The April 21st church service was an Earth Day celebration of the spirit of the earth, our need to collaborate to nourish and sustain her, and a call to action for East Shore to continue our tradition of direct climate action. The Earth and Climate Action team (ECAM) has worked since late last year to solicit ideas and concerns from the congregation about our dreams for healing the Earth, what we can do as a group to collaborate to have an impact, and how those actions can take place. ECAM talked to almost all ministry teams, had listening sessions with other members, solicited one-on-one feedback, and conducted an online survey, to give all of us the opportunity to participate and share our feelings and ideas.
The work resulted in a lot of great feedback, that fell roughly into five categories. The most consistent areas of interest and concern were:
- Developing deeper Connection with Nature
- Embracing Indigenous Wisdom about the natural world
- Acknowledging our grief, and shifting to Hope and Action
- Advancing Environmental Justice
- Assuring a sustainable planet for future generations
This feedback gives all of us at East Shore a core set of values and priorities to further our positive climate action. ECAM will continue to organize the feedback and share ideas in more detail, and more climate action sessions are certain to arise from what our congregation has said.
To top off the Earth Day activities ECAM hosted a Climate Action Celebration in the sanctuary, featuring live music with multimedia, composed by John Chmaj and performed by an all-East Shore ensemble, featuring more extended sharing of congregational feedback and personal observations from all of us. The more we can share our passions for the Earth, and find ways to work together to heal our world, the greater our impact and commitment will be. Hoping your Earth Day was filled with gratitude for the miraculous ‘blue boat’ we find ourselves sailing in!
by John Chmaj, Earth & Climate Action Ministry Team