EcoFaith Events Coming Up |
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As we prepare to gather together, let us consider the questions raised by our twin themes of Holy Ground and Holy Table. Read the summit theme statement here.
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Thank you to our generous congregational contributors to the EcoFaith Network!
The EcoFaith Network is a grassroots movement of people and congregations living out God’s call to be stewards of the earth for the sake of the whole creation. The generosity from these congregations is what keeps the work we do alive and growing this grassroots movement in our congregations and communities!
Below are the congregations that have supported EcoFaith Ministry:
Calvary Lutheran Church, Mora
Holden Lutheran Church, Isle
Trinity Lutheran Church, Cass Lake
Below: Left, Holden Lutheran Right, Trinity Lutheran
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Creation Advocacy
How You Can Stand with Creation
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Lutheran Advocacy-Minnesota February 2022
Submitted by Rachel Wyffels, Hunger Advocacy Fellow
The 2022 Legislative Session Has Begun!
2022 Minnesota Legislative Session Begins
The 2022 Minnesota Legislative session began on January 31st. 2022 is a bonding year. Bonding is a process in which the state invests in infrastructure through bonds. Your voice is crucial in determining what those funding priorities are!
2022 Environmental Priorities for Lutheran Advocacy-Minnesota
Lutheran Advocacy-Minnesota is a part of Minnesota Environmental Partners (MEP), a coalition focused on clean energy and environmental stewardship. The policy council of LA-MN reviewed MEP’s policy recommendations and decided on full engagement in relation to the following issues:
● Bonding for Climate
● Update the 2007 Climate Act
● Increase the percentage of electricity from clean sources, namely wind and solar.
● Increase energy efficiency.
Read the full update from
Lutheran Advocacy Minnesota here.
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Worship with the Whole Creation
Tools for Preaching and Worship
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Preaching for Creation Roundtable |
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Rev. Mark Ditmanson
Bethlehem Lutheran, Grand Marais, MN
5th-7th Sundays After Epiphany
Feb 6, 13, and 20
Isaiah 6 is a visual delight. In the vision Isaiah received, the glory of God is portrayed as so overwhelming that just the hem of God’s robed filled the temple. That gets my imagination working. The picture in my heart of what the rest of the robe looked like stretches way beyond physical sight, covering all of creation and beyond. I believe that is the intent of this poetic picture, and in fact we read the corroborating testimony of the seraphs who call to one another reminding us that “the whole earth is full of his glory.” Indeed, God’s glory is overwhelming.
Read the 5th Sunday after Epiphany reflection here.
Read the 6th Sunday after Epiphany reflection here.
Read the 7th Sunday after Epiphany reflection here.
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February 27th, 2022 - Transfiguration Sunday
Pr. Krehl Strenger
Exodus 34:29-35; Psalm 99; 2Cor. 3:12-4:2; and Luke 9:28-36 [37-43a][43b-45].
The Transfiguration of Our Lord is one of a select number of high festival days of the church year (along with Christmas, Epiphany, Easter, Holy Trinity, and World Communion) that is prominently mystery-laden and, therefore, presents yet another opportunity for Christians to expand the purview of their faith. The Transfiguration can be thought of as a bridge that spans two realms of religious experience, so to speak (on the heavenly side, the culmination of the season of Epiphany with its traditional themes of light scattering darkness, wisdom revealed to the nations, and other manifestations of God’s glory; and on the earthly side, preparation for the season of Lent with its traditional emphases on confession and forgiveness of sins, repentance, and cultivation of spiritual disciplines that feed the soul and give succor to the indigent). Yet, in the interest of weaning ourselves off of industrialist/structuralist metaphors, we might adopt more ecologically and indigenously inspired metaphors (e.g., traversing biomes, descending a mountain into a valley, engaging a vision quest) that can still convey the dramatic “shift of religious experience” that this transition between liturgical seasons represents.
Read the whole reflection here.
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Liturgy of Lands and Seasons
Winter Liturgy
As celebrated January 2022 at First Lutheran Church, Duluth, Pastor Dianne Loufman
This year we decided at First Lutheran in Duluth to use Of the Land and Seasons (revised version) as a way of having an ongoing emphasis on creation and as a way to mark the seasons of the earth even as we mark the liturgical seasons. We also newly have a beautiful metal tree that holds in its 81 leaves candles to light and branches we have been adorning as we mark the seasons and festivals of the year.
For winter, we will hang paper snowflakes that name the winter blessings people are grateful for and we will gather around the font to bless skis and snowshoes. I might invite people who have a hard time with winter to write what is hard about winter on one side of the snowflake and what good might come from
that on the other. Or not.
Read the whole liturgy here.
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Connections with Creation
February 13 – Sixth Sunday after Epiphany / Lectionary 6
We are in the midst of the world’s sixth extinction event, and because of the relentless burning of fossil fuels, our planet keeps breaking records for heat. In these precarious times, many of us feel stressed out, numb, or scared. Today’s readings provide a beautiful image for spiritual resilience: trees. Books like The Hidden Life of Trees tell us that trees’ root systems communicate with each other, sharing resources and information. That’s true for us too. Sinking roots deep into the love of God, we discover that everything is connected. Tapping into our God-given belovedness, we receive fresh energy for life. Up we rise like trees, offering our gifts to each other and the world: a kind word or action, our resolve to take part in the healing of creation.
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Reflections from a Pastor's Farm Childhood
by Pastor Bob Lehner, Retired St Paul Synod Care of Creation Work Group
At my age, it seems that my mind wanders back to my childhood more than it used to.
Those were simpler times. There were no computers, smart phones, or cars those can almost drive themselves. The farms were maybe a quarter mile apart, and where I grew up, usually had both crops and livestock. I remember the cows running freely in fenced pasture land and I remember crops being rotated from one year to the next. I remember the sweet smell of manure used as fertilizer for the fields. And I remember cover crops like alfalfa.
So what has happened between that time and the present. What is the future of agriculture?
Read the full reflection here.
Come to the Summit on March 26th!
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In My View
by Sue Lyback, Holden Lutheran, Isle
Into my view, just outside my window, walked a solitary deer
Stepping precariously for the snow was deep, weaving carefully among the barren shrubs
Searching for a tiny nibble here and there.
Cold, cold day.
And I wondered how the deer survive such a life?
While I, inside my walls, find comfort in the heat of the woodburning stove.
I am grateful, but still, I wonder…
I watched the deer reach up towards the tiny branches
I could see the snow dusted on her fully furred face.
I could almost hear the snap of the brittle twigs.
As the words came to me, “This is my body, broken for you.”
Read the full reflection here.
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This Month's Green Tips
Use these in your congregation's bulletins, Facebook pages, websites, or newsletters!
Here are Steve Spigarelli's
Green Tips from First Lutheran, Aitkin
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Use these in your congregation's bulletins, Facebook pages, websites, or newsletters! |
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EcoFaith Book of the Month
Voices in the Stones: Life Lessons from the Native Way
Kent Nerburn
This book review is a slight departure from my review of books with themes directly relating to climate care and our relationship to the earth, physically and spiritually. I was intrigued by the interspersing of Native American beliefs on nature in Nerburns book on “Life lessons from the Native way.” My first reading of Nerburn was, Neither Wolf nor Dog, a reflection to Native American experiences. Nerburn spent 25 years as a white man living among and teaching at a Native American school in northern Minnesota. He has written 16 books on spirituality and Native themes.
Read the whole reflection 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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Read. Watch. Listen. Share!
Don't Look Up Movie on Netflix with some environmental-political themes
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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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We Are Earth
Thich Nhat Hanh 10/11/26-1/22/22
Excerpt from Love Letters to the Earth
At this very moment, the Earth is above you, below you, all around you, and even inside you. The Earth is everywhere. You may be used to thinking of the Earth as only the ground beneath your feet. But the water, the sea, the sky, and everything around us comes from the Earth. Everything outside us and everything inside us comes from the Earth. We often forget that the planet we are living on has given us all the elements that make up our bodies. The water in our flesh, our bones, and all the microscopic cells inside our bodies all come from the Earth and are part of the Earth. The Earth is not just the environment we live in. We are the Earth and we are always carrying her within us.
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In Case You Missed These EcoFaith Events...
EcoFaith Summit 2021
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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Your contribution will help our network grow!
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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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