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Your Congregation | Colleagues | Colleague Sharing 1999
Colleague
Sharing 1999:
"What's Happening in Congregations"
Notes from 1999 Earth Ministry Colleague Consultations
University
Friends Meeting, Seattle
The University Friends
Meeting hosted the 10/16/99 consultation.
Jonathan has worked with the Peace and Social Concerns Committee for
several years. He shared his
experience of working with the Eco-Theology Task Force of the Church Council
of Greater Seattle (no longer in existence) to bring about the completion of
the criteria to be recognized as a Green Sanctuary.
These criteria included worship and education components, recycling,
a restoration project, energy conservation, and others.
They have a beautiful banner hanging in the entrance hall in
recognition of their achievement. Most
recently the local Meeting is working to adopt a "minute" (like a
position statement) concerning the World Trade Organization's (WT0) upcoming
meeting in Seattle, to the effect that they support the lowering of trade
barriers unless it compromises other values that are essential to the
well-being of humans and the environment.
St.
Therese Roman Catholic, Seattle
Joel reported that St.
Therese offered a four-class series on Catholic social teaching.
The final class dealt with how Catholic social teaching addresses how
we should react to the WTO, taught by Gary Chamberlain, a professor at
Seattle University. St. Therese
recently formed a Social Justice Committee of which Joel is a member.
St. Therese has a strong history of being active in poverty,
homelessness, and race. Joel is
trying to instill a wider definition of justice to include creation justice.
Fairwood
United Methodist, Renton
Sharon is a member of the
Social Concerns Committee. She
reported that fifteen youth and adults participated in the tree planting at
a Duwamish River restoration site, sponsored by Earth Ministry.
She brought a very colorful poster full of photographs of the site
and their folks hard at work. It
was especially fortunate that the kids were able to get in their four hours
of work required by their ecology class at school.
Sharon had learned about salmon habitat on the Lighthawk plane tour
of the Duwamish and Cedar River watersheds and was able to provide the kids
with handouts to include in their class reports.
Other activities included cutting ivy off trees in a nearby park, six
hikes by the hiking group and several bike trips by the bike group.
The confirmation class is held at a camp in the mountains every year.
Also: participation in
Crop Walk for the hungry (ecologically oriented); hundreds of pounds of
produce from garden for the hungry delivered to foodbank; new church
landscaping with native plants; information on salmon habitat in church
bulletins; encouraged signing of Jubilee 2000 petitions (debt relief for
poor countries); apple gleaning provided several thousand apples to food
banks; an outdoor sanctuary with summer services held outdoors; a sermon on
"To be in awe of beauty around us and taking time to praise God";
selling shade grown organic coffee at Sunday coffee hour.
They plan an educational tour of the Cedar River watershed sponsored
by King County, and Tanya Becker (Earth Ministry) will be speaking at the
next meeting of United Methodist Women. (Whew!
and I think I missed a few things!)
(For those interested in joining a local Gleaning project, you may contact Zena, at Tahoma Food system, at 253-473-0936. Gleaners are needed throughout November – a great Thanksgiving opportunity. You can donate the apples to a food bank of your choice.)
Emmanuel
Lutheran, Seattle
Teresa is a "brand
new" Colleague. She
attended the conference on the global economy (at St. Mark’s cathedral in
Sept.) where she learned about Earth Ministry.
She plans to write up her experience to share during announcement
time at church. She plans to be
available at the coffee hour for spontaneous conversation and to have Earth
Letter and reprints of John Cobb's article (on the World Trade
Organization) from the September Earth
Letter available.
St.
Madeleine Sophie, Roman Catholic, Bellevue
Donna says that although there is never any mention of care for creation
"from the altar,” they try to keep the idea in the forefront by
providing something every week from their EarthKeepers group, such as a
poem, ecotip, announcement, etc. Donna
is the EarthKeepers contact person. They
have been planting these "seeds" for three or four years and Donna
reports that people are beginning to call her.
They are planning a meeting next weekend.
Blessed
Sacrament Roman Catholic, Seattle
Perry has participated in a
discussion group for about a year dealing with the synthesis between the
sciences, especially biology, and spirituality.
Perry described an insight that "clicked" for him when he
realized that the very "biological" elements--bread and water--are
the center of the Eucharist. In
other words, the "pinnacle of the Catholic Church was a huge ecological
statement!" Perry
expressed enthusiasm to get people involved in a hands-on project.
Seattle
Mennonite, Seattle
Barb and Ken offered a Creation Awareness Day with the children of the
church. They invited the
children to their place on Vashon Island that provided lots of opportunity
for sensory experiences. Ken, a
collector of Native American creation stories, shared several with the
children. They found woodpecker
trees, and searched decaying wood to see what kinds of bugs woodpeckers
like, listened for birds, and gained a sense of how animals and plants seem
to fit together. (Call Ken if
you are interested in finding some Native American creation stories.)
Seattle Mennonite Church hosted the 2/20/99 Colleague Consultation. There, Barb and Ken spoke of a “Francis Feast” held at the church. This was a simple meal where people watched Brother Sun, Sister Moon (a version of St. Francis’ biography, on video) and had conversation about St. Francis and sharing with each other. Last year, Barb led two women’s retreats: a canoe trip centering around the gift of water in worship and song; and a backpack trip into the Quinault Rain Forest with a “wilderness” theme with an emphasis on reducing human/nature separations. Barb and Ken also spoke of a local “co-housing” community that is active in the church and the church’s support of local social/eco-justice efforts through Mennonite volunteers. On May 1, Barb and Ken will host a “Creation Awareness Day” for children at their home on Vashon. This day will begin with a time of quiet listening and will include many hands-on activities.
Church of the Holy Spirit, Episcopal, Vashon Island
Julia has been asked to serve on her stewardship committee to help
guide the committee in earth stewardship matters.
The congregation put an insert in their bulletin asking “what are
people grateful for in Creation?” All
of these responses were then displayed on a bulletin board – Julia said
that this was a good “starting point” for being more creation-centered
in that everyone felt “included.” She
has helped to connect her congregation with local environmental projects
such as a land-trust project on Vashon.
She would like to use the Simpler
Living, Compassionate Life curriculum with an adult education group;
form an ecumenical, creation-focused group on Vashon; and have a
creation-focused sermon and time of worship in her church.
She also brought up the idea of having local vigils (concurrent with
Earth Ministry vigils) for those who live at a distance from Seattle and the
idea of compiling creation-focused hymns.
Grace Lutheran, Longview
The Colleagues helped to begin the use of ceramic cups and soup bowls
(rather than disposable ones) by simply bringing their own to church
functions. Others followed
their lead and now the church has its own set of these items.
(From their survey:) This past year, the church had a
care-for-creation-focused sermon; an adult education “guest appearance”
on this subject; and a “lower energy lighting refit.”
Ron expressed the need to address transportation issues, and their
related environmental impacts. Ron
also expressed an interest in having a gathering that centered around food
and land concerns (like the “Place at the Table” conference in
Portland). Patricia expressed a
desire to bring the concept of “wholeness of selves” (e.g., other health
issues) into creation-focused efforts.
Woodland Park, United Methodist, Seattle
Mary Ann spoke of the following activities: children in the church
distributing seeds and plants to homes in the church’s neighborhood; the
church has a produce table in the summer – produce from individuals’
gardens; (from conversations and survey:) a tree planting project at Green
Lake; and she gave a “devotion” on St. Francis for the United Methodist
Women’s group. Nancy (in her
survey) also reported the following church activities: highway clean-up;
recycling efforts; banned styrofoam; gardened around the church; posted
Earth Ministry notices; refitted church with energy-efficient light bulbs;
used creation-focused music for Earth Day and Stewardship Sunday; and other
activities. Mary Ann is hoping
to co-teach a course on simple living and Nancy would like to have a
“video program” with the United Methodist Women’s group.
St. Paul’s Episcopal, Mount Vernon
Stonye is a new Colleague in a congregation that is “hungering” for
care-for-creation activities. He
made a church announcement for forming a group which focuses on such
activities, and six people now meet regularly.
This group will host a guest preacher (Nancy Wright) in the near
future and seeks to be in good communication with others in the church and
with the larger church and secular community.
University Congregational, United Church of Christ,
Seattle
In 1998, University Congregational had an Earth Day service in which
members decorated the sanctuary with “natural things.”
Before the service, all worshippers gave an offering of flowers by
actively bringing the flowers to the front of the sanctuary.
After church services in the spring and summer, members of the
congregation with gardens bring produce to be sold after services.
The money raised from selling the produce goes to emergency food
banks and shelters. The church
is possibly starting an adult education class that focuses on
care-for-creation in response to a blurb that their minister put in the
bulletin regarding ecological/theological interests.
Rolling Bay, Presbyterian, Bainbridge Island
Lyman said that there has been a lull in creation-focused activities
with local churches (on Bainbridge) that had been very active with
creation-care issues in the past. Lyman
is starting to envision further activities with this church community.
Lyman also shared with the group his experience of the efficacy of
forming an ecumenical, local group (with one or two members from each
church) and gaining the support of an inter-parish council when first
beginning efforts. Their group
gained such support by making a presentation to their council.
First United Methodist Church, Olympia
This past year, the church had a “health ministries” fair.
At this fair, R. Peggy helped to have an “eating low on the food
chain” potluck. R. Peggy had
a good response from the potluck and would like to do it again next year.
(From survey:) The church also used an Earth Day litany this past
year.
St. Andrews Episcopal, Seattle
St. Andrews had a capital campaign this past year to remodel the
sanctuary. Sharon and Van are
working with this campaign to make the sanctuary more “green” and energy
efficient. Sharon also worked
diligently (with two others) to create and bring two creation-care-related
resolutions to the Diocesan convention.
The first resolution, a general statement on care for the earth, was
passed by the Diocese of Olympia. The
second, a resolution calling for the bishop and specific dioceses members to
support the Kyoto Protocol (which would take measures to reduce the
acceleration of global warming), did not pass.
The latter did not pass because it didn’t make it to the floor
until the end of the convention and participants did not have the energy to
fully consider the resolution. Sharon
also went to Iona (an island off of Scotland known for its Celtic heritage
and theology/praxis) and brought back an Iona prayer book for their rector.
The rector uses these creation-focused prayers in worship
services/materials. Sharon and
Van felt this gift to be a “non-threatening” way of introducing such
materials into worship.
St. Margaret’s Episcopal, Bellevue
In the summer of 1998, St. Margaret’s had a series entitled, “Eight
Weeks to Optimum Health” and viewed Tony Campolo’s Affluenza
(video series) during this time. They
also took hikes in the local area during this time.
The church’s stewardship committee uses bulletin inserts taken from
materials in Earth Ministry’s resource library.
A Lenten group is using Simplicity
As Compassion and the church regularly uses creation-focused hymns from
the Gather hymnal.
St. Clement’s Episcopal, Seattle
With a wide diversity of races and socioeconomic backgrounds, St.
Clement’s is finding an eco-justice approach to caring for creation to be
appropriate. Along these lines,
Francie and her husband Fred personally chose to subscribe to a local CSA
(Community Supported Agriculture) garden this past year – one that was
located in a Seattle Housing Authority community and supported by Earth
Ministry.
Holy Family, Roman Catholic, Kirkland
Holy Family supported a Laotian family who raised produce on the church
grounds. The family sold the
produce after church services throughout the growing/harvest season.
Christ Church Parish, Episcopal
Roxy is very interested in planting native plants on church grounds.
She specifically works with children in local schools to teach the
value of native plants for the bioregion and its animal inhabitants.
Calvary Presbyterian, Enumclaw
(Calvary has been very active in conducting adult education classes,
retreats, hikes, and activities related to simple living.)
Gloria mentioned the book Speaking
the Truth in Love: Becoming an Assertive Christian as a tool for
enhanced group communication and participation.
(FYI – some Colleagues were curious about the “mayor’s [Seattle] tree planting project for 2000.” Information about this project may be obtained by calling Duane Penttila, the Woods Legacy Project Coordinator for the Seattle Millennium Project, at 206-684-4108.)