Creation Care Justice Network

Creation Care Events

St. Mark's Church, Southborough, MA

Lent and Eastertide 2024

Photo of winter trees and stream Sue Swanson

As the liturgical year bends toward Lent and the passion and glory of Holy Week, the seasons also move from the cold quiet of winter into the light and life of spring.  

Earth Day 2024:  To celebrate the hope-filled growth of climate action across our faith communities, the Creation Care Justice Network is hosting a festive celebration on Saturday, April 20 to observe both Earth Day and the end of the pilot phase of An Episcopal Path to Creation Justice.  Featured speakers include Robin Wall Kimmerer and Bill McKibben, both joining virtually, and Mary Evelyn Tucker joining in person.  The closing worship service will be led by Bishop Carol Gallagher. Register here to attend the celebration (9 a.m.-3 p.m.) at St. Mark's Church in Southborough.
 
About a dozen parishes are already launched on the Path, including some taking their first steps toward answering God’s call to love and care for God’s creation.  While each parish is called to follow a path that is uniquely their own, we learn from and support one another as we all venture forward in a spirit of loving companionship.

Here is a selection of materials particularly relevant for our journeys this season.

Pray:

Woodland photo Sue Swanson

Both Lent and Eastertide focus on the spiritual life with prayer and reflection.  The Diocese of Western Massachusetts has compiled a new edition of its Lenten booklet, “Renewing God’s Creation: Daily Meditations for Lent.”  To receive daily e-mails, please register here.  

The dioceses of Massachusetts and Vermont are offering a joint devotional program for Lent and Easter.  "Baptism and Collaboration in the Body of Christ" includes entries by ordained and lay leaders based on the six baptismal covenant questions.  Access is available here.
 

Act:

Lenten prayers are often complemented with fasting or other acts of self-discipline.  The EcoFaith Recovery Carbon Fast, originally developed by the Church of England, is now widely embraced, and has been adapted for use in North America.  Participants are invited to concentrate on a few activities or simply follow the daily suggestions listed on the Calendar.


Learn:

Opportunities to expand our understanding and then act upon that knowledge abound.  Faith-based groups like the Anglican Communion Environment Network and GreenFaith are excellent resources with an international perspective. GreenFaith’s campaign Faiths for Climate Justice (May 3-12) brings together learning and advocacy in an inspiring international context. The new One Home One Future campaign seeks to support congregations of many faiths in our shared ministry of climate justice and creation care. 

One Home One Future offers “fulfilling, positive and accessible pathways for education, engagement and action on creation care and just and equitable climate solutions.”  Click here for our Episcopal perspective and here for more information. 


Advocate:

The Creation Care Justice Network recently endorsed the campaign to Stop Private Jet Expansion at Hanscom or Anywhere.  Private jets are widely recognized as the transportation option with the highest rate of carbon emissions per passenger.  Expansion of such services is antithetical to the emission-reduction goals needed to minimize the effects of climate change.  The campaign offers several ways to advocate and express support.  For more information about the network's endorsement process, please e-mail CreationJusticeEpisMA@gmail.com

Climate justice is social justice, and one cannot fully have one without the other.  The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival is uniting people across the nation to challenge the evils of systemic racism, poverty, the war economy, ecological devastation and the nation’s distorted morality of religious nationalism.  The Massachusetts Episcopal Network serves as a conduit of information and action between our Episcopal community and the Massachusetts Poor People’s Campaign.  A kick-off assembly is planned for March 2, with more actions to follow.

Congregations are warmly invited to participate in Interfaith Power and Light’s annual Faith Climate Action Week (April 19-28).  This comprehensive program is organized around the theme,  “Common Ground:  Cultivating Connections Between Our Faith, Our Food and the Climate,” examining how our food systems contribute to injustice and to climate change.  Materials are free online; printed kits are available for a small fee.

Additional materials on ways to PRAY, LEARN, ACT and ADVOCATE as we travel along an Episcopal Path to Creation Justice are available on the Episcopal Church and diocesan websites, on the Path website and in the Creation Care Justice Network's regularly updated Sustainable List resource list.  

Creation Care Justice Network 

We are Episcopal clergy and lay people across Massachusetts, working together to help our congregations PRAY, LEARN, ACT and ADVOCATE on behalf of God's creation and to mobilize a robust, justice-centered response to the ecological and climate emergency.

Here is a short video that frames our mission: a call to climate action in Massachusetts. Please take a look, and then sign up to join our network. Whether you're an experienced climate activist or just beginning your journey, we need your skills and input as we work together to protect the web of life that God entrusted to our care.

Video

If you join the Creation Care Justice Network, you'll receive a monthly newsletter, Green Justice News.

  • Sign up here to get connected with the network and receive its e-mail updates.

Ready to roll up your sleeves, leap into action and make some new friends?  You're invited to join a working group:

  • Action and Advocacy works with groups such as Massachusetts Interfaith Power & Light to encourage church and community action and to advocate for policy changes.
     
  • Spiritual Practice and Grounding offers prayers, liturgies and practices to engage with creation and a theology that centers environmental wholeness.
     
  • Communications and Networking focuses on developing a stronger network among congregations and diocesan groups around creation and climate justice.

For more information e-mail creationjusticeepisma@gmail.com

If another meeting is more than you can manage, please fill out this short survey to help us learn more about our collective Episcopal community here in Massachusetts.

Meet our diocese's creation care advisor

The Rev. Dr. Margaret Bullitt-Jonas Robert A. Jonas The Rev. Dr. Margaret Bullitt-Jonas

The Rev. Dr. Margaret Bullitt-Jonas serves as a liaison to the Creation Care Justice Network.  She works in both Episcopal dioceses in Massachusetts and the Southern New England Conference, United Church of Christ to build emotional and spiritual resilience as we mobilize action to address climate emergency. 

To invite her to preach, lead a retreat or speak in your church, contact her at mbj@revivingcreation.org or 413-341-3566.

She maintains a website, RevivingCreation.org, which includes blog posts, articles, sermons, books, schedule and more.  You can sign up for her monthly newsletter, Creation Care Network e-news and get a message on the first of the month that includes opportunities to learn, pray, act and advocate for the earth.

Massachusetts bishops declare climate emergency

MA WMA

On March 23, 2021, the bishops of the Episcopal dioceses of Massachusetts and Western Massachusetts declared a climate emergency.  From their declaration:

“We believe that God is calling us all to embrace brave and difficult change.  Everything we do as faithful individuals and as a church must reckon with the unprecedented emergency in which humanity now finds itself.  

“We therefore encourage all Episcopalians to explore The Episcopal Church’s Covenant for the Care of Creation , a commitment to practice loving formation, liberating advocacy, and life-giving conversation as individuals, congregations, ministries, and dioceses.

“We strongly urge congregations across Massachusetts to pray, learn, act, and advocate as we build a bold and faith-filled response to the greatest moral challenge of our time.”  

Read the bishops’ full declaration and their suggested actions and resources here.

View recordings of four webinars on responding to the climate emergency here.

Green Loans and Fossil Fuel Free Fund

Diocesan Green Loans are low-interest loans of up to $100,000 that enable congregations to make energy-efficient changes to their buildings.

  • Green Loans are awarded on a rolling basis. 
  • Congregations interested in applying for Green Loans will find more information and application materials on the Green Loans page.

Fossil Fuel Free Stock Fund:  For information about investment opportunities with this broadly diversified portfolio, contact Charlie Jordan, Investment Coordinator, Trustees of Donations (cjordan@diomass.org or 617-482-4826, ext. 557).

Sustaining Earth, Our Island Home Carbon Tracker

Bishop Gates "Sustaining Earth Island Home" video screenshot Click the screenshot above to watch a video invitation from Bishop Gates.

Want to know what your household's carbon output is and how you can reduce it?  Want to get others in your congregation and community to work together to reduce your combined carbon footprint?  The Episcopal Church's "Sustaining Earth, Our Island Home" online carbon tracker can help.

Go to www.sustainislandhome.org, scroll down to "Massachusetts Diocese" and then click on the "Join the Challenge" button below Bishop Gates's video and letter.  The tracker is organized by diocese, congregation, city and region.  

Additional Resources

Follow on Facebook:

Episcopalians Caring for Creation hosted by Episcopalians in the Diocese of Massachusetts

Creation Care hosted by Episcopalians in the Diocese of Western Massachusetts

Episcopal Creation Care hosted by The Episcopal Church

Green Anglicans hosted by the Anglican Communion Environmental Network