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EcoFaith Events Coming Up
EcoFaith Summit 2022 Save the Date
Holy Ground, Holy Table: Regenerative Agriculture
for the Wholeness of Creation
Saturday, March 26, 2022
9:00a.m. - 12:30p.m.
Via Zoom with watch party options
Presented by the EcoFaith Network NE MN Synod and the St. Paul Area Synod Care of Creation Work Group
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Creation Care Training via Zoom starting February 17th |
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Learn from presenters from active creation care ministries. Connect with people
who can provide a little coaching, cheerlead, hold your hand, share in your
struggles, and celebrate growth!
Attend this vital training. Invite others to join in. Let’s walk hand in hand as we sow seeds that demonstrate our love for God’s creation!
If you have questions or want to register,
please feel free to email John Sippola at johnsippola2@gmail.com.
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Your contribution will help our network grow!
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Creation Advocacy
How You Can Stand with Creation
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Creation Advocacy Lutheran Advocacy-Minnesota January 2022
Submitted by Rachel Wyffels, Hunger Advocacy Fellow
The 2022 Legislative Session begins in January!
The 2022 Minnesota legislative session begins on January 31, 2022. The Minnesota Legislature operates on a biennium: odd-numbered years are budget years and even-numbered years are bonding years. Policy can be passed in any year. In bonding years like 2022, state funds are allocated to specific projects and other policy priorities.
Your voice is key in determining what those funding priorities are! Legislators are more likely to allocate bonding dollars to issues when their constituents have communicated that those issues are important to them.
Check back in the February issue to learn about specific policy priorities that Lutheran Advocacy-MN is working on this session and how you can help! The policy council of LA-MN is still finishing its discussion on policy priorities in the general areas of clean energy, soil health, and climate concerns.
Read the full update from
Lutheran Advocacy Minnesota here.
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Green Blades Rising in Congregations |
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This Month's Green Tips
Use these in your congregation's bulletins, Facebook pages, websites, or newsletters!
Here are John McDonald's Earth Stewardship Tips. Welcome to John McDonald from Gloria Dei-Duluth! The Rights of Nature: Does Equador set the model for us?
Here are Laura Raedeke's Green Tips from Lutheran Church of the Cross.
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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Creation and the Bible
Dr. Diane Jacobson
Written in Reflection of Christmas and Creation
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For more years than I can remember I have been leading Bible studies about the Christmas stories in Matthew and Luke. My traditional way to begin is by asking folks to tell me the story of the birth of Jesus, which I write down as folks recite the story. Then I ask them to look at the story as they have told it and tell me what is from Matthew, what from Luke, what is in both Gospels, and what is in neither. It is often an enlightening exercise which highlights the different messages and ways of telling -- Matthew emphasizing Jesus born in poverty, and Luke examining the unexpected sources of true power, true kingship, and the role of foreigners.
But one of the real shockers is the absence of any animals mentioned in either gospel, except the notice in Luke 2:8 that the shepherds were keeping watch over their flocks by night. Does this mean that all those animals pictured in our many creche scenes are unbiblical, unimportant, and just plain wrong? This biblical scholar wishes to say no! I want to say that the many animals thus pictured are implied by the text.
Read the whole reflection here.
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Worship with the Whole Creation
Tools for Preaching and Worship
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January 9, 2022
Lectionary 1, Year C
Isaiah 43:1-7; Psalm 29, Acts 8:14-17; Luke 3:15-17,21-22
Pastor Amanda Kossow
Whether it happens as an infant or an adult, baptism is central to our lives of faith. It is a wholehearted welcome into Jesus’ movement. It is a tangible means of God’s grace. It is the seal of the Spirit. And it is a covenant teeming with both promise and call.
I was in college in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan when I first observed a full immersion baptism. It took place in a small bay of what the Ojibwe people call Gichigami, or Lake Superior. That experience bubbles to the surface when I read any of the gospel baptismal narratives. I imagine people of all ages, of varying conditions and from divergent situations crowding around where water and land kiss one another. As my imagination sails through the tributaries of my mind, it flows past multiple banks. The shores of the story my mom told me about my own immersion into the Way. The coastline of the first baptism at which I presided. And a beach where I came to a new realization.
Read the whole reflection here.
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January 16, 2022 - 2 Epiphany-C, Pr. Krehl Strenger
Theme: The Wedding at Cana
RCL texts: Isaiah 62:1-5; Psalm 36:5-10; 1Corinthians 12:1-11; and John 2:1-11. The theme for the 2022 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity (January 18-25, 2022) is “We saw the star in the East, and we came to worship him.” It was discerned by the Middle East Council of Churches in Beirut, Lebanon, and finds its origins in the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 2:1-12). Also remember the national observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day on Monday, January 17 th , often commemorated as a day of service to the wider community. However, this could also be an opportunity to expand upon MLK’s concept of the Beloved Community--to include all of creation--and to celebrate diversity in all its earthly manifestations.
Read the whole reflection here.
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January 23, 2022 Rev. Mark Ditmanson, Pastor, Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Grand Marais
Nehemiah 8:1-3,5-6,8-10
Psalm 19
1 Corinthians 12: 12-31a
Luke 4:14-21
The readings for this Sunday provide a rich trove to explore a sermon sensitive to our relationship and responsibility to the creation as we picture the herculean task before us as Lutherans Restoring Creation, the exiles returning to rebuild Jerusalem is an easy reach. In both cases, returning from exile and restoring the earth, the people of God are seeking a good place, a good land, a home in which to thrive in for the present and to sustain for future generations. The task for the people in the days of Ezra must have been daunting. First of all, I imagine how hard it hit them to see the devastation wrought from the days of destruction wrought by the Babylonians.
Read the whole reflection here.
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January 30, 2022
Rev. Mark Ditmanson, Pastor,
Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Grand Marais
Jeremiah 71:4-10
Psalm 71:1-6
1 Corinthians 13: 1-13
Luke 4:21-30
At first glance I admit I did not see much direct connection between the appointed texts and a focus on Creation. Of course, one could always rely on the ground upon which we stand, the foundation of creation in which God placed us. From there I might seek a reference to the security of the presence of God in our lives when things go wrong, when life is tough, when we feel fragile. And honestly that is much of the time. From that vantage point I might look at the Psalm and resonate with the psalmist saying that God is like a strong rock. It makes me think of the many times a rock is mentioned in scripture. Psalm 61 comes to mind because of the many times in pastoral visits with members experiencing scary diagnoses that we “look to the rock that is higher than I.” And as I write this I am also brought to a favorite place in the forest between our cabin and a small lake to the south.
Read the whole reflection here.
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Connections with Creation
January-February 2022
© 2020-21 Sundays & Seasons, reprinted with permission
January 6 – Epiphany of Our Lord
What made the magi wise? Here’s a possibility: they were on a fearless search for truth, willing to follow the star wherever it led. That journey took them to the center of Jerusalem, into the presence of a tyrant. By lies, manipulation, and, later, outright brutality, King Herod tried to destroy the newborn Jesus. Yet the magi stayed true to their search. They followed the star, found the holy child, and, instead of betraying him, went home by a different road. Today’s wise people know that such commitment to the truth could bring them into conflict with corporate and political powers intent on maintaining an unjust status quo. They keep their eyes on the star: they join with Indigenous leaders to protect the water and land, with activists to stop new pipelines, with city-dwellers to renew crumbling communities beset by poverty and racism, and with young and old to plant new forests.
Read all the connections with creation here.
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A Pause from Book Reviews
Reflections on the seasons of Christmas and Epiphany
with Kristin Swenson’s God of Earth
and Ilia Delio’s The Hours of the Universe
This month I would like to reflect on the wondrous, grace-filled event Christians have just celebrated, Christmas, the birth of God incarnate to declare God’s endearing and ongoing love of all creation. I will reference Ilia Delio, in her book, “The Hours of the Universe,” and Kristin Swenson in her book, “God of Earth.” You may be reading this at the tale end of the season of Christmas, or the beginning of Epiphany. Swenson refers to Christmas as “the season of the birth of the God of earth.” And Epiphany is the season of revealing who that God of earth is, and why he came.
Swenson reflects on the Christmas season this way: “I’m not against the celebration of a Middle-Eastern boy born two thousand years ago; but if that’s a moment of God’s incarnation, as Christianity would have it-- divinity becoming of earth – then it is universal and ahistorical in its implications. In terms of this book, the attention, love, and care the baby Jesus draws forth from us by his very nature as a poor infant is the same as earth’s – to attend, care, to take delight and to worry over the earth is to worship the newborn God.”
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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Book Groups Bulletin Board
EARTH HARMONY, Jan 13 - The Oreck-Alpern Interreligious Forum of the College of St. Scholastica offers a study group on environmental stewardship, facilitated by Pastor David 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, pastor@gloriadeiduluth.org.
RELIGION & SCIENCE IN DIALOGUE, Jan 19 - Through the College of St. Scholastica, Pastor Carlson also 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. Contact Pastor Carlson for the link, 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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Thanking you for supporting the green blades of our 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.
Include EcoFaith ministry in your congregation’s 2022 ministry budget! Be among the first congregations in our synod to grow EcoFaith ministry with congregational support!
We thank all those who have already responded in advance, including
Rev. David/Stephanie Carlson, Duluth
Rev. Kristin Foster, Cook
Rev. Vicki Taylor, Deer River
Russel Schultz, Baxter
Terry Johnson, Mora
Paul and Karen Larsen, Princeton
Rev. Nathan Lundgren, Brainerd
Terry Nord, Bemidji
Rev. Steve Wlosinski, Duluth
More great news!
EcoFaith ministry is also recently received a gift of $10,392.12 from the sale of appreciated stock by an anonymous individual through the ELCA Foundation. The EcoFaith leadership team will use this gift to supplement financial support from congregations and individuals as we strengthen our grassroots network of care for the earth and one another.
To learn more about how to give a gift of appreciated stock through the ELCA Foundation, contact Pastor Rollie Bockbrader at Rollie.Bockbrader@nemnsynod.org
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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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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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