Highlights from the Summer/Fall 2025 Green Team Newsletter:
Green Team Invitation
- The team welcomes feedback and encourages sharing the newsletter.
- Call to action: Congregations with gardens are asked to fill out a brief form: Garden Survey
Upcoming Event: Nuclear Prayer Day
- August 5 at Christ Lutheran, Hellertown
- Marks the 80th anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
- Features a 6 PM peace song sing-along, international livestream, and prayer vigil from the Hiroshima Peace Dome.
ELCA Social Message on Earth’s Climate Crisis
- Urges Christians to care for creation through confession, advocacy, sustainability, and justice.
- Encourages:
- Preaching and worship centered on creation care
- Becoming a Creation Care Covenant Congregation
- Addressing climate anxiety
- Engaging in public and political advocacy
- Emphasizes biblical stewardship, structural sin, and the moral urgency of climate action.
Featured Podcast: Outrage + Optimism
- Recommended by Pastor Inge Williams.
- Episode highlights evangelical Christian climate scientist Dr. Katharine Hayhoe.
- Explores the intersection of faith, politics, and climate denial in the U.S.
- Encourages a spiritual approach rooted in honesty, justice, and hope.
Stamp Clarification: Rausch Creek
- A recent Appalachian Trail stamp was mistakenly identified as Schuylkill County’s Rausch Creek.
- It actually depicts Rausch Creek in Lebanon County.
- Still, the mix-up sparked local excitement and appreciation for the area’s rich mining and milling history.
Book Preview: Here Comes the Sun by Bill McKibben
- Not yet released (due August), but anticipated to be both sobering and hopeful.
- Focuses on missed opportunities and the ongoing global solar and wind revolution.
- Recommended purchase: Bookshop.org listing
Inspiration: Church Garden Ministry
- A thriving church garden grew from a small Sunday School idea into a robust produce donation program.
- Now includes 18+ raised beds, organic practices, a shed, deer fencing, and a CSA for local seniors.
- Distributes food to:
- Local food banks
- Seniors in housing
- New Bethany Ministries
- Encourages other churches to begin gardens and advocates for high-quality, nutritious produce.
- In addition, the congregation has begun keeping bees as part of their creation care efforts.
Looking for More?
Visit the Green Team's webpage for additional newsletters and resources on how you can help care for God's creation.
