St. Paul's Celebrates
Earth Day and Faithful Action
June 27, 2010
St. Paul's United Methodist Church will observe Earth Day on June 27, 2010. The Worship Committee will focus attention on the beauty and power of the Earth, God's commission that humans serve as good stewards of creation, and to stories of individual and institutional faithful action in support of the Earth.
The Stewardship Committee will offer a spirited, intentional conversation after the service on the topic of "Faith and the Environment."
This page provides links to some of the resources that the Worship Committee found helpful in the process of developing the worship service.
We invite you to share your own links to great books, articles, or websites. Please send your electronic resources to the administrative ministries staff at: office@stpaulsithaca.org.
We enjoyed reading these books:
Ibrahim Adbul-Matin, Green Deen: What Islam Teaches about Protecting the Planet, foreword by Keith Ellison
Thomas Berry, The Christian Future and the Fate of Earth
Thomas Berry, The Great Work
Thomas Berry, The Sacred Universe: Earth, Spirituality, and Religion in the 21st Century
Thomas Berry and Brian Swimme, The Universe Story
Mark Bredin , The Ecology of the New Testament: Creation, ReCreation, and the Environment
Andres R. Edwards and David Orr, The Sustainability Revolution: Portrait of a Paradigm Shift
Duane Elgin, Voluntary Simplicity (1981)
Bruce Gendelman, Robert B. Miller, and David Taus, The Fishbowl Principle
Frances Moore Lappe, Getting a Grip 2: Clarity, Creativity, and Courage for the World We Really Want (2010)
Mallory McDuff, Natural Saints: How People of Faith are Working to Save God's Earth
Mary Oliver, Poetry in collections from 1963-2009
James Patterson, Changing Human Nature: Ecology, Ethics, Genes, and God
Elizabeth Roberts, Earth Prayers from around the World: 365 Prayers, Poems, and Invocations for Honoring the Earth (1991)
Worldwatch Institute, State of the World 2010: Transforming Cultures: From Consumerism to Sustainability
We perused these United Methodist resources:
Festival of God's Creation (Earth Day) 2009, 2010
God's Renewed Creation: Call to Hope and Action
Gulf Coast Resources for Prayer and Action
We recommend these websites:
Sue Eyster culled these websites from much larger lists. These websites do not sell products; many offer newsletters, or access to single articles.
Tips:
Global Stewards
Going Green: Environmental Tips for Your Family
EPA Environmental Tips
About My Planet: Green Tips
SimpleLiving.net
In Context: Quarterly of Human Sustainable Culture
Earth911.com
Be ResourceSmart
Religion, Spirituality, and Ecology Resources:
Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology
Christianity and Ecology (Yale Forum)
Buddhism and Ecology (Yale Forum)
Spirituality and Ecology articles
Integrative Spirituality website
New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG)
Recommendations for what you can do TODAY:
- Take your own plastic bags to the grocery store
- Write letters to the appropriate people
- Carpool to church
- Turn water off while brushing your teeth
- Buy a gadget which screws onto the end of the kitchen faucet. The attached lever turns the water off. Water temperature stays constant
- Compost
- Buy local food
- Buy shade grown coffee. Look for shade grown on the package. In some places this is the only place migrating birds can land because all the other trees in the area are cut down
- Recycle leftover cardboard roll from toilet paper and hand towels
- Start a Nature Group for children, adults, or both
- E-mail good ecological ideas to friends and family
- Tompkins County Recycling & Solid Waste (607-273-6632)