In case anyone reading this blog is still wondering what commitment to make for Lent, our Care for Creation team has some ideas!

The Season of Creation, a churchwide time for prayer and action on the environment, began on September 1st and runs through October 4th this year. As noted by Dr. David Scott, the UM Director of Mission Theology at the General Board of Global Ministries, “the need for Christians to act on creation care has never been as pressing. Climate change is not something that will happen if we do not take action. It is something that is already happening and will get much, much worse without significant action.”

This year’s shred-a-thon on June 10th didn’t go exactly to plan, but that doesn’t mean we can’t all still do our part to responsibly use and dispose of paper products. We can use tree-free paper (like bamboo toilet paper), opt into electronic statements and bills, and more! We can also help create an urban tree canopy and plant more trees in urban areas through initiatives such as the one hosted by Greensboro Beautiful, which WMCUMC will volunteer at this fall. There so many things we can do as individuals and as a community to make a difference for creation, and each and every little thing matters.

Is reducing general clutter one of your new year’s resolutions? It can be hard, even overwhelming, to decide what to do with our excess stuff, and it can be tempting to just throw it out. But caring for creation also means using and reusing resources wisely, even when you don’t need them anymore.

Did you know that United Methodist Church representatives and other faith voices were present and active at COP27? COP27 stands for Conference of the Parties and this is the 27th year that nations from all over the world have met to build a cooperative effort to both mitigate and adapt to climate change and its negative impacts on our planet. The conference took place this year from November 6th-18th in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.

Like many of our holidays, Halloween can be a time when we forget about the environmental impacts of our celebrations and traditions. But it is also an opportunity to practice creation care while having lots of fun!

The Season of Creation runs from September 1st to October 4th. The theme for 2022 is Listen to the Voice of Creation – to creation speaking through the impacts of climate change on wildlife, on frontline communities, on forests, oceans, and shorelines. It is an opportunity for us to lift up concerns, hopes, and commitments through songs, prayers, sermons, daily reflections, events, and personal actions.

Millions of batteries are tossed in the trash each year. That’s often the easiest thing to do and many of us do it without thinking. Or, if we do stop to consider whether it is a wise thing to do, we can quickly toss them in the trash anyway, given a reluctance to take the time to find somewhere convenient to store them until you have enough to make a trip to the hazardous waste facility worth the time and effort. I have been through all this myself and have (in the past) made the exact wrong decision!

Nearly one-third of the world’s food is never eaten (www.drawdown.org). To grow and transport all of that wasted food takes valuable resources – land, water, human and fossil fuel energy.

The Yale Climate Climate Opinion maps show that, nationally, 65% of adults are worried about the impacts of climate change. In Guilford County, 71% of people are worried. Nationally, 71% of people believe global warming will harm future generations and 74% of people in Guilford county feel that way. Many of the climate activists I’ve met are retired grandparents, worried about the environment we are leaving for their grandchildren or high school and college students anxious about their own futures.

Many people don’t associate advocacy with church membership. Methodists have long been known for taking an active stance in society worldwide. Our mission work is rooted in that Wesleyan commitment.

Anyone who attended Easter services at West Market surely noticed there were no Easter lilies for Easter! Did you wonder why? Well, in the course of learning to care for creation in many new and different ways, we discovered that Easter lilies are not sustainably produced.

In addition to celebrating all that the Easter season means to each of us, West Market UMC is celebrating Creation during April “Earth Month” in three ways!

Our Care for Creation (C4C) blog starts today! Read posts on creation care theology, creation care events in both our church and the community, updates on the creation care and creation justice movements within the wider Methodist Church, and interviews with people involved in the work.