Creation care should be an urgent preaching, teaching and pastoral priority for all of our congregations. In this Weekly, we explore how congregations and other faith-based organizations participate in protecting the planet.
- In our current ecological crisis, theologian Grace Ji-Sun Kim writes that we must emphasize humanity’s role as both stewards and creatures in God’s creation.
- We look at how Green the Church, an alliance of African American congregations, is committed to helping churches take small steps toward environmental healing.
- In an interview, Otis Moss III explains how Trinity U.C.C. Chicago brings their commitment to such stewardship to life.
- A.J. Swoboda tells us why he is a Pentecostal environmentalist.
- Finally, we look at one of the bestselling Alban titles of the last few years — “Climate Church, Climate World: How People of Faith Must Work for Change” by Jim Antal.
We’re talking about commitments to environmental justice this week. Welcome to the Weekly!
Resources
People of faith must take action on climate change
In our current ecological crisis, we must emphasize humanity’s role as both stewards and creatures in God’s creation, writes a theologian.
A nonprofit works to ‘green’ the Black church
Green The Church encourages African American congregations to commit to an environmental theology that promotes sustainable practices and helps build economic and political change.
Otis Moss III: Care for the land is intimately tied to Black liberation
An urban megachurch on Chicago’s South Side is a leader in creation care, drawing upon the congregation’s history and addressing its current needs.
‘I’m a Pentecostal environmentalist’
Creation care is an integral aspect of the relationship of the Holy Spirit to the world, says a Pentecostal theologian, pastor and environmentalist.
From the Alban Library
‘Climate Church, Climate World: How People of Faith Must Work for Change’
By Jim Antal
“Climate Church, Climate World” argues that climate change is the greatest moral challenge humanity has ever faced; it multiplies all forms of global social injustice: hunger, refugees, poverty, inequality, deadly viruses, war. Environmental leader Rev. Jim Antal presents a compelling case that it’s time for the church to meet this moral challenge, just as the church addressed previous moral challenges. He calls for the church to embrace a new vocation so that future generations might live in harmony with God’s creation. After describing how we have created the dangers our planet now faces, Antal urges the church to embrace a new vocation, one focused on collective salvation and an expanded understanding of the Golden Rule (Golden Rule 2.0). He suggests ways people of faith can reorient what they prize through new approaches to worship, preaching, witnessing and other spiritual practices that honor creation and cultivate hope.
Before you go…
More than 10 years ago, I observed “Climate Church, Climate World” author Jim Antal lead the Massachusetts Conference of the UCC with a wholehearted commitment to both environmental justice and to church renewal: commitments shared by Green the Church, Dr. Kim, the Rev. Moss, and others featured in this Weekly. Those of us who are worried about the future of congregations can learn something from those who see mission as extending to all of creation. Such commitments might help us keep our challenges in perspective and focus on a God-sized calling.
Blessings to you as you consider how your congregation is participating in and shaped by creation care and environmental justice.
Peace,
David L. Odom
Editor, Alban at Duke Divinity