Blessing for the Longest Night
All throughout these months as the shadows have lengthened, this blessing has been gathering itself, making ready, preparing for this night. It has practiced walking in the dark, traveling with its eyes closed, feeling its way by memory by touch by the pull of the moon even as it wanes. So believe me when I tell you this blessing will reach you even if you have not light enough to read it; it will find you even though you cannot see it coming.
Read the whole blessing here.
—by Jan Richardson
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Thank you to all our contributors to the newsletter this year. We are grateful for your stories, thoughts, prayers, and support. We look forward to sharing more from this network in the new year!
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Green Blades Rising in Congregations |
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Church of All Nations, Columbia Heights, MN
Creating an intimate relationship with the land
on which they worship
by Vern Rice, St. Paul Area Synod Care of Creation Working Group
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After last month’s article about our interesting visit to Walker Farms, Princeton, MN, to learn about Regenerative Farming, I was reminded of a visit to Church of all Nations in Columbia Heights, a first ring suburb of Minneapolis led by founding pastor, Rev. Jin S. Kim. Our Care for Creation Team at Christ the King Lutheran, New Brighton, MN was invited to visit, to experience a kind of “regenerative farm” within the city.
Church of all Nations is a multicultural faith community of 150 members. Their congregation was founded by immigrants from Asia and Africa where interconnectedness is assumed. The values that flow from this are relationships, reciprocity, balance, fruitfulness, and diversity. When there is an openness for life energy to flow, communities become syntropic, generating an increasingly spontaneous and complex network of interconnectedness. Life begets life.
Read the whole article here.
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Solar Energy Story
Holy Trinity, Minneapolis
Submitted by Pastor Ingrid Rasmussen
After a decade of faithful commitment on the part of many, Holy Trinity has a solar array. To finance the $89,000 system, the church took advantage of funds from the Stepping Out in Faith Our Shared Home Fund, a “Green Streets” grant we received from the City of Minneapolis (equal to $21,964), and incentive payments we will receive from Xcel over the life of the system. Our solar team devoted hundreds of hours contacting and comparing eight solar installers. Ultimately, we selected an African-American owned firm, Renewable Energy Partners, who included 80 hours of training for installers-in-training into the bid.
Read the rest on p. 10-11 in their newsletter here.
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We want to hear from you! Share your story with ecofaith@nemnsynod.org |
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Your contribution will help our network grow!
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This Month's Green Tips
Use these in your congregation's bulletins, Facebook pages, websites, or newsletters!
Here are Laura Raedeke's Green Tips from Lutheran Church of the Cross on plastics reduction and waste.
Here are Steve Spigarelli's
Green Tips
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Use these in your congregation's bulletins, Facebook pages, websites, or newsletters! |
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Creation Advocacy
How You Can Stand with Creation
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Hear ELCA participants share their experiences at COP26!
The International UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) occurred in Glasgow, Scotland from Oct. 21-Nov. 12. Both the Lutheran World Federation and the ELCA had delegations at the meetings.
We invite you to join us for a webinar hosted by ELCA Advocacy on Tuesday, December 7th from 11am-12:15pm CST to hear our ELCA participants in COP26 share their experiences and hopes. The webinar is titled “Now Not Later: Lutheran Young Adults Look at COP26,” and will emphasize young adult and Indigenous voices. It will consist of a 45 minute presentation of experience followed by 30 minutes for Q&A. We encourage you to join us in hearing these experiences and thinking about how the ELCA can respond to the climate crisis and care for creation. You can register for the event here.
Read the full update from
Lutheran Advocacy Minnesota here.
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Middle of the Night Meanderings
I suspect everyone has had the middle of the night meanderings that come into one's mind, in that state between REM sleep and wakefulness. This was my experience last night, which I wish to share with you.
Some 40 years ago, I read an article in Sojourners magazine that profoundly affected me and my spiritual path. It was written by a scholar of the ancient, metaphorical Hebrew language, where a word paints a picture, in which Genesis was written. I paraphrase it here while also drawing from the writings of Franciscan Father Richard Rohr in his book, The Universal Christ: In the beginning, after having created the Universe and populated it with the many features and inhabitants we oft refer to as Creation, the Great 'I Am' (God/Christ/Spirit) created humankind (Adamah), in God's image, and set it in companionship (Ezar) with each other and all of Creation.
Read the whole reflection here.
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Worship with the Whole Creation
Tools for Preaching and Worship
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Green Blades Rising Preaching Roundtable
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December 5, 2021 - Second Sunday Advent
Luke 3:1-6
Sue Lyback, Layleader, Holden Lutheran
I wonder how often we put huge amounts of time and energy into the forms and actions of our ministry, but do not sense God’s presence in our midst. We are in the Advent season now, preparing for the time of Christmas. Even in the church, we are not immune to the hustle and bustle of preparations and programs. Even with COVID, there seems to be plenty to be busied with. Christmas programs, special worship services and pageants, even if they’re online, dominate our to do lists, along with our own personal family gatherings and the like. And I wonder, where is there any room left for the baby?
What would happen, I wonder, if we focused less on preparing for the season and more on preparing the Way of the Lord? Making the pathways straight and less cluttered with other obstacles.
What would happen if we gave ourselves permission to slip into the wilderness for a while, into a place of stillness and natural beauty, into a place where we do not run the show but find ourselves breathing in the chilly, fresh air of Minnesota winter, filling our bodies with peace and quiet, a place where we must trust in the Spirit to keep us warm? What would happen if we allowed the wilderness to wrap us up in blankets made of natural materials?
Read the whole reflection here.
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December 19th, Fourth Sunday in Advent
Rev. Joy McDonald Coltvet, Christ on Capitol Hill Lutheran Church, St. Paul
Micah 5:2-5a
As I consider the words of Micah about Bethlehem, one of the “little” tribes of Judah, I think about how many things in the natural world humans give little notice to yet they are important and foundational to life. We may value seeds but seldom value insects, and insects are vital to so many aspects of life together—pollinating fruits and grains, feeding numerous small animals, breaking down all that is dying.
I also think of the ways that even a little group of predators are vital to keeping natural relationships in balance. For example, we were overrun with rabbits and squirrels in our yard until the owl(s) showed up. Now that we’ve seen the owl, the rabbits and squirrels are less numerous and invasive. Another example is how the controversial introduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park created a series of events that no one could have predicted. You can hear the story in a very short way in this video: How Wolves Change Rivers
Read the whole reflection here.
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Christmas Eve
Melissa Foster, Chair of St. Paul Lutheran Church Green Team, Evanston, IL
Heaven and Nature Sing
One of the things I love most about the Christmas story is the setting – it’s all outdoors! The shepherds are patiently standing watch in the hills above Bethlehem. They have found a nook out of the wind for their sheep, one soft with grass and boulders to protect them. In their bones, they know the feeling of earth beneath their feet and the breath of sheep, and in the marrow of their souls, they know the transcendence of night skies. They have spent an entire life in God’s outdoors, but on this night, the night that God the Creator’s Son is born, the night sky rips open with a borealis of angels streaming across the vaulting night dome and singing Good News in an ear-splitting forte!
For weeks, possibly months before this night, the Three Kings have been traversing rivers, mountains and plains, trusting in a steadfast star to guide them. At night, they feel firm ground beneath their backs and watch the night sky through an open tent flap.
Read the whole reflection here
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Christmas Eve/Day
Rev. John Hanson
Job 12:7-10 John 1:1-5
So which incarnation are we to consider? What? Do I dare say there is an incarnation of the living God other than Jesus of Nazareth, whose coming into our world we are about to celebrate on Christmas. Well, sort of. As Fr. Richard Rohr states in his book, The Universal Christ, “God loves things by becoming them.” Jesus was the human incarnation of God, but there was an original incarnation of God’s presence, his love, and his intention in creating all he created. We could go back 13.7 billion years to the big bang, or just 4 billion years to the emergence of our planet, earth, to understand that God created, remains involved with, and will ultimately redeem and restore all of God’s creation has created as the Book of Revelation states, the new heaven and the new earth.
Now the Gospel writer, John, indicates that the word, the same word that brought all things into being in Genesis, became flesh, the Greek word, sarx, in order to dwell among us. “In the flesh” ties the incarnate word of God in Christ to all living things, with the promise of life in God’s presence and redemption of all things, all things, as declared in Ephesians 1 and Romans 8. If you don’t believe it, then just ask the animals as God stated in Job and is proclaimed in our Green Blade hymn verse. I have felt and experienced God’s revelation in nature.
Read the whole reflection here
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First Sunday After Christmas
December 26, Rev. Dianne Loufman,
First Lutheran, Duluth
I Samuel 2:18-20, 26
A few years ago, my colleague preached about creation on Christmas Day. Even though I appreciated the content of the sermon, I thought, “Well, that’s probably not what people came to church on Christmas to hear.” Now I’m thinking he was more astute than I – whether it’s what we wanted to hear or not, it was perhaps, what we needed to hear.
I find when I put on the lens of hearing the good news for all of creation, I see with different eyes and hear with different ears. For instance, there is not much in this text that speaks to creation but with this lens on, I do notice different things. For instance, I notice the detail that the ephod Samuel was given by his mom was made of natural fabric – it was linen, a fabric from flax which would have been grown locally.
Read the whole reflection here.
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We want to hear from you!
If you are interested in providing a preaching roundtable reflection, email revkristinfoster@gmail.com
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Connections with Creation
December 2021
© 2020-21 Sundays & Seasons, reprinted with permission
December 5 – Advent 2
John the Baptist calls us to prepare the way of the Lord. He is on fire with hope for God’s coming, confident that the Savior of the world will come at last with power. John refuses to settle for apathy, despair, phony optimism, or living grimly in an unjust status quo. He faces the evils of the world: he grieves, protests, and does everything in his power to bear witness to God’s call for repentance, conversion, and transformation. In the end he’s willing to endure imprisonment and even death for the sake of the light that is coming into the world. Today’s prophets push leaders to make a swift transition to renewable sources of energy such as sun and wind, and to build a more just and regenerative society. As prophets who stand up for the long-term future of this planet, what policies or legislation can we support?
Read all the connections with creation here.
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Rooted and Rising: Voices of Courage in a Time of Climate Crisis
by Leah D. Schade, Margaret Bullit-Jonas, editors. 2019.
Two questions from the Foreword of the book set the theme. Is climate change not a moral challenge? If it is, where are the widespread responses from religious communities to speak for the earth? Most of the essay writers are of some religious background or other. It is not a book dominated by scientists or politicians.
The book is divided into seven sections: 1) Rooting in interfaith friendship; 2) Rising in local activism; 3) Rooting science and policy in faith and spirituality; 4) Rising from the margins; 5) Rooting in liturgy, moral vision, and vocation; 6) Uprooted, planted, and rising; 7) Grief, love and trees
Read the whole 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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Book Groups Bulletin Board
Here are two book groups, both sponsored by the Interreligious Forum of the College of Saint Scholastica, and facilitated by EcoFaith Network co-chairperson, Pastor David Carlson. Earth Harmony is usually the 2nd Thursday, and Religion and Science in Dialogue is usually the 3rd Wednesday of each month. Zoom is certainly a good platform for including folks beyond Duluth through the Green Blades Rising readership who would like to participate.
EARTH HARMONY, Dec 9 - The Oreck-Alpern Interreligious Forum of the College of St. Scholastica offers a study group on environmental stewardship, facilitated by Pastor Carlson. These sessions explore a variety of spiritual perspectives that recognize our deep creaturely interrelatedness, lament our negative impact on the earth’s well-being, and highlight our vocation as stewards. This month, we are reading chapters of Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World by Katharine Hayhoe (2021). A Zoom meeting is planned from 8:00-9:00 a.m. (contact Pastor Carlson for the link) with an in-person option at Gloria Dei, Duluth, in the Lakeside Room.
RELIGION & SCIENCE IN DIALOGUE, Dec 15 - Through the College of St. Scholastica, Pastor Carlson facilitates a monthly discussion group in the community on the topic of Religion and Science. The group is lively and engaging and connects our readings with current events and daily life. Newcomers are welcome! This month, we’re reading chapters in Facing Apocalypse: Climate, Democracy, and Other Last Chances by process theologian Catherine Keller (2021). A Zoom meeting is planned from 8:00-9:00 a.m.— If interested, please contact Pastor Carlson. 722-3381 Ext 201 or pastor@gloriadeiduluth.org.
Let us know if you’re starting a book group, so that we can share your invitation!
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Read. Watch. Listen. Share!
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We want to hear from you!
If you are interested in sharing anything with the network in the newsletter, email ecofaith@nemnsynod.org
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Watch Incarnation from the Moments of Arising Video Series
Incarnation is part of the Moments of Arising Video series completed last year. With Claire Rephsholdt as litanist, the Rev. John Hanson as speaker, Else Madsen as scripture reader, and the Rev. David Carlson as host, we look to Christ’s incarnation in Bethlehem as a doorway into Incarnation in the whole of creation. In the stanza’s musical arrangement by Paul Jacobson, Christmas (Bring a Torch, Jeanette, Isabella) dances with Easter (Now the Green Blade Rises). Along with the photographic imagery created by filmmaker Linda Kalweit, we are drawn into God’s saving love for the whole creation.
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In Case You Missed These EcoFaith Events...
EcoFaith Summit
Here is the link for the full video recording of the EcoFaith Summit:
Here is a link to the playlist for all the pieces from the Summit:
Here is a description of the speakers.
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Click here to see previous
Green Blades Rising newsletters
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The EcoFaith Network NEMN Synod
Living out God's call to be stewards of the earth for the sake of the whole creation.
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