We are experiencing a Climate Emergency!
I am called to ACTION this Season of Lent.
This year I will be sharing a Lenten Campaign called ‘Give it Up for the Earth’.
For the 4th year ‘Citizen’s for Public Justice’ or CPJ is lobbying the Federal Government.
“A complete suite of measures is needed to address the climate crisis and move towards decarbonization by 2050. At the heart of a good way forward is respect for Indigenous autonomy and consideration of people who have been traditionally marginalized and are particularly vulnerable in the climate crisis. Essential climate action measures include ending fossil fuel subsidies, strengthening carbon emissions pricing, and investing low-carbon infrastructure. Drawing many of these issues together, the Give it up for the Earth! campaign calls on the federal government to invest in a National Just Transition and Decarbonization Strategy. We know that a modernized, diversified green economy will lead to major emissions reductions, create good, secure jobs, and promote the well-being of everyone in Canada.” (cpj.ca)
I will be sharing this postcard campaign with my fellow parishioners at St. Mark’s Anglican, Brant Deanery. It is a good way to experience advocacy and to act upon the 5th Mark of Mission, ‘To Strive to safeguard the integrity of creation, and sustain and renew the life of the earth.’
It’s not too late to sign up to organize a Give it Up for the Earth event for your church or wider community. Go to cpj.ca You will get all that you need in the mail including postcards, posters, an organizing guide a faith and climate reflection and a Just Transition Backgrounder.
Nancy Harvey is a Co-Chair of Social & Ecological Justice Huron.
An Invitation from the Earth
Take off your shoes.
Like Moses, take off your shoes.
This is holy ground.
Walk gently through my woods.
Tread softly on my face.
Walk reverently through my garden.
This is holy ground.
This is God’s sanctuary.
I invite you to worship with your feet this day.
I invite you to walk across my landscape and sense the life within,
The glory that fills my body – God’s presence below.
I invite you to reach down to the holy ground beneath you.
Walk in the water. Sink in the sand. Stand on a rock.
You are walking on fire, the fire of God’s glory vibrant within.
Take off your shoes. This is holy ground.
This is the sanctuary of God.
Amen.
(Norman C. Habel, Seven Songs of Creation
in We Dare to Say – Praying for Justice and Peace 2007
from Living Ecological Justice: A Biblical Response to the Environmental Crisis,
a publication of Citizens for Public Justice, 2013)