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DECEMBER 2013 ~~ KIDS CREATION CARE GReen Mail 

 
The Pax Christi USA Global Restoration Committee would like to share this information with you, our GReen mail activists.   We invite you to pray, study and act with us across the miles recognizing that a sustainable, healthy world is a more peaceful world for all creation.

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We hope to offer you the opportunity to build relationships with young people and gain insight from them on how we can all live in peace with justice on this planet we call Mother Earth. 

 

~Kids Creation Care ~

GO INTO ALL THE WORLD GREETING CARD


This month our Kid's Creation Care was written by Pax Christi USA Teacher of Peace and co-founder of  Little Friends for Peace - Mary Joan Park. MJ is a peace educator with over 30 yrs. of experience working with children and adults.   She is also a member of the Pax Christi Global Restoration/Care for Creation Committee.  


TWO HANDS HOLD THE EARTH  

  
Love of the earth and creation is universal. 
  
Children all over the world love creation:  animals, flowers, trees, air, sea and land. 
  
  
Prayer:
by MJ Park 
  
God our Creator 
ever present and all loving, 
we thank you for the beauty of creation 
and all the graces poured out. 
  
Thank you for all the seeds planted in our hearts and minds 
from your words, stories, and teachings 
that nourish us like hearty bread to help us 
care for earth, air and sea. 
  
May we hold all of creation in our hands and heart
May our hands care for creation 
May our minds give us the wisdom to make good choices 
May our heart share the love that is bubbling in us as 
we enjoy the bounty of creation. 
  
Thank you God for entrusting Care for Creation to us, 
Thank you God for giving us love, 
Thank you God for giving us Peace. 
  
  
  
Study:
  
Get out a world map and look at all the different continents, countries, oceans, rivers and lakes.  Discuss the amazing responsibility we have as stewards of this vast creation.
  
Now think of all those living in the world and speaking different languages, eating different food, dressing in different clothing but everywhere creation is the same: land, air, water. 
  
Example :  El Salvador :  Village of La Chacra near San Salvador 
  
Beautiful little village with mountains surrounding it, green grass along the road and very beautiful trees.  I was moved and filled with Peace as I visited this past summer. 
  
However, there is much garbage and lots of waste as the people are not acting with a conscious awareness of what they are doing as they throw the candy wrappers on the ground and the empty drinks that are served in plastic (with a straw), and empty packaging from their fruit and cracker snacks.  Thus the ground looks like an open garbage can. The river running through the town has lots of white foam from the detergent causing pollution.  I wonder - how do the fish live there?
  
1. What is happening?
  
2.  Why is it happening?
  
3.  What can we do about it?
 
4.  Is this what God had in mind for care of creation?
 
    
Action:
  
Little Friends For Peace, founded and directed by my husband Jerry and I, was invited to go to El Salvador by Holy Trinity Parish in the Georgetown area of Washington, DC.  We went to their sister parish Maria Madre De Los Pobres  in La Charqua to offer our peace education.  Our program was geared for children & adults, and was called Two Hands Hold the Earth.  We worked with K-3rd grade children; teachers, janitors, cooks and parents to teach how to live & practice peace and nonviolent living.
  
We did the above prayer and then a study of creation and what was going on in their village.  We met a teacher named Sonia Margarita Alfano Lopez who is also working to stop deforestation and plant trees.  She decided to write letters, talk to people and educate them on what was happening and work together to stop ruining the village and the ecosystem of the San Jacinto Mountain.  We know she will continue her moving, compassionate actions to educate people and work for change. 
 
Through our various gatherings the children began to see that the earth is hurting from the garbage, the pollution and the lack of care.  So we decided to:  
  • Make posters reminding people not to throw trash. 
  • Make posters reminding people to use the trash cans.
  • We held a trash clean up and all the children collected trash on the playground and around the church. 

  
We had a Peace Prayer Circle:
  
1. We put the earth ball in the middle of the circle and planted the Peace Pole which says :  May Peace Prevail on Earth 
  
2.  We sang :  "Two Hands Hold The Earth" 
  
3.  We read:  The Giving Tree by Silverstein
  
4. All the children made a personal flag with a picture of something they love in Creation and how they will CARE for it . 
  
      
We always encourage reading together:
  
The Great Kapok Tree by Lynne Cherry 
  
Chimpanzees by Jane Goodall
 
The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein 

Sharing The Joy of Nature : Nature Activities For All Ages  by Joseph Cornell

Children of the Earth and Sky by  Stephen Krensky 

The Kids Nature Book : 365 Indoor /Outdoor Activities and Experiences by Susan Milord 
  
  

 

and a little child shall lead them...

 

MAY PEACE PREVAIL ON EARTH 

and

LET IT BEGIN WITH ME

 

Wishing you happy holidays 

& a peaceful New Year!

 

In Christ's peace,

 

Pax Christi USA's Global Restoration/Care for Creation Committee expresses our gratitude to Mary Joan Park for sharing this youth focused perspective with us.


Fostering a reverence for all creation

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