Present circumstances can make it difficult for Christians to proclaim the good news of the resurrection of Jesus Christ …Global conflicts, the refugee crisis, and climate change feedback loops are all escalating. It all could leave us wondering if the Easter story is even relevant anymore. Yet the power of the resurrection stands its ground before us. It will not let us off that easily. Jesus’ resurrection reminds us that even the smallest acts of courage in the face of evil can have ramifications that ripple out in unexpected ways.
From Creation Connections, Augsburg Fortress.
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We invite you for a morning of personal and biblical storytelling to hear the cry of creation and heed God’s call to respond. All are welcome!
Registration is available here and is no cost.
There is a suggested pay what you can to continue supporting the EcoFaith Network grassroots work.
The event will feature:
Speaker Professor Barbara Rossing, Professor of New Testament, Lutheran School of Theology, Chicago, Director of Environmental Studies Program "Revelation: The Lamb's Alternative Power Story for the Healing of Creation"
Diverse Storytellers, small group breakout sessions, and Now the Green Blade Rises music videos.
Together with the EcoFaith Network of the Minneapolis Area Synod, Lutheran Advocacy Minnesota, Lutherans Restoring Creation, Minnesota Interfaith Power and Light, the St. Paul Area Synod Care of Creation Work Group, and Together Here Ministries - Northeastern Minnesota Synod
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Earth Day Service
Sunday, April 25th
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A Creation Focused Service for Earth Day, April 25
Hosted by Lutherans Restoring Creation
ELCA Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton Preaching
Lutherans Restoring Creation is happy to present the ELCA community with another special online service. In celebration of Earth Day, this service is intended for use on April 25th (Good Shepherd Sunday) and can be downloaded for use according to a congregation's needs. We are excited to announce that Bishop Elizabeth Eaton will be preaching as part of this special service of liturgy, visual journeys, musical offerings, pastoral insights, and inspiration from lay leaders.
Register now to receive a special link with download instructions at least a week beforehand. Updates and more details can be found here.
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Voices from the Intersection of Racism, Inequality, and the Environment |
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Green Blades Rising is privileged to share with you the Voices from the Intersection, based on the reflections offered at the March Called to Arise workshops. The workshop series is completed, but our call to arise at this intersection is not! Expect future collaboration between Together Here Ministries and the EcoFaith Network NE MN Synod, as well as with the St. Paul Area Synod Care of Creation Work Group. See all 11 Called to Arise videos here.
We begin with Pastor Larry Johnson's reflection.
Read his beautiful reflection here.
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Preaching for the Whole Creation:
Commentary on the Lectionary
Season of Easter
"The resurrection gives rise not just to Jesus alone, but to Jesus together with his community of followers. And that community, we will show in these comments on the readings for Sundays of Easter in April, is inclusive of all that is: all nations, all creatures, all creation. The resurrection alters our cosmology, our economy, the meaning of our memberships, our manners at table, our entire sense of what it is to be “at home” in the earth."
Written by Rev. Dennis Ormseth. Rev. Ormseth has been writing ecologically oriented commentary on the lectionary for many years. He is active in Lutherans Restoring Creation, the EcoFaith Network of the Minneapolis Area Synod, and a member of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Minneapolis.
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EcoFaith in Worship and the Word
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Creation in the Bible
The Continuing Challenges of Jubilee
"Friends, we have come to the final days of the Jubilee year of Earth Day. But we continue to need the insights of Jubilee to stir us forward in our work. So this is a good time to review once more what Jubilee teaches us about care of creation and particularly the intersection of this with our commitment to justice and equality.
Jubilee, as first described in Leviticus 25, is this remarkable notion that every 50 years, there is a radical upheaval of things as usual. It is rooted in several important ideas, and of course, I will list 7 of them!"
Check out the whole reflection here.
Dr. Diane Jacobson is Professor Emerita of Old Testament, Luther
Seminary and the retired Director of the ELCA Book of Faith Initiative.
Her extensive speaking, writing, and workshop leading often
highlights the ecological dimensions of the Bible.
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Sunday Creation Connections
This section comes from Sundays & Seasons and brings creation connections for every Sunday.
Apr 18 – Easter 3
Grain, wine, and fish are foods mentioned in today’s readings. The psalmist describes the gladness from God as surpassing an abundance of food. Jesus’ appearance to the disciples is a joyous time of eating in community. Today, however, the threats to our food systems
are too numerous to count. Drought and blight affect crops around the globe. Wildfires decimate entire vineyards. Scientists have discovered that microplastics are turning up in our water and food supplies. We are literally eating and drinking our own waste. The question to wrestle with is this: Are we limiting, compromising, or eliminating our opportunities to experience the divine presence by polluting and destroying the very
places God has chosen to reveal Godself? At the same time, Christ opens our eyes, minds, and hearts to understand what we have done, and what needs to be done to restore life. We are “witnesses of these things” (Luke 24:48).
Check out the April and May creation connections here.
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Eyes on Creation
Guest column from Melissa Foster, St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Illinois
As I sat on the lawn this summer at St. Paul’s surrounded by our gardens both wild and cultivated, listening to evening bird song mingling with words from the Bible and the bowed sounds of cello and viola, I felt a new life in worship words and a new sacred glow in the gardens. It was as if a spiritual spine slipped into joint. Suddenly, I realized our Green Team vision had come to fruition in a way we could not have anticipated.
We gathered in the gardens to listen for the word of God because we couldn’t gather inside. But the outdoor location became so much more than expediency --a religious service in this setting becomes its own sermon.
Read the whole reflection here.
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This Month's Green Tips
Feel free to use these striking Green Tips created by two Synod members for your bulletins and general knowledge! These are meant to inspire earthkeeping action!
Here are Laura Raedeke's Green Tips Lutheran Church of the Cross in Nisswa and here are Steve Spigarelli's Green Tips from First Lutheran in Aitkin.
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Book Review
Moral Ground: Ethical Action for a Planet in Peril by Kathleen Moore, Michael Nelson, eds.
"Writers from diverse backgrounds have been asked to comment on this question: “Do we have a moral obligation to take action to protect the future of a planet in Peril?” The answer is “yes” in all instances and collected under fourteen categories, such as: “for the survival of humankind; for the sake of the children; for the sake of the Earth itself; because all flourishing is mutual; because compassion requires it; because moral integrity requires us to do what is right.”
Read the whole book review here.
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This book review is by John Hanson, a retired pastor living on Turtle Lake, north of Grand Rapids, with his wife, Linda. He is a member of the NE MN Synod EcoFaith Leadership Team.
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April St. Paul Area Synod Care of Creation Work Group Message |
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It is the responsibility of all of us to be stewards of God's creation. Many of the congregations in our synod have been making changes to their facilities to save energy (good for the environment), which also leads to the benefit of saving money (good for the bottom line).
The Saint Paul Area Synod's Care for Creation work group encourages your congregation to consider obtaining an energy audit from your supplier to pinpoint areas to increase energy efficiency AND save money that could be used for more exciting projects.
-Bishop Patricia Lull
Read the rest of the message here.
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Five Ways to Celebrate Earth Day Together Yet Apart
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What We've Been Reading
Here are a few other resources the EcoFaith Team is reading!
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The EcoFaith Network of Northeastern MN is a growing network of ELCA Lutheran congregations and their members in northeastern Minnesota with a mission to live out God's call to be stewards of the earth for the sake of the whole creation. Through social media, seminars, resources on current environmental justice issues, project micro-grants and active inter-and intra- congregational conversations, the EcoFaith Network encourages grassroots creation care actions among the Synod’s 133 congregations and leadership within their communities.
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