Dear Beloved of God,

       Welcome to September! From September 1 – October 4 we are celebrating a Season of Creation Care with educational events, prayers, and community gatherings. The schedule for these can be found in the Creation Care Newsletter and web-page. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to Mary Rackmales and the Creation Care Committee for all their hard work in getting this off the ground!
       Every morning we have the opportunity to find a quiet spot and to pray Morning Prayer as set forth in our prayer book. In it we will read, “Know this: The Lord himself is God; *  he himself has made us, and we are his”. This phrase has taken on special meaning for me in the recent years as we grapple with how to help our planet recover from the impact of human industry. Our very life is a gift and the planet that sustains our life is a gift.
       As I contemplate where we are in terms of the impacts human activity has had on the planet, I am hopeful that as we speak with one another about creative solutions, we will indeed find ways to mitigate some of the more deleterious effects on our planet. The idea that God has made us God’s partners in this enterprise is energizing. That we are, in fact, called to act by God is energizing. I look forward to learning more about how we can partner with God in the care of God’s creation.
       Beginning this Sunday, we will gather at 9:15 for Adult Education. During the month of September we will be learning about creation care from author Bill McKibben, who is founder of Third Act, which organizes people over the age of 60 for action on climate and justice. (Please see the Adult Education Schedule in this newsletter for more information).
      His 1989 book The End of Nature is regarded as the first book for a general audience about climate change, and has appeared in 24 languages. He’s gone on to write 20 books, and his work appears regularly in periodicals from the New Yorker to Rolling Stone. He serves as the Schumann Distinguished Scholar in Environmental Studies at Middlebury College, as a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and he has won the Gandhi Peace Prize as well as honorary degrees from 20 colleges and universities. He was awarded the Right Livelihood Award, sometimes called the alternative Nobel, in the Swedish Parliament. Foreign Policy named him to its inaugural list of the world’s 100 most important global thinkers.
      Join us this Sunday at 9:15 in the parish hall as we explore the theological foundations for climate care.