As Elizabeth Nemirovsky so eloquently wrote last week, the 51st anniversary of Earth Day is next week, on April 22nd. Communities of faith frequently participate in this celebration of our planet, or in the words of Pope Francis, “our common home”, because almost all faith traditions call upon their believers to be good stewards of Creation as well as to care for their neighbors.
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church of Bedford is hosting several events to observe Earth Day, two of them this coming Sunday, April 18th.
Live-streamed Worship on Sunday, April 18
At 10 am our live-streamed worship service will feature an anthem from the “Emerald Stream” by Seth Houston. We will also welcome the Rev. Dr. Margaret Bullitt-Jonas as our guest preacher, speaking to us in a pre-recorded message.
Rev. Bullitt-Jonas is a well-known climate activist and a frequent speaker on faith-based climate action. She recently co-authored the book Rooted and Rising: Voices of Courage in a Time of Climate Crisis. To view the service, either live or afterward, please visit St. Paul’s YouTube channel < https://youtu.be/KiZjAKGB0BA >
Kiss the Ground ~ A Film about the Earth
Later that same day, from 3:30-4:45 pm, St. Paul’s will host a discussion based on the film, Kiss the Ground. This film is an inspiring introduction to the capacity of healthy soil to sequester legacy carbon on a large scale and also feed the planet. It inspires both backyard gardeners and commercial farmers to nurture their soil without chemical additives. View the trailer here.
In addition, Interfaith Power & Light, as part of their 2021 Earth Day theme–“Sacred Ground: Cultivating Connections: Food, Faith, Climate”–has arranged for two weeks (10-25 April) of free viewing of the film for anyone who registers.
Sign up at https://interfaithpowerandlight.salsalabs.org/trpfilm2021kisstheground/index.html
We all depend on food to live, no matter what our faith or philosophical tradition, so how we grow it should be integral to the way we care for the Earth and for each other. To initiate this conversation, St. Paul’s will invite attendees to consider ways we all can better care for our common home. If you are interested in joining this discussion, please send an email to [email protected] for the Zoom link. You do not need to have watched the film before joining us.
To see other activities sponsored by Faith Climate Action Week and Interfaith Power & Light click <https://www.faithclimateactionweek.org/events/>.
A Final Prayer Service ~ St Paul’s Church, Noon on April 22
St. Paul’s final observation of Earth Day will be an online Noonday Prayer Service on Earth Day, Thursday, April 22, at 12noon. To get the link to this event, please email [email protected].
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Thank you for posting this article about what St. Paul’s Episcopal Church is doing to observe Earth Day. Unfortunately, some of the information got garbled in translation. The reference to Sacred Ground, was NOT another film about the earth, but the umbrella title for the theme used by Interfaith Power & Light, as part of their 2021 Earth Day theme–“Sacred Ground: Cultivating Connections: Food, Faith, Climate”–has arranged for two weeks (10-25 April) of free viewing of the film for anyone who registers. The arrangement for free viewing is for the film, “Kiss the Ground.” Apologies for the confusion. We, the Green Team at St. Paul’s, do hope you can join us!