Weekly ECN Newsletter/Bulletin Insert: Book Groups, and the Archbishop of Canterbury

Think having a green corner in your parish newsletter or bulletin is a great idea, but don’t have time to research or write one? Episcopal Climates News is here to help! Every Monday, to help Christians live out our faith in daily life, ECN offers a green-living tip and a theological quote that your parish can use in its weekly newsletter or bulletin. Just copy/paste the text below for your parish communications, and feel free to edit as space requires. Share this week’s column on Facebook.

Living on God’s Earth
By Episcopal Climate News, facebook.com/EpiscopalClimateNews

This week’s earth-friendly living tip: Organize an eco-faith book group!

For many churches, the new program year begins this month. Can you organize a book group at your parish or in your community this fall to study the connections between faith and the environment? The more we learn, the more actions we will be able to take to protect God’s creation. Here are four suggested books, which you can also read on your own:

Climate Church, Climate World: How People of Faith Must Work for Change, by the Rev. Jim Antal. The United Church of Christ’s leading voice on climate change explores climate science, worship, personal discipleship and action, and much more.
Loving Creation: Christian Spirituality, Earth-Centered and Just, by Kathleen Fischer. “Draws from ancient and contemporary sources to fashion a holistic Christian spirituality that unites ecological concerns with social justice [and] personal struggles with those of the planet.”
Laudato Si: On Care for our Common Home, by Pope Francis. The pope’s groundbreaking and spiritually moving “encyclical” on climate change and social justice should be required reading! You can order a physical book, or read it online for free.
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teaching of Plants,” by Robin Kimmerer. The Potawatomi woman and Professor of Environmental and Forest Biology explores different ways of knowing, examining both indigenous approaches and western science, and looking at why we should express gratitude to the earth for the things it gives us.

Episcopal Climate News quote of the week:

Christian churches around the world unite in celebration of the “Season of Creation” from September 1 to October 4. The joint website, http://seasonofcreation.org, includes statements and videos from faith leaders calling on Christians to worship our Creator and protect the good gift of creation. This week, we feature the statement from the current Archbishop of Canterbury, titular head of the Anglican Communion, to which the Episcopal Church belongs:

“In this Season of Creation, we celebrate God the Creator, we thank God for the extraordinary riches of his grace. But we also come in sorrow for the way we have defaced creation and misused it for our own ends. In this Season, let’s find again a true vision of what being made in the image of God, caring for creation can mean, and commit ourselves to action.” – The Most Rev. Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury