Caring for All Creation

One of the most important and powerful influences in our lives is the church. Vacation Bible school presents a great opportunity to help shape how kids view the world. Some of the most urgent concerns we face today are those connected to how we relate to and care for God’s creation. This week’s VBS can become one of the experiences that help kids deepen their connection to God’s creation.

What Does It Mean for Churches to “Go Green”?

In Acts 17 the apostle Paul, preaching to the Athenians, describes God as the being in whom “we live and move and have our being.” Psalm 24:1 begins simply “The earth and everything on it belong to the Lord.” And in the first chapter of Genesis, God declares all creation “very good.” When churches reclaim the truths found in these verses, they regain fundamental elements of Christian theology: Earth is not ours to use as we see fit; God is not only a magnificent Creator, but constant presence, a spirit in whom we “live and move and have our being.” God loves the entire creation. These verses simply reinforce what we know deep in our bones: God’s creation is sacred.

“Green” churches (and church members) reclaim these truths and try to live them practically in their daily and congregational lives.

“Green” churches recognize that people in need are those most often negatively impacted by environmental degradation. “Green” churches follow Christ’s example of speaking out for those who are in need and are voiceless in society. “Green” churches recognize that it is wrong when our actions and consumptive habits cause the extinction of entire species. And so, “green” churches take a stand for the voiceless, human, and other-than-human.

What Can Congregations Do?

Churches educate their members through both obvious and not-so obvious ways. Some more obvious ways are: Sunday school class topics and the pastor’s sermon. Just as important, though, are the educational messages we don’t always notice: how energy-efficient is the church building; what kind of coffee is served; how does the church care for its grounds (coffee and otherwise)? “Deep green” suggests awareness of the importance of integrating caring for all creation into all aspects of congregational life.

The range of things congregations can do to “go green” is limited only by our imaginations. And most any activity can in some way incorporate kids. Below you’ll find some initial ideas and resources that will hopefully inspire further ideas of your own:

Worship: Integrate creation-honoring prayers, hymns, artwork, and liturgies into worship services. Ask your pastor to preach about God’s gift of creation. Hold a worship service outdoors; invite other churches to join you. Ask kids to lead some of the prayers and make and display artwork focusing on their favorite parts of creation.

Grounds: Plant a garden on your property and donate the produce to a food bank. Plant native species. Create habitat for birds and wildlife. Eliminate the use of toxic chemicals/pesticides.

Energy use: Audit your church’s energy use. (Many municipalities or power companies offer free environmental audits.) Once your church has identified priority actions, sponsor a volunteer church workday to install weather-stripping, energy-efficient lighting, insulation, and so on.

Your church home may be in a specific watershed. Sponsor creek or river cleanup days; partner with organizations carrying out watershed restoration projects. Kids love this kind of activity!

While at the restoration site, or some other outdoor activity, or play some games together. Call your local nature center for ideas. Environmental educators share very creative ways for adults and kids to directly experience and interact with creation’s beauty. Joseph Cornell’s books come highly recommended: see his Sharing Nature with Children, for example. Consider playing some of these games during vacation Bible school.

Bike, walk, bus, or carpool to church! Faith communities describe alternative transportation Sundays as community-building, inspiring, and fun. During the worship service, invite all participants to the front of the church for a blessing; bring the bikes up, too, and bless the bikes and bikers!

Nurture compassionate hearts. Get to know people, even those who seem pretty different; volunteer to care for wounded animals or restore degraded habitat. Do these things with others from your church.

Regarding rainforests—addressing poverty and overconsumption: Rainforests have been described as Earth’s lungs, absorbing carbon dioxide (the most prevalent greenhouse gas warming the climate) and exhaling oxygen. They are also home to the world’s greatest concentration of biological diversity. What can we do to protect rainforests? Probably the number one threat to rainforests is habitat destruction. Habitat destruction is in turn driven by both poverty and over consumption.

Needless to say that addressing poverty also addresses ecological concerns like habitat destruction. It is crucial that all of us, including our children, see that caring for people is directly connected to caring for the rest of the natural world. It is crucial that when we say and write, “caring for all creation” we understand creation to include all of God’s miraculous works, both human and other-than-human.

Finally, we are born with an innate connection to the rest of God’s creation. Our culture tends to gradually erode the very awareness of that connection. But kids maintain a sense of wonder, awe, and delight in their relationship with the rest of the natural world. So remember to learn from them. And remember that their well-being, their future home, is what we seek now to learn to love and protect.

Web Links

• http://www.thevbsplace.org
• http://www.aboutsfi.org
• http://www.paperrecycles.org/