Sustainability Prayer

See the Sustainability Prayer below (that's my name for it)....


Lord, I already know the best way to alter my life-style to the best advantage for all--live like Jesus. The Christian existence ideally is to imitate what you do. You send the sun and rain on everyone, you want me to get back to the basic facts of life, to love without reservation, to distinguish between life's needs and life itself, and seek first your kingdom knowing you will meet all my other needs.

Still it is easy to trust in the "things" of today and feel like it is up to me to see that humanity survives. Keep me from undue worry and pride. Remind me that life is a gift--not a right, and that my attitude toward the ultimate resources and values in life will determine how the earth's resources will be handled and provided for those who need them. I have already formed many habits of consuming and acting. Guide me in aligning my personal priorities to conform to my awareness of a world hungry. May my life-style become more compatible with our biosphere and supportive of peoples around the world.

Lord, help me choose a simpler life-style that promotes solidarity with the world's poor, helps me appreciate nature more, affords greater opportunity to work together with my neighbors, reduces my use of limited resources, creates greater inner harmony, saves money, allows time for meditation and prayer, incites me to take political and social action.

May all my decisions about my style of life celebrate the joy of life that comes from loving you. Amen.

From Visions of a World Hungry by Thomas G. Pettepiece




It reminds us that our attitude and view of God shapes the way that we anticipate and influence the distribution of resources, not to mention that if life is a gift then we are not only offending the individual when taking it away, we are offending God. It also reminds us that through dependency on God we can learn humility that will shape our ethic toward one another. It also holds in tension our significance along with our insignificance. I found this in "A Guide to Prayer" daily devotional published by Upper Room.

Matt

Sermon from Rick and Ellen Burnette Online

Just wanted to let you all know, plus evoke some discussion, on Rick & Ellen's sermon from Sunday. You'll find the sermon online at Wieuca's website as well as on this blog.

Many thanks to them for their courage, thoughtfulness, and prophetic witness!

Matt

Two hilarious but sad things from the FRC

Article on the FRC trying to get pastors to do "civil disobedience" and tell them not to vote for Democrats.

And....if you're not crying or laughing enough....

Here's an article from them saying "Down to Earth Day." Because any action to protect the environment is "environmental extremism." My favorite quote though is, "The crisis du jour is global warming, but even that is just another excuse to fund "Planet" Parenthood and similar groups. Stewardship of God's creation is the responsibility of every Christian. But we must realize that there's a greater threat to the environment than climate change or scarce resources--and that's the threat of environmental extremism that elevates the planet above people."

Since when do we not LIVE on the planet????

PeaceActs Forum

FYI...Deedra passed this along to me. I have greater investment in this given that Dr. Durley was on my Turkey pilgrimage a couple weeks ago. Anybody going already or want to go? I'm interested but it's a little pricey.

--Matt

The PeaceActs Forum will welcome our board co-president Dr. Gerald L. Durley and a Muslim fellow world pilgrim traveler, journalist Andjela Kessler author of "The International Friendship Book,” Wendy Green of the Peace Alliance, and Congressman John Lewis. The early afternoon session with a panel of artists will focus on art as a pathway to peace. This amazing all-day event at the Carter Center on May 3 will conclude with discussion groups on human rights, the global needs of children and families, and other issues relevant to the practice of peace. Visit the website of Peace Acts — a nonpartisan citizen action organization dedicated to the promotion of peace. Find out about registration, reduced fees, and you might even consider sponsoring a scholarship for someone.


http://www.peaceacts.org/forum.php

We Can Solve It

We Can Solve It

Amazing if you haven't seen these ads with Pelosi & Gingrich, and Sharpton and Roberts.

See the other resources on the page too.

Happy Earth Day!

Matt

we're kinda famous....

Hey JEPR folks...

Thanks to Ethics Daily we're famous.
See the article.

Though there's one little detail reversed and my lack of decent grammar is apparent, it's a really good article. :)

Matt

JEPR Viewing?

Hey folks, do any of you want to watch The Great Warming as a preview to the "official" showing that we may do later? Any available tomorrow (4-22) at any time? I have an evening meeting but I think I could work it in before the meeting (7pm I think). Or some other time this week?

Matt

Cool People Care

Check out this website, Cool People Care. It's based out of Nashville. They send out great tips every day for doing small things to help better the world around you. Everything from making it easier to recycle, to encouraging those around you, to living more simply.

You can subscribe for free to either their RSS feed or get a daily email. They call it, "5 minutes of caring."

Enjoy!
Matt

The Great Warming

I have ordered a copy of the "faith edition" of the movie, The Great Warming. Earth Day is April 22nd. I've talked with a couple of you about showing the movie on that day (it's a Tuesday--but we could do Sunday instead of or in addition to).

The Great Warming

Thoughts? Anyone want to help brainstorm the context for showing the film?

Helping Wieuca's congregation become "more sustainable"

This note was sent by GIPL and forwarded to me, with pressure, by Matt. Acknowledging the long unmet need for our group, I will go to the training this Sunday afternoon.

Can anyone else attend so that we can take in both tracks? Otherwise I am not sure which one would be best for me to catch.

Scott

Join us for our spring Congregational Representative Training on Sunday, March
16 at Epiphany Episcopal Church (2089 Ponce De Leon Ave NE Atlanta, GA 30307)
from 2 pm to 5 pm. We will have two tracks – one for congregations just
starting out and one for going beyond first steps. Feel free to bring
multiple representatives from your congregations and go to both tracks!
Topics covered will include: Starting a Green Team in your congregation, Ideas
for Education, Light Bulb Sales and Swaps, Green Worship, Energy Audits, and
more. We will also have an introduction to our new, improved Power Lite
program and to Cool Congregations – a program for engaging congregational
members in taking measurable carbon-reduction steps at home.