By Abel Vega
Observed since 1970, Earth Day (April 22) initially drew attention to the increasing amounts of air pollution in the U.S. from leaded-gas for automobiles. In 1990 Earth Day burst into the global arena, which propelled the convening of the United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. Today, Earth Day calls for action to change human behavior and global, national, and local policies to combat climate change.
The Sunday closest to April 22, The United Methodist Church observes the Festival of God’s Creation, celebrating God’s gracious work in creating the earth and all living things, doing so through worship and various other ways of connecting to God’s creation. The UMC provides worship and learning resources to enhance our discipleship as stewards of God’s creation.
Rio Texas Conference Earth Day Initiatives
Saturday, April 22
Earth Day With Prayer Walk
Northern Hills United Methodist Church (NHUMC) invited the community to celebrate Earth Day by exploring Creation Care through the Beatitudes in a Prayer Walk. NHUMC, the first church in the state of Texas to be designated a Sacred Grounds site with the National Wildlife Federation, also partnered with the San Antonio River Authority, Native Plant Society, The Nature Conservancy Texas, and others to host a day of workshops, tours, and presentations including an interactive watershed demo, seed bombs, birdhouses, giveaways, and other events.
Sunday, April 23
Las Misiones District Creation Care Festival
The festival featured environmental films, children’s activities, health screenings, and displays where various faith groups demonstrated their own projects (using solar power, creating a prayer walk, preserving natural areas, using low impact development, hosting outdoor meeting spaces, and more. Volunteers were available to mentor others desiring to responsibly care for God’s Creation.
At Work Behind the Scenes
With a handful of participants to begin the conversation, the Rio Texas Conference Creation Care ministry formally began with monthly, cohort-learning gatherings September 2022 through January 2023. Now the conversation continues as a network, gathering monthly online, seeking to grow and learn how the various congregations are caretakers of God’s creation. Since 2019, several Rio Texas Conference disciples have become EarthKeepers through the General Board of Global Ministries creation care and justice training program.
God declares all creation good and as Christians we are called to be its caretakers. United Methodists are committed to keeping our planet green, clean, and sustainable for all. The Rio Texas Conference Creation Care ministry seeks to understand how extreme weather events are harming our congregations and communities.
We ask ourselves, How are we responding to the rapidly changing climate? While politicians, activists, economists, and scientists debate the climate crisis, the church has remained remarkably silent. And yet we know according to Paul in Romans that “creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God” (Romans 8:19-23). Our first commandment before the fall was to care for creation. Like the parable of the workers in the vineyard (Luke 20:9-16), we were given the charge over creation (Genesis 1:26) and directed to “till it and keep it” (Genesis 2:16). And as in the parable, our sin warped that original call to one of exploitation, greed, and gluttony.
The climate has become an outward and visible sign of our sin, which creation can no longer bear. The climate crisis is a spiritual crisis, and we will be judged (Revelations 11:18). While in this fractured world we may not agree on the same response, we are called as faithful disciples to respond to the spiritual crisis at the root of the climate crisis.
Our mission field has experienced significant weather challenges and disasters over the years due to various floods, tornadoes, fires, hailstorms, and hurricanes. We have the blessings of a well-organized Conference Disaster Response Committee and the continued support of the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR). As humanity’s challenge to collectively respond to climate change persists, we will continue to experience weather challenges and disasters in our region. So what might be our understanding of the work of caring for God’s creation and responding to weather disasters?
We are seeing the impact of climate change on global migration* and community health.** These climate-driven issues have relevance and bearing on our mission field, the 74 counties of south and west Texas and the 450 miles of borderlands with Mexico. Certainly, these realities challenge us to welcome arriving asylum seekers and to address the concerns of health and wellbeing in the communities we serve.
Rio Texas Conference’s Creation Care Connection continues networking to discover the various ways congregations and disciples are responding to climate change by being caretakers of God’s creation. These congregations and disciples become key voices and artists painting a mosaic of creation care and justice through actions and story.
*The Great Climate Migration, by Abrahm Lustgarten, and New Climate Maps Show a Transformed United States, by Al Shaw, Abrahm Lustgarten, ProPublica, and Jeremy W. Goldsmith, Special to ProPublica, September 15, 2020
**Climate Change Impacts on Health on EPA website
Abel Vega is the Director of Mission, Service, and Justice Ministries for Rio Texas Annual Conference.