points of climate change — and where we stand

Johan Rockström at TEDCountdown@BloombergGreenFestival July 2024

Link

Key Points

1 The planet is changing faster than we have expected. We are, despite years of raising the alarm, now seeing that the planet is actually in a situation where we underestimate the risks. Abrupt changes are occurring in a way that is way beyond the realistic expectations in science.

Read more

Summing up end of 2023 progress on Climate Change

From canarymedia.com

1. The U.S. climate law is fueling a factory frenzy.

The Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law in August 2022, aimed to bring a clean energy manufacturing boom to the U.S. through generous subsidies. So far, the plan is working: In the law’s first year, more than 100 new clean energy manufacturing facilities or factory expansions were announced, adding up to nearly $80 billion in new investment from private companies

2. Renewables are on track to keep getting cheaper and cheaper

While fossil fuels have not gotten cheaper with time, renewable energy costs have plummeted over the past few decades. That’s made them more cost-effective than fossil fuels in many cases — and also more attractive to new investments. These cost declines are not expected to stop anytime soon. In fact, by 2030, technology improvements could slash the price of wind energy by a quarter and of solar by half.

3. Clean energy to make up 84% of new U.S. power capacity in 2023

Though they still make up just 20 percent of overall power generation, solar, batteries and wind account for the most new power flowing to the U.S. grid — and it’s not even close. In 2023, clean energy will have accounted for the vast majority of all new power capacity added to the U.S. grid, while fossil-fueled plants will make up just 16 percent of new capacity.

4. U.S. EV sales are having a record-setting year

All-electric vehicles (also known as battery electric vehicles or BEVs) are powered by an onboard battery that stores electrical energy, according to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Alternative Fuels Data Center. Unlike conventional gas-powered or hybrid vehicles, EVs rely solely on electricity for propulsion. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) classifies EVs as zero-emissions vehicles due to the lack of exhaust or tailpipe emissions expelled.

Despite recent gloomy headlines, the U.S. electric-vehicle market has soared. According to marketwatch “Electric car sales have taken off in the U.S. since 2020. About 1.6 million EVs were sold in the U.S. in 2023 — a 60% increase from the 1 million sold nationwide in 2022.

Assessing Climate – What’s NOT Working?

From canarymedia.com

1. The United States is not currently on track to meet its goal of cutting emissions in half by 2030.

2. Over the past year, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, global temperatures averaged 1.6 degrees Celsius (2.9 degrees Fahrenheit) above preindustrial levels.

Under the landmark 2015 Paris agreement, the world’s leaders pledged to hold Earth’s temperature rise “to well below” 2 degrees C (3.6 degrees F) above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts “to limit the temperature increase” to 1.5 degrees C above pre-industrial levels, to avert some of the worst effects of global warming. The fact that the planet surpassed 1.5 degrees C for one year does not amount to a permanent shift, but it comes as scientists are warning that it is likely to happen again — within a few years.

A separate study published by a group of 57 scientists on Wednesday found that human activities were responsible for 92 percent of the warming observed in 2023, the planet’s hottest calendar year on record. It said the rate of warming in the past decade is “unprecedented in the instrumental record.”

3. Resource constraints. There may not be enough resources to fight climate change, and it can be difficult to allocate them efficiently. For example, funding for climate action, technology development, and climate adaptation in vulnerable regions may be insufficient.

4. Decarbonizing steel, cement and chemicals are still a challenge. They’re also among the largest global sources of carbon emissions — manufacturing them releases more CO2 into the atmosphere each year than all of the emissions generated by the United States.

These materials are so emissions-intensive not just because of how they’re made, but also because of how much of them the world uses

Assessing Climate 2023 – Seven Victories

From Earthday.org

#1: The Ozone Layer is on Track to Heal by 2040. The ozone layer is recovering, with projections indicating a return to 1980 values by 2066 over Antarctica, 2045 over the Arctic, and globally by 2040 if current policies continue.

#2-The EPA Crackdowns on 5 Toxic Chemicals Commonly Used in Plastics. The EPA has prioritized risk evaluations for five chemicals used in plastics, signaling a strong effort to address plastic-related issues.

#3: 26 Species at Risk of Extinction Have Recovered in Australia. Australia, often recognized for its high mammal extinction rates, witnesses a glimmer of hope as 26 species have recovered enough to no longer be classified as threatened under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act.

#4: Scientists Discover Fungus Capable of Breaking Down Plastics. Australian scientists found a breakthrough method using backyard molds, Aspergillus Terreus and Engyodontium album, to efficiently break down persistent plastics, potentially enhancing plastic recycling rates.

#5: Youth Activists Win Historic Victory Against the State of Montana. In a landmark decision, a Montana state judge ruled the state’s support of fossil fuels violates citizens’ constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment, offering a legal precedent for climate activists. T

#6: Pepsi Cola Gets Sued for Their Part in the Plastics Crisis. In a positive move towards environmental responsibility, New York state’s Attorney General, Letitia James, has filed a lawsuit against PepsiCo and its Frito-Lay subsidiaries, holding them partially accountable for plastic litter affecting Buffalo’s drinking water. By taking legal action, the state emphasizes the right to clean water and aims to address plastic pollution, signaling a commitment to holding major corporations responsible for environmental impacts and pushing for cleaner practices.

#7: There Were More Investments in Solar Power Than Oil.The International Energy Agency (IEA) reports a significant shift in energy investment patterns, with solar power investments surpassing spending on upstream oil for the first time in human recorded history. More than $1 billion per day was invested in solar power in 2023, exceeding the total spending for new upstream oil projects.

What is the “Season of Creation”?

The Season of Creation is an optional season for the church year. For the most part, the seasons of the church year follow the life of Jesus: Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, and Easter. The remainder of the church year encompasses Pentecost season (or Ordinary Time), which celebrates life in the Holy Spirit.

For centuries, our theology our theology has focused on relationship with God and our human relationships with one another. The Season of Creation focuses God’s relationship with all creation and with our relationship with creation (and with God through creation). It highlights our role in understanding and addressing address the ecological problems we face today as a part of God’s creation.

“Fun fact: planet Earth is 4.5 billion years old. Mankind? About 140,000 years old. Let me put that in perspective: If you condense the Earth’s lifespan into 24 hours, that’s one full day, then we have been here on this planet for… …drumroll please… …three seconds. Three seconds, and look what we’ve done….”

Prince Ea’s annotation for the video.

Why a “Season of Creation”?

From The Season of Creation: A Preaching Commentary by Norman C. Habel and David Rhoads

There are many reasons! Here are seven of them:

First, because God is first and foremost the Creator of all of life. To fail to focus adequately on this dimension of God’s reality in worship is to fail to appreciate the fullness God’s work, and it is to narrow and diminish our relationship with God. Our own fullness of life depends upon our relationship with God as Creator.

Second, because we were created with the rest of nature. We came from Earth and we cannot survive without all that Earth provides. Just as Earth has creative powers, so Earth itself has restorative powers. Unless we have centered opportunities to express awareness of and gratitude for our  dependence upon Earth and our relationship with other creatures, we will not be whole as human beings.

Third, because God has given us a creation to celebrate with! In recent years, much of humanity has viewed creation as a resource to be exploited rather than a mystery to be celebrated and sustained. The time has come not only to celebrate creation but to transform our human relationship to creation by worshiping in solidarity with creation

Fourth, because through worship we have an opportunity to come to terms with the current ecological crises in a spiritual way so as to empathize with a groaning creation. Worship provides a viable and meaningful way not only to include creation’s praise of God but also to engender a deep relationship with the suffering of a groaning creation.

Fifth, because a fresh focus on the wonders and wounds of creation will help us in positive ways to love creation and so care for creation as our personal vocation and our congregational ministry. Worshiping with this new awareness may well provide the impetus for a new mission for the church, a mission to creation.

Sixth, because this season enables us to celebrate the many ways in which Christ is connected with creation. From the mystery of the incarnation to the mystery of a cosmic Christ who reconciles all things in heaven and Earth, we celebrate the connection of Christ with creation. And we seek to identify with Earth in solidarity with Christ.

Seventh, because this season enables us to deepen our understanding and experience of the Holy Spirit in relationship with creation. As the “Giver of life” and the “Sustainer of life,” the Holy Spirit is the source of our empowerment, inspiration, and guidance as we seek to live in a way sustainable for all God’s creation. Being “in the unity of the Holy Spirit” encompasses our relationship with all of life. This is foundational for our worship.