Earth Day 2008
Every day is Earth Day! As people of faith and stewards of God’s creation, we hope to live our environmental commitment all through the year. But the secular calendar’s Earth Day – April 22 – offers an opportunity for us to focus our thoughts, prayers and actions on a deepening commitment to the earth. This year, more than 50 local congregations engaged in Earth Day celebrations, including Earth Day sermons, community service activities, and educational events. Here is a sampling of congregational Earth Day events from this April 2008:
On April 4, the ADAMS Center celebrated their call to environmental stewardship with the beginning of the “Green Masjid Project.” During a weekend of prayer and learning, the congregation engaged in a presentation called “Why Muslims Should Go Green,” and learned about opportunities to bring environmentally friendly changes to their masjid, their homes, and their community. Youth groups actively engaged in a recycling project, and in a family tree-planting event.
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TPC's Project Clean Stream, at Roland Run in Baltimore County. |
This spring, Towson Presbyterian Church (TPC) celebrated Earth Day with a range of exciting events and activities. In early April, members engaged in educational events that included a discussion about environmental stewardship and faith with Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin and Rev. Barrett Rudd, and a talk with Leslie Woods, of the Presbyterian Church (USA) Washington Office, on the denomination’s work for social justice and environmental stewardship. On April 20, many members of the congregation rose to the challenge of taking clean modes of transportation to a special Earth Day Service, which featured a sermon reflecting on the religious call to environmental stewardship. A day of spring cleaning followed, with projects for members of all ages.
In addition to sprucing up their grounds, members worked on implementing changes that will make their building more energy-efficient throughout the year.
The congregation brought their environmental awareness to community action: for the second year, they worked at Roland Run in Baltimore County on Project Clean Stream, sponsored by the Alliance for Chesapeake Bay. They also planted trees at TPC’s Bee Tree Reserve, and engaged in a day of learning and advocacy in Washington, DC with the PC(USA) Washington Office.
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| Signing the Green Resolution |
The All Souls Church held their annual Earth Day celebration on April 20. Following an Earth Day sermon and an environmentally-themed Children’s Chapel, congregation members engaged in an afternoon Social Justice Forum on the connection between the environment and children’s health. The day was rich with opportunities – to buy fair trade and green products, to eat a zero-trash lunch (which is the church’s regular Sunday practice), to donate used cell phones to the Red Cross, and to learn about the congregation’s new RideShare carpooling program. This celebration builds on the church’s previous environmental commitments, while inviting members to take a step further – both in their community and in their home lives.
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| Table on environmental justice at All Souls Church. |
All Souls Church is decreasing the number of cars on the road through a Ride Share program. |
This April, the Maryland Presbyterian Church held a weekly forum on science, religion, the environment and other issues. On April 20, Dr. Lothar Schafer made a presentation on his 1997 book “In Search of Divine Reality,” which offers a reconciliation between modern science and the existence of God. As part of this lecture series, the church school class led a presentation and discussion of issues addressed in Dr. Schafer’s book, which they have studied all year. The Earth Day Worship Service included the signing of the congregation’s Covenant to Enjoy and Care for Earth Community. After worship, the congregation took action as stewards, adding native plants to their rain garden, and installing “Ecologs” to reduce erosion on their grounds.
The Mount Vernon Unitarian Universalist Church celebrated Earth Day by hosting speaker Thomas E. Lovejoy, a renowned environmentalist, at their Sunday service. Lovejoy was founder of the public television series “Nature,” and currently he is president of the Heinz Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving environmental policy. The congregation also came together in signing a petition to protest Dominion’s proposed coal plant in southwestern Virginia and urging the company to make a commitment to clean energy.
The Bethesda United Methodist Church held an Earth Week Fair on April 20, reaching out to members of their congregation with an invitation to learn and take action as stewards of the earth. The Fair offered information about how to protect the environment, and numerous opportunities to take action. Members signed up to volunteer for a Rock Creek Cleanup, purchased energy-efficient CFL lightbulbs, and picked up tree seedlings to plant outside.
In honor of Earth day, the Emmanuel United Methodist Church gathered for a worship service with a sermon from GWIPL’s own T.C. Morrow, on the theme of environmental stewardship and faith. Afterwards, the church also sold recycling containers and composting fences, enabling members to take their environmental commitment home.
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| Kosher-for-Passover Sheet Cake |
Adat Shalom affirmed their environmental commitment this April with a special Earth Day celebration. The congregation’s Environmental Committee held a fun educational event after services, which included informational materials on Community Supported Agriculture (CSAs), carpooling to shul, purchasing renewable energy, and more. Youth were invited to play and learn at the environmentally-themed kid’s table, and members and families made and shared their own environmental commitments, each one with a leaf on the “Green Pledge Tree.” The congregation also enjoyed a special Kosher for Passover Earth Day sheet cake!
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| Rabbi Fred sharing an Earth Day message |
Sharing earth-friendly commitments on the Leaves of Change tree |
Rock Spring Congregational United Church of Christ celebrated their Integrity of Creation Sunday on April 20, with worship services on the theme of “The Poverty of Climate Change.” After church, the Eco-Justice Committee led the congregation in some fun, interactive eco-activities to celebrate Earth Day. These included an exciting project of planting an organic garden that will produce delicious fresh vegetables for the Arlington Food Assistance Center, and an educational demonstration about energy use and compact fluorescent light bulbs.
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| Constructing the garden boxes. View more pictures on Snapfish. |
Rock Spring UCC's new organic garden, which will provide food for the Arlington Food Assistance Center. |
This April, the Warner Memorial Presbyterian Church gathered to celebrate environmental stewardship with an Earth Day themed sermon. After church, the congregation affirmed their commitment with a zero-trash fellowship hour, which included a special educational Enviro-Stewardship Fair.
Marking a significant step on their path as stewards of creation, the Takoma Park Presbyterian Church honored Earth Day this April with a month of worship, learning and discussion. Each Sunday in April, the congregation came together for an environmentally-themed sermon. The church’s adult education group held four earth month discussion sessions. They made a special step towards stewardship as a community by hosting GWIPL’s Allison Fisher for an learning session on the topic of “Greening Your Home and Church;” this was accompanied by a targeted discussion on how to make their building more energy-efficient, to save energy and to mitigate the damages of global warming.
Grace Fellowship Church of Timonium, MD, celebrated their commitment to environmental stewardship with seven worship services that focused on caring for the earth. As part of Baltimore Green Week, they also hosted a forum on Faith and the Environment, featuring diverse panelists that include Grace Church’s own Russ Pope, Esq.
This April, Capitol Hill United Methodist Church made great strides in taking on their calling as stewards of creation. The congregation came together for an Earth Day worship service that centered on the theme of protecting the earth as people of faith. Their celebration included a trash-free coffee hour, and a meal of local food, which supported local farmers and required little fossil fuel in transit from farm to plate.
The Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington celebrated an Earth Day service on April 20. Members were invited to affirm their role as environmental stewards by taking clean transportation to church. After a special sermon, titled “The Deadly Sin of Pride – Honoring Humility,” children and their families gathered to participate in a special Earth Day Ritual with the MoonFire group, which engaged youth in a discussion and a creative activity on the question of how to care for Mother Earth.
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