WCC Ecumenical Prayer Cycle: Canada and the United States of America

As I wrote about in a post a few months ago, part of my vicarage at Saint Peter's Church this year is is providing a supplemental paragraph about countries in the weekly Ecumenical Prayer Cycle created by the World Council of Churches. We pray for each country listed in the prayer cycle during the Intercessory Prayers at Saint Peter's on Sundays and the paragraph is included in our bulletin insert to provide context for those intercessions.

This week's countries (4 August - 10 August) are Canada and the United States of America. While the paragraph below provides information on current events, check out the week's WCC page for additional prayer resources:

We give thanks that portions of the Defense of Marriage Act were ruled unconstitutional in the United States of America earlier this summer, and pray for the law’s full repeal. We pray that the rights and lands of indigenous people in Canada are respected by those involved in oil sands extraction. We pray for the passage of comprehensive immigration reform currently held up by the US House of Representatives. We pray for millennials in the US suffering from high unemployment and staggering student loan debt.

God's peace,

Dustin

Dustin currently serves as Vicar at the Lutheran Office for World Community and Saint Peter's Church in Manhattan, having recently completed his second year of a Masters of Divinity program at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. While seeking ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, his focus is on the intersection between worship, service and justice in de-centralized faith communities unencumbered by a traditional church building. In his free time, Dustin likes playing frisbee, hiking and pretending to know how to sing.

WCC Ecumenical Prayer Cycle: The Caribbean

Haiti

As I wrote about in a post a few months ago, part of my vicarage at Saint Peter's Church this year is is providing a supplemental paragraph about countries in the weekly Ecumenical Prayer Cycle created by the World Council of Churches. We pray for each country listed in the prayer cycle during the Intercessory Prayers at Saint Peter's on Sundays and the paragraph is included in our bulletin insert to provide context for those intercessions.

This week's countries (28 July - 3 August) are the countries of the Caribbean: Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, St Kitts-Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago. While the paragraph below provides information on current events, check out the week's WCC page for additional prayer resources:

We pray for the people of Haiti as they continue to recover from the 2010 earthquake and subsequent cholera outbreak. We pray the normalization of relations between Cuba and other nations, particularly the United States, while also praying for the Cuban people as they continue to struggle in a post-Soviet economy. We pray for the people of all Caribbean nations as they enter hurricane season. We give thanks for the continued strengthening of regional cooperation through the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).

God's peace,
Dustin

Dustin currently serves as Vicar at the Lutheran Office for World Community and Saint Peter's Church in Manhattan, having recently completed his second year of a Masters of Divinity program at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. While seeking ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, his focus is on the intersection between worship, service and justice in de-centralized faith communities unencumbered by a traditional church building. In his free time, Dustin likes playing frisbee, hiking and pretending to know how to sing.

WCC Ecumenical Prayer Cycle: Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay

Celebrating marriage equality in Uruguay.

As I wrote about in a post a few months ago, part of my vicarage at Saint Peter's Church this year is is providing a supplemental paragraph about countries in the weekly Ecumenical Prayer Cycle created by the World Council of Churches. We pray for each country listed in the prayer cycle during the Intercessory Prayers at Saint Peter's on Sundays and the paragraph is included in our bulletin insert to provide context for those intercessions.

This week's countries (23 June - 29 June) are Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay. While the paragraph below provides information on current events, check out the week's WCC page for additional prayer resources:

We pray for a peaceful resolution to the continued territorial dispute between Argentina and Great Britain over the Falkland Islands, whose citizens recently voted overwhelmingly to remain a British territory.  We give thanks and pray for Pope Francis, who is from Argentina.  We pray for those in Paraguay who are suffering from an outbreak of dengue fever and for decreased corruption in that country following the recent election of Horacio Cartes as President.  We give thanks for Uruguay’s recent passage of a marriage equality bill, which will begin taking effect this August.

God's peace,
Dustin

Dustin currently serves as Vicar at the Lutheran Office for World Community and Saint Peter's Church in Manhattan, having recently completed his second year of a Masters of Divinity program at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. While seeking ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, his focus is on the intersection between worship, service and justice in de-centralized faith communities unencumbered by a traditional church building. In his free time, Dustin likes playing frisbee, hiking and pretending to know how to sing.

WCC Ecumenical Prayer Cycle: Brazil

Protesting the Belo Monte Dam project in Brazil.

As I wrote about in a post a few months ago, part of my vicarage at Saint Peter's Church this year is is providing a supplemental paragraph about countries in the weekly Ecumenical Prayer Cycle created by the World Council of Churches. We pray for each country listed in the prayer cycle during the Intercessory Prayers at Saint Peter's on Sundays and the paragraph is included in our bulletin insert to provide context for those intercessions.

This week's countries (16 June - 22 June) is Brazil. While the paragraph below provides information on current events (with links to related news stories), check out the week's WCC page for additional prayer resources:

We pray for all involved in the proposed Belo Monte Dam project in Brazil, that they seek a more environmentally sustainable alternative and that they would respect the human rights of thousands of indigenous persons being displaced by the dam’s construction. We give thanks for Brazil’s success in decreasing economic inequalities in recent decades. The number of Brazilians living on less than $2.00 a day and the number of those suffering from malnutrition has been halved since the early 1990s.

God's peace,
Dustin

Dustin currently serves as Vicar at the Lutheran Office for World Community and Saint Peter's Church in Manhattan, having recently completed his second year of a Masters of Divinity program at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. While seeking ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, his focus is on the intersection between worship, service and justice in de-centralized faith communities unencumbered by a traditional church building. In his free time, Dustin likes playing frisbee, hiking and pretending to know how to sing.

NH 4000 Footer Essay (Pt. 4) Mount Zealand, Mount Bond and Mount Twin

Given the tragic shootings that took place in Newtown, Connecticut yesterday, it's hard to think about much else.  After a day of shared tears and prayers though, I needed a bit of escape, so I decided to write...  What follows is part four of a five-part essay I'm writing for the NH 4000 Footer Club.  You can find part one here, part two here and part three here.

As I awoke to a fading blanket of stars in the early morning hours of August 25th, 2012, I was definitely ready for a bit of a walk...  With only a few days left of what had seemed a nearly endless summer, it was time to finish my list of the New Hampshire's big mountains, but in order to do so, I needed to put in at least twenty-two miles to bag Mount Zealand and the three peaks of Mount Bond before heading back to my car.  An optional exit route over Mount Twin's two peaks beckoned in the distance as well, if I felt confident enough that a friend could pick me up at the trailhead and give me a lift back to my car.  Back in the real world away from familiar landscape of the White Mountains, things had certainly changed from a year earlier when I last set off on a very long hike, that time to conquer the northern presidentials with my brother (see part three).  Having a new serious love in my life and after finishing a second year of seminary, I suppose I was year older, a year wiser and certainly less lonely, but also less happy.

A beaver pond off Zealand Trail, 2012.

My previous summer, life had new, a blank canvas sort of feel as I finally broke out of the darkness following my mother's death.  This summer, as I prepared to set off for my internship year in NYC, the walls were closing in.  It felt like young adulthood and the freedom associated with that period of life was coming to end, something I wasn't quite yet ready to accept... the beginning of a lifelong career as a pastor, marriage, kids maybe... I spent much of the summer seeing these things approaching in the distance and thus cramming in as much adventure as possible.  After an amazing month spent hiking the Colorado Rockies and a visit to Yellowstone, I returned to New Hampshire determined to finish up its infamous list of forty-eight 4000 foot mountains.  Unfortunately, as the objective wasn't enjoying God's good creation but checking names off a list, many of my hikes were rushed and done solo... more like a two month long scavenger hunt than a series of beautiful journeys.

Early morning on Zeacliff, 2012.

My long walk over Zealand, the Bonds and eventually the Twins was a solo hike as well, and given that I had hiked three other mountains over the previous three days, I was already tired before even hitting the trail.  In order to cover the necessary twenty-two miles before sunset, I started out a bit before sunrise, running the first two and a half miles of the Zealand Trail through an absolutely beautiful valley.  This part of the trail was familiar terrain (my favorite in the Whites actually), so outside of a quick water stop to chat with a nice older couple I nearly ran into, things were great but uneventful all the way to the beginning of the Twinway up to Zealand Falls Hut.  After a very short but steep climb, I arrived at the hut right as some early risers were eating breakfast.  I took about five minutes to chat with a young father about the joys of hiking with children (no sarcasm intended) and then kept moving onto what would be brand new trail for the rest of my journey.  Completing another quick but tough mile, I arrived at my favorite point of the whole trail, an absolutely epic overlook off of Zeacliff.  With the morning fog billowing out of the valley below me, I couldn't have been happier.

Zealand Summit Sign, 2012.

I said a quick prayer thanking God for Her creation and the gift of a day to enjoy it, and then quickly rushed off instead of staying awhile to fully take in the breathtaking scene... needed to keep on time, of course.  Another mile and a half later saw me bag the day's first mountain: Zealand.  Although its entirely wooded summit offered no views for my effort, it does arguably feature the best summit sign in the White Mountains.  Not too long after leaving Zealand's summit I made it to Mount Guyot, which sort of marked a point of no return for my hike.  A long ridge jutting sharply south from Guyot into the heart of the Pemigewasset Wilderness, Mount Bond's three peaks are some of the most remote of NH's four-thousand footers.  Surrounded by other mountains and miles of forest on all sides, it's also one of the most stunningly beautiful places in New England.  Folks tend to bag the Bonds on a overnight due to the distance, the beauty and the convenience of the nearby Guyot Campsite, but given my lack of gear and companions, a really long day hike had proved necessary.

Bondcliff from Mount Bond, 2012.

Making good time and actually getting some limited cellphone reception, I left a message for my friend to pick me up at the Mount Twin trailhead... he was planning on coming up to hike my final peak the next day (Carrigain), or so I thought, and thus I figured it wouldn't be much of a problem.  After bagging West Bond I made my way through a half mile of thin trees to the highest peak of Mount Bond, and boy, it was awesome!  Bond is one of the few summits in the Whites where you really can't see much human civilization due to its remoteness.  Furthermore, you've got the sharp knife-edge of Bondcliff straight ahead of you to the south... couldn't be more amazing really.  Unfortunately though, it seemed like clouds might be soon rolling in, and given that I didn't really want to get caught above treeline if it rained, I bound quickly back into the trees in order to reach Bondcliff's highpoint (another 4000 foot peak).

On Bondcliff, 2012.

By the time I ran the mile out to Bondcliff and back, it was starting to rain HARD... the sort of hard summer downpour that gets through even the best rain-gear, so I decided to seek shelter at the Guyot Campsite.  I was a bit nervous about doing so as it would cost me a bunch of time, but I simply couldn't make it back out over the open face of Guyot and Mount Twin in such weather.  Soaking wet, I spent about an hour munching granola in a small lean-to at the campsite.  Luckily, the older women I met early that morning had arrived and raised my spirits through telling about their own journey through the Whites together.  Although the rain eventually stopped, the clouds never seemed to burn off... as it was getting late, I had to decide whether to spend a very cold, wet night at the campsite or try to make it across Guyot and Twin in less than ideal weather.  With some persuasion from my two companions, I decided to go for it.  By the time I got back to Guyot, the weather had improved and the two miles across a shallow ridge to South Twin didn't seem all that foreboding... it should of though.  Not long after I made it to the open summit of South Twin, it started to thunder, but instead of thundering above me, it was pretty much AROUND me.

On Mount Guyot toward South Twin, 2012.

I didn't see any lightening really, but boy was I scared... I think I yelled for God to quit it or something with all the thunder, but She kept at it until I made it another mile and a half over North Twin's summit.  Completely aching after almost eighteen miles of hiking and emotionally exhausted after my near-death experience, I gingerly started limping my way down the home stretch of the North Twin Trail.  It was a bit after 5pm by then, so I tried to make the best time I could in order to rendezvous with my friend at the time I planned, but it was definitely slow going.  I eventually came upon a fellow named Ben, who turned out to be the best person in the world.  When I finally got to the trailhead, I heard the news my friend couldn't make it, but Ben, being the best person in the world, drove me over what would have been another ten or so miles of road back to my car... I'm pretty sure he was an angel or something.  Bruised and exhausted, I set up my tent at Zealand Campground and ate a cold can of baked beans, feeling proud of my journey that day... I had covered over twenty-two miles and seven of NH's big peaks after all.  I realized though that after completing my list on Mount Carrigain the next day, I was finished with going fast and especially finished with going solo.  I discovered that I had grown into a place where the beauty of God's creation needed to be shared rather than experienced alone.  I'd like to think I came upon a new understanding of the whole "where two or more are gathered" thing Jesus was talking about this past summer, and I hope to never forget that discovery.

God's peace,
Dustin

Dustin is currently a vicar at the Lutheran Office for World Community and Saint Peter's Church in Manhattan, having recently completed his second year of a Masters of Divinity program at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia. While seeking ordination in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, his focus is on the intersection between worship, service and justice building in de-centralized faith communities unencumbered by a traditional church building. In his free time, Dustin likes playing frisbee, hiking and pretending to know how to sing.

LTSP Green Team Update

This year at The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, the campus Green Team has centered its efforts around a theology of caring for creation “from a free a merry spirit.” The quote comes from second-generation Andreas Musculus writing in the Formula of Concord on how we do good works not from a place of guilt but rather while joyfully celebrating the many gifts that God has given us. Growing out of this theological focus has been an effort to help folks at LTSP feel more connected to God’s creation and each other so that they may be freed to better care for both the natural world and the community around them. During student orientation week, we led a group of volunteers in getting their hands dirty cleaning up at the Morris Arboretum after Hurricane Irene. We also organized a hike in Philadelphia’s nearby Fairmount Park led by the seminary’s liturgy professor emeritus, Rev. Dr. Gordon Lathrop. In order to cultivate community, we even gathered a bunch of students to take a trip to a local green-friendly brewery. Care for creation has been emphasized in worship through occasionally conducting an outdoor compline service.

Amidst these community events, we have also worked to build on LTSP’s already strong environmental stewardship program. A large compost tumbler was set up on campus to extend composting into the winter months and we set-up a new Terra-cycling program in the seminary café. Most importantly though, the students, family members, staff and faculty of the Green Team have recognized that we need a strong plan and new partnerships to move beyond basic recycling and composting toward a more robust vision of caring for God’s creation. We have therefore begun a process of developing a “green seminary certification program” in collaboration with Greenfaith and other theological leaders. While developing the program over the coming months, we will engage in a comprehensive audit of green practices and support for environmental justice on campus in order to discern how to move forward. We are also planning a large green fair and worship service to be held during Earth Week. Building on the efforts of those who have come before us, the LTSP Green Team is striving to help members of our campus community become a good stewards of God’s wondrous gift of creation from a free and merry spirit.

God's peace,
Dustin

A Lutheran Theology of the Land

I've just begun research for an independent study I'm doing this winter at LTSP, studying how we collectively create identities for the places we live in and how those identities affect our faith.  You can find a more detailed proposal for the project here.  While I'm only just beginning my research, I figured it would be worthwhile to briefly share my initial observations, largely developed while reading The Land by Walter Brueggemann.

For quite a while now I've said that in a Lutheran perspective we care for God's creation "from a free and merry spirit."  The idea goes that we want to clean up our environment and cut down on waste not because we're guilt tripped into doing it but rather as a voluntary response to the sense of joy we experience in creation...  Simply put, the more we experience the beauty of nature, the better we want to take care of it.  At this point in my research (and mostly because of Brueggemann) I need to modify that idea.

In his book Brueggemann makes a distinction between the Biblical concepts of "earth/ creation" and "land," particularly in the Old Testament.  I'm only about halfway through the book, but basically "earth/ creation" is an idealization, something that's absolutely perfect, only existing in the Garden of Eden and thereby something outside of human history.  It's not that "earth/ creation" doesn't exist... it's not quite an abstraction, but simply something that is fleeting in its perfect potentiality.  We can only experience "earth/ creation" for a moment... think of beautiful mountaintops, pristine lakes and lush jungles... that sort of thing.  Those places exist, but pretty soon a storm blows over the mountain, the lake floods and a jungle monkey throws poop at you.  "Earth/ creation" is fleeting and is accordingly referred to in the Bible mainly in the initial creation stories.

"The land" however is something entirely different... it's not only a central character in human history, it is the central character through which God reaches God's people.  Land is something partially defined by our human relationship to it, and is therefore not just made up of perfect "natural" settings.  For instance, I'm currently moving out of my childhood home, and the place definitely has certain connotations for me... I grew up there, I experienced great joys there, my mother died there.  When a new family eventually moves in, they will develop a whole new conceptualization of place or "the land" for my old home. "The land" was always changing for the Israelites as well.  For folks like Abraham and Moses "the land" was a promise not yet fulfilled.  For folks like Deborah and King David, "the land" was both a gift and a set of responsibilities.  For Ezra and Nehemiah, "the land" represented a new covenant, another chance and hope for the future.

While "earth/creation" is a beautiful idea, and a gift I do believe we all can occasionally experience through the eyes of grace, it's also not something concrete... Even the few of us who live in absolutely pristine spaces cannot experience the perfection of "earth/ creation" all the time.  For me the most beautiful place in the world is Camp Calumet in New Hampshire, but what about black fly season or slipping and falling on the ice?  "The land" however is something we can all relate to all the time... it includes dirty city streets, upper class subdivisions and even the town dump.  I was a bit off when I formerly told folks that we care for the environment "out of a free and merry spirit" once we experience the beauty of the earth.  I was asking people to go out and try to experience something that is at best fleeting, and also pretty rare.  Rather, as we learn more about "the land" around us, learn about its history, its joys and sorrows, and the sense of gift and responsibility that goes with it, perhaps then we will be encouraged to better care for the planet.

God's peace,
Dustin

Climate Changed

A couple weeks back I had the pleasure of attending PennFuture's annual Southeastern PA climate conference at the The Franklin Institute in Philly as part of my fieldwork with Lutheran Advocacy Ministries of PA.  It was a tough but informative experience for me... as a person of faith I'm glad to have learned more about how climate change is already affecting God's creation, but some of what I learned was difficult to bear.  PennFuture is an organization dedicated to "creating a just future where nature, communities and the economy thrive" through advocacy, organizing, legal services and public policy analysis.  The theme for this year's conference was "Climate, Changed: Extreme Weather and the Need to Take Action."  After some opening remarks, Katherine Gayewski began the evening by discussing Philadelphia's local efforts to both curb climate change and prepare for it's inevitable consequences.  As Director of Sustainability for Philadelphia, Katherine's work centers around implementation of Mayor Nutter's ambitious Greenworks initiative to make Philly "the number one green city in America by 2015."  It seems like a far fetched idea, but of the program's fifteen specific goals, some were already 60% to 70% met after only a year.  Katherine stated that climate change is already well underway, and our focus must shift from prevention to adaptation and minimization.  For instance, through the Greenworks program, Philadelphia is working to adapt for increased storm water runoff but is also moving reduce the city's emission of green house gases by 20%.

Dr. Howard Kunreuther, professor and director of the Risk Management and Decision Processes Center at UPenn's Wharton School of Business, discussed long-term strategies to mitigate the financial risks associated with climate change.  "Business folks" are unfortunately somewhat unpopular in green circles yet Dr. Kunreuther presented a very enlightening perspective on climate change that can hopefully change that mindset.  There's over $10 trillion of risk from the coast of Northern Maine to Texas, most of which is largely uninsured against an increase of extreme weather events like floods and hurricanes.  Unfortunately, only 20% of people who buy flood insurance keep it after eight years, largely due to human psychology.  Dr. Kunreuther made a number of public policy proposals that could better fit flood insurance to the short time frames people think in.

The highlight of the event though was Dr. Heidi Cullen's presentation on the science and public perception of climate change.  Unfortunately, things haven't gone too well in recent years.  While media coverage of climate changed increased greatly after the release of Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth in 2008 and 2009, coverage has greatly dropped off since the beginning of our recent recession.  After recent campaigns to falsely challenge the validity of science and the last Congress's failure to pass cap and trade legislation, the climate change community has largely been scrambling to find a next move.  Since most advocacy organizations put all their effort into passing national cap and trade legislation, it's been only recently that the focus has shifty to more local efforts like Philly's Greenworks program.  The Earth's average temperature has already risen well over one degree and in that same period the Northeast US has experienced a 67% increase in extreme weather events.  Unfortunately, the climate has already changed and our focus must shift from prevention to adaptation and minimization.

Wow, that was a whole lot of doom and gloom huh?  What's a faith leader to make of all this, and what role does the faith community have when dealing with climate change anyway?  The church  course should be serving as a moral conscience for the world and to do this faith leaders first need to help their parishioners reconnect with God's creation... only then will folks become more invested in the issue.  Knowing the magic and beauty that is in God's gift of creation, people will respond.  Then, begin thinking about how your own faith community can begin not only minimizing it's carbon footprint but also modelling good adaptation practices for parishioners... does your church have proper flood insurance and storm-water management systems for instance.  Being a prophetic witness by leading parishioners in advocating for local and federal public policies that curb climate change is also important.  God's creation is certainly groaning, but boy, there's a whole lot that we as people of faith can do to help.

God's peace,
Dustin

Hiking the Wissahickon with Dr. Gordon Lathrop

Thanks to Tommy Richter for all the amazing pictures.

The Baptisteron

A couple Sundays ago, six members of the LTSP community spent an absolutely beautiful autumn afternoon hiking around the Wissahickon Creek with Dr. Gordon Lathrop.  The event was organized by LTSP's Green Team, and boy, we had a great time and learned a lot as well!  The Wissahickon Creek runs twenty-three miles from Montgomery County, flows through Philadelphia's Fairmount Park system and eventually empties into the Schuylkill River.  Despite the creek's short length, it has a very storied past.  From the late 17th century onward, many mills and damns were built along the creek, including some which can still be seen today.  The area attracted a variety of religious groups, including the monastic-like followers of Johannes Kelpius.  Authors such as Edgar Allen Poe and John Greenleaf Whittier wrote of the area's beauty.

The Devil's Pool

During our four mile hike Dr. Lathrop (being the Liturgy Professor Emeritus that he is) put particular emphasis on the liturgical history of Wissahickon Creek.  In fact, the creek has long served as Philadelphia's baptismal font.  One of our stops was at the Baptisteron, an area of the stream where the first Church of the Brethern baptism took place on Christmas Day in 1723.  An absolutely gorgeous spot called the Devil's Pool may have served as a sacred space for the Lenape American Indian tribe.  Despite it's unfortunate naming, a sort of peace does permeate the area, and local children still often use it as a swimming hole.  Dr. Lathrop has seen more recent congregations baptizing new believers in the creek as well.  Wissahickon Creek was even used once by Dr. Lathrop's own liturgy class for practice baptisms.

The sacred character of the Wissahickon's waters is indisputable, but Dr. Lathrop took this even further by reminding us that all the waters of the world are sacred.  In fact, Martin Luther wrote that when Jesus was baptized, all the waters of the world became a holy flood.  As people of faith, it is important to realize our connection to the waters all around us... the LTSP campus in fact sits in the Wissahickon's watershed.  Moreover, as people drowned and reborn in the waters of baptism everyday, as people of the water, we should profoundly care for our lakes, rivers and streams.

The Greening of LTSP Continues

For a number of years now the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia's Green Team and Environmental Stewardship Committee have worked to ensure that future church leaders know about and have experience in caring for creation.  This year, we've been focusing on supporting our learning community in caring for creation "from a free and merry spirit," and boy, we've had a lot of success!


To get new students interested right from the start, we organized a service project at Philly's Morris Arboretum during orientation week.  Despite the hot weather, six folks from our community showed up, and we had a pretty epic time.  Since the arboretum was still cleaning up after Hurricane Irene, we spent most of the day clearing out plants that had been damaging by flood waters.  We finished up by taking a few minutes to haul out a couple tree stumps, we got a "behind the scenes" tour of the arboretum's maintenance and office buildings.  The buildings all had a number of innovative green friendly features, of which the green roof was most notable (check out the picture).  After the tour was over, we were able to head back to LTSP with a stack of free arboretum tickets for our efforts.

We've been organizing a number of other fun events as well to gain interest, like touring the fully wind powered Yards Brewery and hiking around Fairmount Park with LTSP's Professor Emeritus of Liturgy, Dr. Gordon Lathrop (that event deserves it's own forthcoming blog post).  Outside of the events we've been doing a lot more behind the scenes work to green the LTSP campus.  Most notably, we've expanded our compost program to serve not only the refectory but also the Holy Grounds Cafe.  We're also in conversation with GreenFaith about how their "green congregation" certification process could be adopted to fit a seminary.  If it's work out, the certification process will provide us with a solid framework to continue green LTSP for years to come!  If you're interested in hearing more about what the the LTSP Green Team and Environmental Stewardship Committee are up to in the coming months, please 'Like' our Facebook Page or check out our website.  Thanks so much!

God's peace,
Dustin

From A Free and Merry Spirit

A (very) rough outline of the Green Team's presentation to LTSP's new students.  I'd greatly appreciate your input!
When someone asks me why we should care about God’s creation, the first thing I think of is Psalm 8:

¹O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!  You have set your glory above the heavens.

³When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established;

⁴what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?

⁵Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor.

⁶You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet,

⁷all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field,

⁸the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

⁹O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

My favorite part of this Psalm is in the first and last verses: O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!  It’s my favorite because that’s where caring for creation really begins: recognizing the beauty and majesty of God’s work and our connection to it.  Sadly in our contemporaneity we are often cut off from many aspects of creation… to put it in Dr. John Pahl’s words we often separate ourselves from sacred places, instead favoring the artificially sacred of a trip to the mall, a “pilgrimage” to Disney World or the worship of “perfection” in our own homes.  As Psalm 8 joyfully exclaims, God’s creation is full of amazing gifts, and it’s equally amazing that we as imperfect people are tasked with caring for it.  When separated from God’s creation though we become unable to see many of God’s gifts to us through the eyes of grace… we no longer experience that sense of wonder in creation and therefore no longer feel as compelled to care for it.

“Compelled” is in an important word to emphasize here because why and how we care for creation reflects Lutheran (and I imagine most Protestant) theologies… we don’t do good works in order to earn something, but instead do good works solely out of love for God.  As the second generation Lutheran theologian Andreas Musculus would say, we do good works “out of a free and merry spirit.”  We should care for creation out of a free and merry spirit as well, which is why it’s so harmful to guilt people into recycling, turning off the lights and composting.  That’s why this year at LTSP we are so intent on not only improving our stewardship of creation, but also providing fun and fulfilling ways of reconnecting with creation.  Dr. Pahl makes a great point near the end of his book Shopping Malls and Other Sacred Places… the sacred isn’t just in beautiful mountains, forests and rivers, but it’s the bustling streets of our cities and in our own imperfect bodies as well.  LTSP's Green Team and Environmental Stewardship Committee will be working hard this year to help our community both care for and joyfully connect with the sacred of creation, wherever it might be found.

Care of Creation

As posted on my blog at the Christ the King, Wilbraham website:

Throughout the season of Lent at Christ the King, we’ve been exploring the many different faces of Christian stewardship… we’ve talked about being good stewards of our talents, our time, the Sabbath and our communities.  This past Sunday we concluded our Lenten adult forum series by talking about stewardship of God’s creation, a topic many of us were particularly passionate about.  There’s a lot involved with that sort of conversation, much more than we could ever cover in one hour, so our first issue was figuring out where to begin.

We could have talked about how to “green” the church or perhaps about how to get folks to stop using Styrofoam coffee cups and start drinking fair trade coffee, and while those are important conversations, it seemed like that would be getting a little bit ahead of ourselves.  Instead, we really wanted to start at the heart of the matter, discussing why (and even if) God calls us to care for the environment as Christians.  We all quickly agreed on the importance of environmental stewardship, and the conversation next turned to addressing why we don’t always seem to focus on that call.  It’s a topic that many folks are talking about nowadays, often by asking, “how can Christianity begin to address preserving the environment?”

After thinking quite a bit about it over the past week, I wonder if part of the problem is that we’re asking the wrong question. While I’m not a historian or a theologian, it seems like for much of its history, Christianity was very concerned with the environment.  Check out this quote from an actual theologian:

Some people, in order to discover God, read books.  But there is a great book: the very appearance of created things.  Look above you!  Look below you!  Note it.  Read it… God, whom you want to discover, never wrote that book with ink.  Instead he set before your eyes the things that he had made.  Can you ask for a louder voice than that?                       - St. Augustine (354 - 430)

And this one:

All creation is a symphony of praise to God. - Hildegard of Bingen (1098 - 1179)

And also this one (my favorite):

God writes the Gospel, not in the Bible alone, but also on trees, and in the flowers and clouds and stars. - traditionally attributed to Martin Luther (1483 - 1546)

If the trees and the flowers are important expressions of God’s love (perhaps almost as important as the Gospel), it seems to logically follow that we should preserve those things.  To be fair, Martin Luther and St. Augustine never talked about reducing your carbon footprint or using light bulbs that look like curly fries, but care of creation was still a part of their message.  Perhaps then, the question should really be, “Why have many Christians turned away from caring for the environment in recent decades and how can we get back to where we were?” Asking the question phrased in that particular way for me really results in some interesting answers.

To start, I think saying “the environment” isn’t a good thing.  Much like referring to “climate change” as “global warming,” referring to God’s creation as “the environment” doesn’t fully express the concept… the environment seems like something apart from us, something “out there” (and increasingly distant).  Most Christians however, would consider themselves part of God’s creation.  I myself can’t wait for it to get warmer so I can get out in the woods or play Frisbee in the fields… the environment doesn’t seem like something I can enjoy sitting in this coffee shop.  God’s creation though is something that seems much more all around me… he even created the chocolate chip scone I’m eating right now (and very much enjoying).  If we can begin to see caring for God’s creation as caring for something we’re a part of, maybe it’ll seem a little more important. St. Augustine didn’t lock creation up in a park or wilderness preserve… he wouldn’t have seen himself as separate from the creation that he so applauded at all… why should we?

God’s peace,
Dustin