Earth Day in Faith Communities
Perspective From the Olympian April 18, 2009
Leslie Romer
A recent visitor to a meeting of the Interfaith Works Earth Stewardship Committee was pleased with our interest in her topic, global warming, but was surprised that our religious tenets include caring for the physical world. Over the last decade many faith communities have recognized that Earth Care is part of their ministry. The reasons for this range from seeing care for God’s creation as a moral imperative, to identifying earth stewardship as carrying out a relationship of reverence for the interdependent web of life, of which humans are a part. Many faith communities’ beliefs lead them to care for human welfare. How can we not then, be concerned for the natural world, which provides the resources that human life depends on?
As part of their Earth Care ministry, many faith communities in Olympia recognize Earth Day in their weekly services this month. The United Churches of Olympia will be celebrating Earth Sunday on April 19, with two services and an Adult Education Class all with that focus. The Olympia Unitarian Universalist Congregation had a visiting minister speak on the spiritual dimensions of ecology earlier this month and will also observe Earth Day tomorrow, April 19. OUUC will have an intergenerational service including stories and music honoring the earth that will be presented by, and appeal to, all ages.
The Olympia Unitarian Universalist Congregation (2200 East End Street NW, Olympia) is hosting a Global Warming Café on Monday, April 20, 6:30 – 9:00 p.m. The event is part of the Cool Thurston Campaign, a local program to help us learn how to shrink our global warming impacts. Speakers will include County Commissioner Sandra Romero, congregational leaders Curtis Tanner and Leslie Romer, and Campaign co-chair Barb Scavesse. Reducing our carbon emissions will have widespread benefits. Not only will we help lessen the likelihood of coastal flooding, erratic weather patterns and general warming globally, but we will benefit our household budgets, our health and strengthen our communities.
Some congregations will also be represented in the Procession of the Species, Olympia’s special celebration of Earth Day. Participants in both fanciful and representative costumes will parade or dance through Olympia’s downtown streets in celebration of the diverse creatures and natural features of our home planet. This event will be early evening, Saturday, April 28, in downtown Olympia.
On Wednesday May 6, Earth Care Catholics and the Interfaith Works Earth Stewardship Committee offer a film and discussion on the work of Thomas Berry, a pioneer in the field of spirituality and ecology. This event will be held at Traditions Café, 300 - 5th Ave., Olympia, 7:00 – 8:30 p.m.
We hope that you will join us in one or more of the gatherings in which we recognize care for the Earth as an essential part of our spiritual and/ or ethical ministry.
Ms. Leslie Romer is a member of
the Olympia Unitarian Universalist Congregation and convener of the
Interfaith Works Earth Stewardship Committee.
©2009 The Olympian