EARTH DAY Month
Celebrating Earth Day, All Year Round
Earth Day (April 22) is an annual event to demonstrate support for environmental protection. First held on April 22, 1970, it now includes a wide range of events coordinated globally through earthday.org including 1 billion people in more than 193 countries. At First Plymouth, we honor and celebrate Earth Day this month, and all year round.
First Plymouth is a Creation Justice Church, committed through worship and intentional practices to lovingly care for God’s creation. We seek to protect and restore the earth through education, sustainable practices, and connecting with other partners. Recognizing the interconnectedness of our planet and its inhabitants, we focus on our community’s environmental impact.
Our active Creation Justice Ministry meets regularly to plan activities for the church and community. Events include electronics recycling, restoration projects, seedlings for peace, group hikes, vegan potlucks, educational events, and the upcoming Repair Café.
“Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together … all things connect.“
–Chief Seattle
Earth Day Month
- April 6th – Eco-Cycle to be the Share the Plate partner, all month
- April 13th – Seed planting, 11:15-12:00pm
- April 26 – Helping Hands Repair Cafe, 12:00-3:00pm
- May 25th – Creation Justice worship service 10:00am
Transplant flower seedlings into First Plymouth landscape 11:15-12:00pm
Get Involved
Join us in April as we celebrate Earth Day through worship and special events.
- Mobilize: On April 5, 3:00pm, Capitol Bdlg. “Hands Off! Denver Fights Back”
- Educate: Building a global citizenry fluent in the concept of climate change volunteer toolkits.
- Advocate: Take action by calling/writing to lawmakers and signing petitions.
- Pledge: Post your action on social media of contributing financially, removing litter, biking to work, etc.
Recent Sermons on Earth Day
Being Good Stewards of God’s Creation
All spiritual traditions have creation stories. These creation stories are there to teach us about our humble beginnings, about how the Sacred brought all things into being. The creation stories serve as a reminder of Spirit’s instruction to us to be good stewards and custodians of what the Sacred created.
In the Hebraic creation story (at least in the Christian translations of the Hebrew Bible), the word used for how we are to relate to creation is “dominion” or “subdue.” Most translations write: “God blessed them (humanity), and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.”
This translation is often poorly interpreted as God creating all things to fulfill human needs. Therefore, we, as humans, can use the resources Earth has as we chose. This is a wrongful interpretation. The Hebrew word is better translated as “steward.” The translation I like best for this verse comes from the Priests for Equality’s translation of the Torah: “Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, to be like us. Let them be stewards of the fish in the sea, the birds of the air, the cattle, the wild animals, and everything that crawls on the ground.”
The use of the word “steward” shifts our understanding of what our Creator is requiring of us. Genesis, chapter two, helps us deepen that understanding of stewardship. Genesis chapter two is another telling of the Creation story. In this chapter we learn: “The Lord God took the earth creature and put Adamah (earth creature) in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it.
And the Lord God commanded the earth creature, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die. ”God creates Adamah (earth creature) to till the garden of Eden. God gave an instruction that humans could eat of the plants of the garden except for the Tree of Good and Evil. That was to be left alone.
What I find interesting here is that God’s job for humanity is to till, to care for, what God has created. Not to have dominion over it, as we see fit. These two stories go hand in hand. Together, they bring an understanding of what it means to be stewards of Mother Earth and all God’s Creation.
We have, as a culture, lost this understanding. Many take our earth for granted, ignoring her hurt and pain. More and more of us are awakening to the need to truly care for Mother Earth and our resources. We are stepping into a theology of ecology and stewardship.
Reflection Questions:
- How are you being a steward of Mother Earth?
- What in your life is preventing you from deepening your stewardship of God’s Creation?
Prayer:
Gracious God, your amazing love extends through all time and space, to all parts of your creation, which you created and called good… As people of faith, we are called into covenant. Your covenant of faithfulness and love extends to the whole creation. We pray for the healing of the earth, that present and future generations may enjoy the fruits of creation, and continue to glorify and praise you. Amen. ~ from the Web of Creation website.