Care for the Earth / The Earth’s Care of Us

Pastor Dana Riley

On February 6th a group of RPC members gathered in the Thompson Parlor to brainstorm ways RPC could raise awareness for and be proactive in caring for the earth and our neighborhood. Seeds of ideas were sprinkled into fertile soil and life sprang forth in the form of Sunday School classes, field trips, a neighborhood trash pick up, and a creative worship service which all served to educate, illuminate, and empower people to be better stewards of our shared planet.

Since 2016, RPC has been certified as an Earth Care Congregation through the Presbyterian Church (USA), one of only 15 in the state. Being an Earth Care Congregation means moving the church and its members toward making more sustainable choices that restore and protect all of God’s children and creation.

Caring for the earth is a lifestyle choice that we integrate into all aspects of our lives. Supporting local farmers, planting native trees and shrubs in our yard, growing what we eat, sharing what we grow, and enjoying our natural world, are ways we can embrace and tend the earth from which we came and are sustained.

Earth care is ongoing, not just one day or one month out of the year. So, ride a bike, take a hike, work in the garden, pick up trash in the neighborhood, learn about the different varieties of plants and animals that are native and a necessary part of our ecosystem. We are called not only to take care of the earth, but to let the earth take care of us; to cool us, to warm us, to breathe into us, to hydrate us, to feed us, to shelter us, to heal us, to commune with us. Let us give back to the earth as the earth gives to us. May it be so!