Picture courtesy of livingthechange.net
Stories of Change is a compilation of people from all different religions who have chosen to “live the change.” This page, from Living the Change, showcases inspiring stories of people and the changes they have made with a short description and video for each person. To read more on the Stories of Change, click here.
Image courtesy of creationcare.org
A Month of Gratitude is a way that Christine Sine, creator of Godspace and writer for EEN Moms, is focusing on God’s abundant blessings. Instead of just making the week of Thanksgiving a gratitude week, she has decided to make October and November a season of gratitude. She offers simple ways that anyone can join her by praying, focusing, and practicing. To read more about how you can join her in this season of gratitude, click here.
Picture courtesy of
elca.org/
Beyond the Steeple: New Life in Texas is a video on New Life Lutheran Church in Dripping Springs, Texas. Every Sunday, rain or shine, they hold their worship outdoors under the live oaks on their property. The short video shows an average Sunday at the church and also talks to members about their experience attending a church with no building. Pastor Kara Stewart stated, “I love that in order to come to worship I need to know what’s going on in the world, like the actual creation world not just world events; that we pay attention to what the land will be experiencing when we’re here.” To watch the video on New Life Lutheran Church, click here.
The United Methodist Women logo taken from http://www.unitedmethodistwomen.org
Spiritual Wholeness and Climate Justice is an article from the United Methodist Women. They believe that, “Part of being whole persons in Jesus Christ includes a just relationship with earth and all its communities.” The article goes on to talk about taking action, living with purpose, and how to “Be Just. Be Green.” To read the entire article, click here.
Picture courtesy of greenchurches.ca
Green Churches Network offers songs and hymns to follow the biblical tradition to sing praise to God for creation. The songs come from various Christian traditions, and they accept suggestions for other songs to add. To listen to all of the creation songs and hymns offered, click here.
Picture courtesy of godspacelight.com
Gardening with God in Mind is a short video from Godspace. It focuses on the relationship between gardening and God and how to draw connections between the two, and shows images of a garden created with God in mind. To watch the entire video, click here.
Picture courtesy of humilityofmary.org
The Villa Maria Community Center farm is an integral part of the Sisters of the Humility of Mary. The farm serves as a symbol of the struggle and sacrifice of a small group of women who settled on the Lawrence County land in 1864 and succeeded in establishing a viable, productive farm when others before them had failed. Land management at the farm is based on spirituality, sustainability, simplicity and the preservation of all local life systems. To read more about the farm, click here.
Picture courtesy of godspacelight.com/
As Labor Day approaches, it is important to remember to take the day to relax and enjoy a day free of work. Godspace has offered a prayer to give thanks for the hard work of laborers and communities, and to reflect on gratitude, mercy, service, justice, and the beauty of creation through God’s work. To read the prayer, click here.
Image courtesy of creationcare.org
For Love of Lavender is an account of how Christine Sine, creator of Godspace and writer for Evangelical Environmental Network MOMS, encountered God through the beauty, fragrance, and abundance of the lavender in her garden. She discusses how reflecting on her garden teaches her about God and reminds her of many Bible verses such as Proverbs 27:9 The heart is delighted by the fragrance of oil and sweet perfumes, and in just the same way, the soul is sweetened by the wise counsel of a friend. She also discusses how to use these lessons to teach children. To read more, click here.
To see a general overview of Simpler Living, Compassionate Life click here.
In this section (Worldviews: The Lens through Which We See): “Worldview as Inheritance” by Michael Schut (191-193); “Traditional Western View of Reality” by Duane Elgin (194-196); “Healing Ourselves and the Earth” by Shantilal Bhagat (196-199); “Sacred Cosmology and the Ecological Crisis” by Philip Sherrard (200-205)
This section looks at what false truths humanity has believed that led us to treat the earth so poorly. It highlights specific ways we understand the world, especially in the West, and explains why ideals like dualism have been toxic to our understanding of the world and our relationship to it. Sherrard closes the section that it is not just how we understand the world, but ourselves that has led to our complicity and action in ecological destruction. To save the world, we must come to understand that everything participates in the sacred.