We transition this week from our worship series called On Ramp to a four-week worship series called Earth-Honoring Faith. The outline for this worship series began to develop earlier this summer when Matt and I attended a conference called Seizing An Alternative. We hope this worship series will encourage us to consider how our faith tradition calls us to honor the earth. The earth is in a time of peril and we believe our Christian tradition can both teach and encourage us to respond more faithfully in our daily lives.
Outline for Earth-Honoring Faith
▪August 16: Caring (Psalm 139)
▪August 23: Communion (John 6.56-69)
▪August 30: Consumption (James 1.17-27)
▪September 6: Climate (Romans 8:19-23)
Steven Bouma-Prediger writes, “We care for only what we love. We love only what we know. We truly know only what we experience. If we do not know our place-know it in more than a passing, cursory way, know it intimately and personally-then we are destined to use and abuse it. For we will care for our home place only if we love it, and we will love it only if we know it, and we will know it only if we experience it firsthand-only if we see the great blue heron arch its prehistoric wings in flight, only if we hear the song sparrows and the chickadees, only if we smell the scent of skunk or wild onion, only if we feel the warm sun of spring or the brisk breeze of autumn, only, in short, if we have and take the opportunity to know our place” (For the Beauty of the Earth: A Christian Vision for Creation Care, Kindle Locations 447-451).
Writing and sharing our own ecological autobiographies is one way to learn to know the places we are from more intimately and personally. Consider making time this week to write your ecological autobiography. An ecological autobiography tells our stories by focusing on the land and the ecology around us. Consider the place you were born. What was that place like in terms of the land, animals, weather? Reflect on the various moves you have made over your lifetime. What have each of these places been like? How connected have you been to the land? You may want to write a narrative or you may want to draw your autobiography. Do what works for you! Take time for prayer after this exercise by reading Psalm 139 aloud.