There can be a tension between trusting in God and walking the way of Jesus. With so much happening in our world at this critical moment in history, it’s tempting to take one path – particularly trusting in God – and leave the walking to someone else. Yet when we don’t follow Jesus as his hands and feet and heart we miss our calling to love our neighbor with no exceptions. And without the critical trust that is an integral part of our faith we can lose the energy necessary to keep on walking. Whether it’s advocating for our immigrant and climate refugee neighbors, ministering to our homeless and food insecure marginalized friends, defending democracy and the health of the land, promoting human dignity of all, or finding ways to protect God’s creation, trust in God and a commitment to follow the example set by our brother Jesus are essential to living with integrity in our troubled world.
What does this have to do with the secular celebration of Earth Month? We in St Paul’s Simpler Living Creation Care ministry along with many others in The Episcopal Church find that all of the above good works are dependent on a healthy and healing Earth. We are an important part of the community that surrounds us. So we bring our super powers of prayer, reflection, discernment and action to the reality of climate disruption because we believe that we need to lean on God as we act for our neighbor (and that includes Mother Earth!)
It wouldn’t be much of an Earth Month without spending time enjoying Nature! Our annual Spring Retreat will be held in the garden of Cindy Schuricht in La Mesa. During the “open garden” (come and go as you wish) we’ll hold a brief prayer service, labyrinth walk, benches for reflection with visual prompts, and brunch. The retreat will be held on April 18 from 10 am – 12:30 pm. To register for the Retreat: carolynglief@gmail.com.
The highlight of Earth Month at St Paul’s is our Sunday celebration of Creation Care Sunday on April 19 services at 8 am and 10:30 am. At the Sunday 9 am Adult Forums from April 14 through May 3 we will hold a four-part series on Christ in Creation.
Click here for additional details from the flyer.
“ As a whole church, we have promised to place the care of God’s Creation at the heart of our common life. Together, we have taken up church-wide action in order to safeguard the integrity of Creation and to sustain and renew the life of the Earth.” From TEC: An Episcopal Vision for Creation Care
Pray, learn, discern and grow with us this Earth Month at St Paul’s.
