Green Chalice News
A monthly e-newsletter from the Creation Care ministry of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

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In This Issue
Green Chalice
is a partnership Creation Care ministry of Disciples Home Missions and the Christian Church in Kentucky. 
Our mission is to connect Christian faith, spiritual practice, and creation consciousness in order to demonstrate the fullness of God's shalom. 
Disciples Home Missions
  DHM hands/words logo
Christian Church in Kentucky
 
Blessed Tomorrow


Green Links

Green Chalice News
March 2016
Mountaintop Removal
Isaiah 9.10 begins, "
I will weep and wail for the mountains..."

A recent study compared pre- and post-mining topographic data in southern West Virginia, examining the regional impact of mountaintop mines on landscape topography and how those changes might influence water quality. The team comparing digitized topographic maps from West Virginia before mountaintop mining became extensive with elevation data found mines and valley fills from 10 to 200 meters deep. Across the region, the average slope of the land dropped by more than 10 degrees post-mining. "You go from having shallow soil ...half a meter and two meters deep, to ... soil that is a hundred meters deep." Ross said. "There are valley fills that are the size of an Olympic swimming pool and then there are valley fills that are 10,000 Olympic swimming pools..." "Once you have these flat plateaus, it sets up a whole new erosion machine and a whole new way that the landscape will be shaped into the future."
Click Here to learn more.
Lenten Devotional

Midway Christian Church in Kentucky is sharing their Lenten Devotional. 
Earth Sunday Worship
April 17 or 24, 2016
Care for God's Creatures
     God told Job to go to animals for wisdom, "Ask the beasts, and let them teach you; and the birds of the heavens, and let them tell you" (12:7) and remonstrated Job with the details of how God created all that is (38-39). Jesus lifts up God's care for the birds of the air to demonstrate God's certain care for humans (Matthew 6:26-30). Perhaps humans were created last in Genesis and added last to the praise chorus in Psalm 148 to remind us, as Job was reminded, that we are not the center of the universe. 
     Creation Justice Ministries Earth Sunday 2016 Resource includes worship resources, Bible study material, and invitations to take action by creating habitats and getting loud on social media for animals. 
Click Here for the 2016 Resource

Interfaith Power and Light
'"Faith Climate Action Week" will encompass nine days in April surrounding Earth Day. The theme is "Paris And Beyond" and will focus on how achieving the climate protection goals in the Paris Agreement require action from all of us. In addition to sample sermons on caring for Creation and the climate, IPL will have resources and links for outdoor activities, films, music, service projects, postcards for policy makers, and more to help involve and educate your congregation on how to protect the climate.
Sign Up Here
CreatureKind
     CreatureKind is a program engaging churches in thinking about animals and our faith focusing particularly on the welfare of farmed animals. CreatureKind encourages Christians to play a leading role in the movement for animal protection.
      CreatureKind offers books and other resources, online tools for learning and collaboration, support for Christians in the animal welfare movement, and speakers able to address congregations and faith communities on the theology and praxis of being CreatureKind. CreatureKind also engages churches at an institutional and congregational level with the challenge to consider their policies in this area, using the CreatureKind Commitment to reduce consumption of animal products, make choices for higher welfare options, and draw wider attention to our treatment of animals.
     Learn more
National Youth Event
Join Green Chalice at this International Youth Event for Disciples and UCC Youth in Orlando this summer. Register Now!

 
Food for Thought
To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter; to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird's nest or a wildflower in spring - these are some of the rewards of the simple life.

JOHN BURROUGHS
Responding to Flint Crisis
Disciples have joined the ecumenical and interfaith community in prayer and action. Through Disciples congregations and our regional church in Michigan, and through Week of Compassion, we are partnering in emergency relief with the local community in Flint, and will continue our work for social and environmental justice for all God's children. We lament with our brothers and sisters of Flint, Michigan. We seek justice for the tens of thousands of residents who have been denied their 14th Amendment rights. We pray for the children of Flint, for worried parents, and all the residents, who, due to lack of information from the government and lack of money, had no choice but to drink toxic water.
-Rev. Dr. Sharon Watkins

Citizens began complaining about the color and odor of the water soon after the city water source was moved to the Flint River in April 2014. The water turned out to be highly toxic, containing lead, copper and triholmethanes resulting in everything from rashes to depression; increased risk for cancer to brain damage. The citizens of Flint spoke out, demonstrated, and gathered signatures on petitions. State and city officials first denied the water was unsafe, then issued a boiled water advisory which is contrary to guidelines from the Center for Disease Control and Preventions because it increased the concentration of toxicities. Officials then advised citizens to drink bottled water which is unaffordable to the over 40% of people in Flint living at or below the poverty line. The crisis in Flint is unjust, sinful and a prime example of environmental racism. 
As people of faith and followers of Christ, we believe "the earth is the Lord's and everything in it, the world and its inhabitants too" (Psalm 24.1) and we are called to protect the earth and everything that lives on it, especially vulnerable people. 
-Rev. Carol Devine

Add your name to a letter asking Congress to include $765 million for Flint to replace toxic pipelines and provide needed health, education, and other services for our people exposed to lead. Sign Here 
Black Church & Climate Work
Black and lower income communities are often hit the hardest by climate change in the United States.  In Genesis, breath is declared a God given right, yet, almost 40 percent of the six million Americans living in close proximity to a coal power plant are people of color....  
Click to read the Black Church Climate Statement

GREEN FOR ALL
Green For All began on April 4, 2008 in Memphis at an event that honored Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.. Thousands of new green economy evangelists were born that day.

-Green For All has inspired, trained, and brought together thousands of activists.
-Green Jobs Now engaged 50,000 people from all 50 states.
-GFA college ambassadors have spearheaded initiatives at Historically Black Colleges and Universities-including Energy Saving Dorm Competitions, Anti-Bottle Campaigns, and Green Job Fairs.
-GFA Fellowship program has trained and supported 135 grassroots leaders nationwide-focusing on a wide range of solutions in food, youth development, clean energy, and community resilience.
-GFA has partnered with artists like Wiz Khalifa, Prince, Wyclef Jean, Common, Les Nubians, and Drake-whose Campus Consciousness Tour reached more than 10,000 college students on 17 different campuses.
Learn More!
Food and Faith
Food Face

A Collection of 200 Christian Food and Faith Resources: Check it out

Disciples Community Garden Program


Join the GC movement!

All it takes is ... 

1. Have an active Green Team.

2. Sign the Green Chalice Covenant as a team or congregation. 

3. Make at least 3 changes that demonstrate your congregation's commitment to caring for God's creation. 

THEN e-mail the following information :  

1. Congregation name, City, State, address and phone number; 

2. the date the Covenant was signed;

3. and the changes made by your congregation to walk more gently on God's creation.

Green Chalice Welcomes
2 New Green Chalice Congregations:

Central Christain Church, Indianapolis, IN
First Christian Church, Vallejo, CA

Click Here for the Full List of Green Chalice Ministries
Sharon Watkins on Climate
"Do not come any closer," God said. "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground."

All of creation waits for us...to step up to preserve our God-given planetary home. How long must creation wait? 
Let's Talk Climate
Messages that inform and empower faith leaders to effectively open the conversation on climate change within their places of worship and in the community. 
Download the Report HERE.
Report Webinar HERE!
Learn more about Blessed Tomorrow

Lenten and 

Resurrection Blessings!

 

Rev. Carol Devine                

Minister for Green Chalice

 


 

Rev. Scott Hardin-Nieri

Associate Minister for Green Chalice

Contemplative Image by Rev. Chuck Summers

Ours is not the task of fixing the entire world at once, but of stretching out to mend the part of the world that is within our reach.

Clarissa Pinkola Estes