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Your Congregation | Colleagues | Colleague Sharing 2002
Colleague
Sharing 2002:
"What's Happening in Congregations"
Notes from 2002 Earth Ministry Colleague Consultations
Trinity
United Methodist, Seattle (Ballard)
The congregation is studying
Jim Wallace’s Faith Works, which focuses on the congregation’s
gifts in working toward a vision of justice.
They are just beginning to bring ecological concerns into the
congregation’s mission, which however is already inspired by economic and
social justice issues.
Broadview
United Church of Christ, Seattle
The Colleague’s congregation has recycles and also promotes
environmentally friendly coffee. The
youth work on restoration projects at Carceek Park on a quarterly basis.
Although the Colleague feels stretched thin, she hopes to “plant
seeds,” which someone would pick up.
They are trying to get an energy audit going and would appreciate
anyone’s assistance or thoughts about how to go forward.
The congregation also has a worm bin and the Colleague is currently
looking for someone to “steward” it.
Holy
Family Roman Catholic Church, Bellevue
They had a great Earth Day last summer – yet with the loss of some
dedicated members – things have faltered somewhat since then.
The Colleagues are working on using shade grown coffee and looking
for ideas for Earth Day this year.
Everett
First Congregational United Church of Christ, Everett
One Colleague from the church spoke
movingly about a dream the night before that provided a reminder to do this
work from a place of energy, happiness, and love (rather than guilt, fear,
etc.). During the last couple
of years she has done a congregational healing arts festival; this year
(April 27) will focus on “healing our bodies, and healing the earth.” It will feature trees (in different rooms of the church) to
represent the seasons, and each room will include possibilities for art,
meditation, and writing.
The
congregation is a Greening Congregation.
The earth committee (Creation Keepers) is associated with the church
outreach committee, and another Colleague would like to see the committee be
more holistic in its approach to outreach.
A fellow Colleague at the congregation may move on and another will
finish seminary within a year or so and go to another parish.
So he is currently wondering: how does the Creation Keepers group
develop sustainability without its original leaders?
The
Colleagues spoke about their efforts to have the congregation buy fair
trade/organic coffee. The main
difficulty they’ve experienced is that a group of older church women give
an “offering” of Folgers coffee, and the Colleagues do not want to
offend them. They are currently
learning on how best to honor such offerings while continuing to “green”
the congregation.
St.
Patrick’s Roman Catholic, Seattle
The Colleague’s interest is in spirituality, not activism, especially
evolution as a source of revelation. He
wonders: how can he such spirituality brought to a congregation?
The parish is recently undergoing a crisis of leadership, and the
Colleague is on the pastoral council. The
congregation now has a second Earth Ministry Colleague who is more of an
activist, so this Colleague expects there may be more activity with her
presence [while he helps to maintain the spiritual focus].
Dominican
Reflection Center, Edmonds
The Colleague believes “we are as green as we can be, in this Center
now.” The Center is teaching
the reasons behind making institutional changes – changes that include:
installing energy efficient light bulbs, buying recycled toilet paper,
discouraging the use of paper towels, using shade grown/organic/fair trade
coffee (which she is trying to spread to her whole Dominican community),
stewarding a very active worm “condo” (much more than just a worm bin)
for turning kitchen scraps and other organic items back into soil.
They also offer the worms to anyone who needs some.
She’s
interested in the spirituality of Earth, as is the Colleague above, so that
people are so connected that they become naturally ecological through the
development of their spirituality and come to love the Earth deeply.
She has just been asked to be on a committee of sisters in a
1,200-person community – the “Earth Celebrators.”
She hopes to deeply affect the spirituality of those 1,200 people so
that such a love for Earth might unfold.
She currently gives workshops on Earth spirituality within her own
congregation.
Immanuel
Lutheran, Seattle
The Colleague is from a small congregation, which does social ministry
(outreach for street folks, those who suffer from alcoholism, homeless
women) and has a food bank. So
there is not much energy for ecological direction since all this is going on
and the church needs some work. The
work is challenging because the majority of congregation has other
interests. Her husband is a
musician who just finished a liturgy containing an Earth-honoring dimension.
They will have a new pastor; she “planted” her husband on the
church council to hopefully get a pastor with a creation-honoring leaning.
She is interested in knowing what is out there for teenagers –
she’s very open to networking with others on this.
Bethesda
Lutheran, Mount Lake Terrace
For the last eight years, the Colleague’s
focus has been writing her column on creation stewardship, in a newsletter
sent to people all over the world. The
church has a multicultural program with Korean and Japanese congregations
that use their facilities. While there is no care-for-creation committee, if
“you drop a stone [i.e., the newsletter column] in a pond, it spreads.” The church does engage in recycling that benefits St.
Jude’s Ranch. People in her
church call her “the conscience of the congregation.”
St.
Luke’s Episcopal, Tacoma
The congregation is going through a change from an older congregation to
new demographics. Annually, the
church does an Earth Service with a care-for-creation litany and a St.
Francis service with pet blessing. The Colleague is looking for liturgies and/or situations in
which to bring the theme of co-creating with God, for example with the
gardeners around the church.
Recently,
she approached a group of women gardeners at the church and suggested that
they consider themselves “God’s Garden Tenders.”
The women liked this idea and it helps them to feel that they have
some “ownership” in the congregation’s creation-care vision.
The
congregation has not been terribly successful with recycling and replacing
incandescent light bulbs with energy efficient ones.
But, they did upgrade the coffee – higher quality, fair trade/shade
grown/organic – and now people stay for coffee fellowship because it’s
“good!” coffee. Gayle buys
the coffee from Poverty Bay Coffee (in Federal Way).
They have a special deal for congregations ($6.25/lb.).
[To learn more, go to www.povertybay.com.]
St.
Paul’s Episcopal, Seattle
The church has a beautiful memorial garden: a memorial space for animals and
people; more and more parishioners involved in the garden.
The gardeners try to inspire nature/spirit connections, such as with
the plants and herbs associated with Mary.
An artist recently painted a beautiful rendition of Noah’s ark
painted in nursery – truly inspiring for children and adults alike.
The gardeners will soon plant a Japanese contemplative garden with
dry riverbed.
The
concept of wrapping care for the Earth into common notions of stewardship
(i.e., financial stewardship alone) is a powerful link for the congregation.
One of the congregation’s Colleagues also commented that having a
passion for creation is very important as well as a need to find people who
share this passion. Jointly,
these people can serve as “leaven” (in the biblical sense) for creation
care throughout the congregation.
This
Colleague also mentioned that there is a “green space” in front of
church with Earth Ministry literature.
Another
Colleague in the parish started two years ago on the stewardship committee
and helped the committee to decide that stewardship should be a year-around
activity, incorporated into the themes of the liturgical calendar.
The director of adult education asked the committee to conduct a
four-part class on the environment. This
series will include topics such as global warming, food sustainability
issues, and other topics. The
Colleague talked to his rector about doing Earth Day homily – and Frank
will give the homily himself. The
Colleague considered having a separate care-for-creation committee, but he
decided that (in order to keep it a strong, integral part of the church’s
life) creation should be wrapped into the stewardship committee.
This
Colleague will introduce the church to shade grown coffee after the Earth
Day service. Also, with him on
the church’s vestry (decision-making council) he hopes to start moving the
church toward becoming greening congregation.
He hopes that perhaps by St. Francis Day this will be a reality.
First
Christian (Disciples of Christ), Seattle
The Colleague’s church may unite with another local congregation, Pilgrim
Congregational, which already has a Colleague.
This will doubly strengthen the churches’ creation efforts.
This merger of congregations also gives both congregations the
opportunity to redefine they work together and how stewardship might be more
broadly defined to include creation.
The
Colleague sent Earth Day internet links to her pastor.
St.
Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral, Seattle
The Colleague spoke about the upcoming diocesan resource day (March 16),
which is open to anyone who is interested for entire program.
Two Colleagues from the Cathedral wondered how to identify people
interested in care for creation in such a large cathedral.
So, they hosted a three-part series last spring and put out a sign-up
sheet at one of the classes. Sixty
people signed up as interested in creation care!
They then circulated a creation-care survey (based on Earth
Ministry’s Greening Congregations “annual plan worksheet”).
Then they developed a steering committee and annual plan that tried
to embody the results of the survey.
Recent
creation-care efforts include recycling; promotion of shade grown fair trade
coffee; an energy audit; study group on Earth Ministry’s Simpler
living, Compassionate life; and an extensive six-part series on “The
Global Economy, Justice, and You” (including presentations such as: David
Korten on corporations; Tanya Barnett on global food economics; free trade
and the Third World, Oronto Douglas on oil in Nigeria; Dr. Ann Redding,
Environmental Racism in Developing Countries; The Rev. Dr. Peter Strimer,
Theological and Ethical Perceptions).
One
Colleague spoke about the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia’s Committee on the
Environment. She is currently
surveying Colleagues in local, Episcopal churches.
They’ll use this survey information to write an article for the Episcopal
Voice newspaper, in order to raise ecological awareness and inspire
action in Episcopalians throughout the region.
The Committee will also have its own display at Diocesan Convention
in November.
Another spoke about activities taking place in the Cathedral.
The Ecology-Spirituality group continues to work on getting the
Cathedral to purchase shade grown/organic/fair trade coffee and they’re
making good headway. The
Cathedral recently performed a thorough energy audit with Seattle City Light
(SCL). Free of cost, SCL
provided them with a very detailed, affordable/do-able, list of ways to
increase energy efficiency. (If
your congregation is a SCL customer, contact Lucy Huang for a free energy
audit at (206) 684-3083, lucie.huang@ci.seattle.wa.us.
If your congregation is not a SCL customer, contact your local
utility to inquire about a free energy audit, or contact Tanya at Earth
Ministry, tmbarnett@earthministry.org.)
This Colleague also spoke about a recent study, hosted by the
Ecology-Spirituality group: “Measuring What Matters” – a session on
sustainability, presented by Northwest Environment Watch (www.northwestwatch.org).
St. Andrew’s
Episcopal, Seattle
The Colleague is currently looking for someone else in the congregation to
work with her on creation area. Last year, she to lead a hike to Mt. Rainier with their
visiting sister parish from the West Bank.
During Lent, she will lead a course using Simpler Living,
Compassionate Life.
She also serves on
the Diocesan Committee for the Environments and encourages other
Episcopalian Colleagues to be in touch with her about receiving information
on the work of this Committee. She
mentioned that the Committee is currently focusing on such issues as
purchasing “green power.”
St.
James Roman Catholic Cathedral, Seattle
Today Dr. Loretta Jancoski (retired dean, Seattle University) was to have
given an eco-spirituality presentation on “sacred waters.”
The Colleague at the Cathedral was initially disappointed that only
ten people signed up for the presentation and it had to be cancelled.
But, she was also greatly encouraged by the realization that now she
can connect with those ten people who signed up and think of them as a
seedbed for future efforts.
She
also mentioned that the Vatican will soon release an encyclical (papal
pronouncement), which will have specific and powerful language about
church’s role in the care for the Earth.
Ascension
Episcopal, Seattle
The Colleague hopes to help give the Easter Vigil service a Creation
dimension, as the first two readings are from Genesis.
The church’s Lenten course also centered on simplicity, care for
creation, and sustainable food systems.
Lake Burien
Presbyterian, Burien
A lot of people in the church are involved in the gardens, in upgrading the
building to make it more energy efficient (e.g., a newly insulated roof).
The Colleague spoke of needing the support of a small group in order
to have a strong voice in the congregation.
Church
of the Holy Spirit Episcopal, Vashon
The Colleague mentioned that Amnesty International host their national
meeting in Seattle this year. The April 19-21 conference is entitled: “Reframing
Globalization: The Challenge for Human Rights.”
Featured speakers and contributors will be Mary Robinson, Rodolfo
Montiel Flores, Irene Khan, and directors from 0xfam America, Food First,
and the Ford Foundation. (To
learn more, go to www.aiusa.org/events/agm2002/.)
In
her congregation, the Colleague sits on the stewardship committee that now
has planed creation-honoring activities all year long.
For example, last summer they hosted a worm-bin making workshop,
during which time a bin was made for the church grounds as well.
The committee has also arranged to have person look at the grounds to
design a meditation trail and a plan for natural planting (which encourages
people making memorial gifts of native plants or ones conducive to the
habitat). The committee also
hopes to work with young people in removing invasive ivy on the grounds. In addition to these hands-on efforts, the committee hosted a
Simpler Living, Compassionate Life Lenten study.
The congregation also participates in a fair trade/shade grown coffee
buying club through Lutheran World Relief (see www.lwr.org/coffee/coffee/coffee.html).
The
Colleague and her husband have passion for saving salmon and their habitat.
Because many people in their congregation do not share their passion
[yet!], they work with various environmental organizations in pursuing it.
University
Lutheran, Seattle
The congregation has used the
Lutheran World Relief coffee program for some time now – they have a
coffee buying club and serve it at coffee hour as well.
One Colleague mentioned an excellent video by LWR on coffee (see the
web site above for information) and she recommends it to others.
Two
Colleagues from the church will help to host a full-day women’s retreat at
St. Mary’s convent (Bellevue). They
plan to include plenty of free time for the women to wander grounds and do
art projects that include “found” objects from nature.
One
Colleague also mentioned that the Washington Association of Churches will
soon show the excellent video: In the Light of Reverence.”
It focuses on Native American sacred lands and environmental justice. The day will also feature a discussion with local Native
American people. The event will
take place on Sat., May 18, 2002 at Seattle University’s Wycoff
Auditorium. (To learn more, go
to www.thewac.org or call Shelley Means at [206] 625-9790
x13.)
The
other Colleague spoke of the fact that the congregation’s creation-care
activities feel quite ad hoc – a lot of excellent efforts over last
seven years, but no distinct, coordinated plan.
The efforts depend on inspiration of individuals – which is great
– and the Colleague hopes to see the congregation move to more organized
strategy. So, she’s currently
working to convene 35-40 members who she already knows to be passionately
concerned about creation-care.
This
Colleague also recommended E. O. Wilson’s impactful book The Future of
Life (which speaks truthfully and painfully of our ecological crisis)
and wrote about this book in the congregational newsletter’s ongoing
“The Latter Day Canaries” column.
Plymouth
Congregational United Church of Christ, Seattle
The Colleague mentioned that the congregation’s creation group has now
chosen the name “Creation Care” – a group that has been active for the
last several years. She
mentioned that their pastor is offering Lenten series on Larry Rasmussen’s
book Earth Community, Earth Ethics and another clergy person is offering
course on Sallie McFague’s book Models of God. The Creation Care group is planning an Earth Day celebration
with more than a dozen different workshops and a wide variety of other
worship and educational activities.
East Shore
Unitarian, Bellevue
Their Earth Corps group decided to stop organizing their own events (e.g.,
field trips, stream restoration events) but rather to promote Earth
Ministry’s activities. This
seemed to be a better use of energy.
A year from now
(March 2003) the Puget Sound Unitarian Council will bring deep ecologist
Joanna Macy to this area to jump-start their vision and activities.
The
congregation’s grounds committee is currently ripping out invasive English
ivy and working towards the creation of a wildlife sanctuary.
(It is helpful that one of the co-chairs on this committee has a yard
that has been designated as a wildlife sanctuary – this co-chair has been
urging the committee to move in this direction.)
The congregation observed Earth Day with a worship service that
featured the Earth Charter (www.earthcharter.org)
and a celebration of their recognition as a Greening Congregations Partner.
Also for Earth Day Sunday, the Colleague helped to map out the
locations of members’ homes so that they could carpool with one another.
She also helped to designate “captains” who would call others in
their areas to set up the carpools.
Our Lady of the Lake Roman Catholic, Seattle
The
Colleagues help to foster parishioners’ awareness of creation through
bulletin inserts. The inserts
highlight, for example, gift giving that is mindful of creation and simple
“eco-tips.”
Holy Family Roman Catholic, Kirkland
The Colleague has worked for quite some time to have
the parish switch to organic/shade-grown coffee – which they have now done
(congratulations!). For Earth
Day, she hosted a parish-wide program to increase awareness of creation.
Only five people attended the program, but they were “five
enthusiastic people” – and perhaps people with whom she can look to for
support in fostering creation care in the congregation.
Woodland Park Presbyterian, Seattle
The
Colleague is currently working with church members to try to end the use of
styrofoam. He also mentioned a
difficulty in getting new programs started while the church is in transition
between pastors.
Fairwood Community United Methodist, Renton
The Colleague brought displays, information, and spoke of the
following activities/efforts:
·
A
group of church members went on a snowshoe outing this past winter.
·
A
group worked with Washington Trails Association (www.wta.org,
[206] 525-1367) to do restoration work on trials in public forests.
·
Sharon
and the church’s creation-care group helped make information on buying
“green energy” available to church members (e.g., through Puget Sound
Energy, www.pse.com [425] 424-6687;
and Seattle City Light, www.ci.seattle.wa.us/light,
[206] 684-3954). The church has
also added $100 to its 2003 budget to invest in green energy.
·
The
church included the purchase of fair trade/organic/shade grown coffee in its
2003 budget.
·
The
church office committed to increasing their use of recycled paper and has
added $100 to the 2003 to help do so.
·
The
church hosted an outdoor Blessing of the Animals service this past fall.
Prior to the service, they printed flyers announcing the service and
placed them in local pet stores and at veterinarians’ offices.
The turnout was encouraging, and the thoughtful service (including an
excellent sermon by Fairwood’s pastor, an fitting liturgy, soothing sounds
for animals, etc.) was well received. (Look
for the service’s order of worship and photos on our web site, www.earthministry.org,
in early 2003.)
·
The
church recently became a certified “Backyard Wildlife Sanctuary” through
the WA Department of Fish and Wildlife (www.wa.gov/wdfw/wlm/byw_prog.htm)
and through the National Wildlife Federation (www.nwf.org/habitats).
·
The
Colleague is very active in local CROP WALK (www.cropwalk.org)
planning. In addition to seeing
this as an opportunity to raise funds for anti-hunger efforts, she helps to
create displays (along the route of the walk) to help raise people’s
awareness of ecological concerns. This
year she focused on endangered animals in various countries.
St. Barnabas Episcopal, Bainbridge Is.
The Colleague spoke of her plans to use environmental activities in the
church (e.g., doing away with pesticides) as a springboard for other
activities that help to build community among members.
Seattle Mennonite Church, Seattle
The Colleague spoke about how the church is blessed
to have many committed activists. She
feels personally led to help the congregation keep creation-care as part of
its ongoing awareness and commitment to activism.
She spoke about the fact that the church is in an urban setting with
much concrete, but that several committed gardeners have helped to create a
“thriving” urban oasis. The
congregation is a long-time supporter of fair trade practices and hosted
their annual “World Crafts Festival” this past November (with Ten
Thousand Villages, www.tenthousandvillages.ca)
to help sell fair trade products. She
also just helped to plan and host an adult education series on global
economic justice as it relates to farming and food choices.
Central Lutheran Church, Seattle
The Colleague spoke about the church’s efforts to meet a variety of
social concerns in their urban neighborhood (e.g., members do a “needle
sweep” on Sunday mornings, to rid the neighborhood of dangerous, used
hypodermic needles). Even with
their myriad activities, members have seen the connection between social
concerns and “environmental” projects – e.g., fair trade coffee,
getting rid of styrofoam cups and plates (“having a dishwasher made the
difference”), etc. The church
hosts a “rally day” every fall to showcase its various ministries.
The Colleague decided to display Earth Ministry materials and made a
poster detailing how people could get involved in creation-care within the
church. During this time, she “grabbed” the youth director and
encouraged this person to help get youth involved in creation-care
activities. As a result, two
youth recently came out to an Earth Ministry Reflection & Restoration
Day within the Cedar River Watershed. She
helped the group to realize how important it is to identify and “grab”
specific people, especially in busy congregations, if you have a specific
goal in mind (e.g., working with youth).
United Churches of Olympia (Presbyterian & UCC),
Olympia
One Colleague spoke about her experience with the
congregation’s Wellspring Covenant group – a group that works on
creation awareness and care and is comprised of representatives from all of
the committees within the church. One
of the first things that the group did when it began meeting, was to
celebrate the church’s creation-care accomplishments from past years.
Then they engaged in do-able, practical activities like putting
bookmarks in all of the hymnals that listed “52 ways to conserve.”
The group recently took part in the church’s annual “Alternative
Gift Fair” that introduces people in the church and the broader community
to more socially and environmentally-sound ways of giving gifts.
For example, the Fair highlighted the idea of “giving a gift in
someone’s name” to various non-profits (e.g., Habitat for Humanity,
Earth Ministry, etc.) and buying socially/ecologically-responsible gifts
from SERRV International (www.serrv.org).
Recently, the church’s Administrative committee contacted the
Colleague about conserving water, specifically in terms of how the church
cares for its landscape. They
have asked the Colleague to help them re-landscape the grounds with native
plants that don’t require as much water.
Another Colleague spoke about how she and other
members promoted the purchase of sustainable coffee, and how they decided
which coffee to choose. They
chose the Equal Exchange Interfaith Coffee Program (www.equalexchange.org/interfaith/index.html)
when trying to “sell” the congregation on the idea of switching to this
coffee. They chose to Equal
Exchange because they felt that the interfaith aspect of the program would
lend greater credibility to the idea of switching (partners include Lutheran
World Relief, the Presbyterian Church USA, United Methodist Committee on
Relief, the Unitarian Universalist Committee on Relief, the American Friends
Service Committee, and Brethren Witness).
The church now serves Equal Exchange coffee at fellowship hour and a
group of volunteers sells bags of coffee to individuals every week (the
proceeds of these funds go into the “pastor’s fund” – a fund used to
provide emergency services to local people in need).
This Colleague also spoke of the Wellspring Covenant group’s hope
that the church (especially the Sunday school classes) will take part in
Olympia’s “Procession of the Species” in April – “a joyous,
spontaneous and delightful artistic pageant, where the community celebrates
its relationship with each other and with the natural world” (www.olywa.net/procession).
Northshore UCC, Woodinville
The Colleague gave the sermon for the church’s celebration of
Earth Day – and then gave the same, creation-honoring sermon at his
parents’ church in Port Angeles. A
group of people in his congregation currently takes part in a gleaning
project on a local farm. Kevin
is currently trying to bring together a creation-care group, and to help the
church to move towards the creation of a wildlife sanctuary on their
grounds.
Georgetown Gospel Chapel, Seattle
The chapel recently held an “energy conservation”
training session for its neighborhood.
Using money from the chapel’s benevolence fund, they passed out
free compact fluorescent light bulbs to neighbors who attended the training.
In keeping with their Energy Star recognition, the chapel continues
its own energy retrofits. Currently,
they are replacing their “T-10” tube fluorescent bulbs with “T-8”
tube fluorescents – the latter use 20% less energy and give off 20% more
light. The chapel continues to
use Equal Exchange coffee. They
switched to this coffee after hosting visitors from Chiapas, Mexico and
learning of their economic realities around coffee farming and marketing.
Snoqualmie United Methodist, Snoqualmie
The Colleague spoke about a small group of four
people – the “Simply Living” group – that met consistently for some
time. Eventually they found
that it was hard to have monthly meeting, so they directly approached
different people in the church (e.g., Sunday school director) who could help
to incorporate a simplicity/creation-honoring dimension into ongoing church
programs. As a result, for
example, the adult Sunday school recently did a session drawn from Bill
McBibben’s Hundred Dollar Holiday: The Case for a More Joyful Christmas
(available at www.SimpleLiving.org
or by calling [800] 821-6153) and the children’s class made squirrel
feeders. The Colleague posed
the question, “how can we get people interested in creation-care without
asking them to go to more meetings?”
One response that she offered (in addition to the above idea) was to
provide people with ideas for “doing little things” that make a
difference ecologically. She
mentioned that the Center for a New American Dream’s (CNAD) Responsible
Purchasing Guide (www.newdream.org/faith/index.html,
$5) is an excellent resource for providing congregations with simple,
do-able ideas – the positive impact of these efforts is easy to calculate
(using the Guide). She also
mentioned that some of CNAD’s on-line, calculate-able programs (e.g.,
“Turn the Tide”) could have a similar, inspiring effect.
The church uses its newsletter as a way to share such information
with members.
Recently, the Snoqualmie City
Council approached the church asking them if they would be willing to host a
P-Patch community garden on their grounds.
The church welcomed this, and the P-Patch was up and running in 2002.
Some gardeners grew food, sold it to the congregation, and donated
$575 and “left-over” produce to a local foodbank.
Some congregation members also donated produce from their home
gardens to this foodbank offering. In
early 2002, one gardener gave pumpkin seeds to the children in the church,
and asked them to go home and plant them.
At the end of October, the children brought their pumpkins to the
worship service where they received prizes for the biggest one, the one
“with the most personality,” etc. It
was a very celebratory, harvest event.
In October, the church also hosted a Blessing of the Animals service.
The church also purchases Pura Veda coffee (www.puravidacoffee.com)
a Seattle-based, Christian business that helps at-risk children in coffee
growing regions
Sammamish UCC, Issaquah
Sammamish UCC is in the process of building a new church on five
acres of land. The church
leadership has deep ecological concerns, and will help to make sure that the
building project proceeds in a way that is least damaging to the
environment. Members have
already helped to flag tree to be saved during the construction.
The Colleague also mentioned that she preaches on ecology once a
year.
St. Joseph’s Roman
Catholic, Issaquah
During a recent rebuilding project, the church decided to create a
“salmon walk” on the church grounds.
It includes a beautiful waterscape surrounded with native plants and
salmon sculptures. It also
contains stones engraved with poems, prayers, and reflections on salmon and
the sacredness of creation. Recently,
when the Archbishop came to bless the newly constructed parish school, he
also blessed the Salmon Walk. The
town of Issaquah annually celebrates “Salmon Days.”
During Salmon Days this past year, church members picked readings
from among the engraved stone and read/reflected on them.
The church now has a small “greening committee” that is starting
its efforts by introducing church members to some of the theological
underpinnings of creation care. The
church recently invited a very talented storyteller, Peter Donaldson, to
give the sermon/message for the day. His
moving presentation highlighted theological foundations for creation-care,
especially in terms of our relationship with other creatures (e.g., salmon)
and our broader bioregion.