Additional Resources
This page shows all of the resources provided by everyone participating in the EcoPreacher Cohort 2022-2023. Please feel free to share any related article, video, poem, book, etc.
To submit a resource, please send an email to madeline@thebtscenter.org.
Resources
Engage with the EcoPreacher 1-2-3 resources being offered through the Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development:
Click below to learn more and listen to The BTS Center's new podcast, Climate Changed, which offers intimate interviews and conversations around some of the most pressing questions about faith, life, and climate change.
Click below to learn more about The Leadership Commons, which is a space where we are developing new content, and gathering materials adapted from past programs, to help equip faith leaders in the work of guiding communities of spiritual practice through the uncertainties of life on a changing planet. These resources are available for you to use with your community.
"Eco Preacher Workshop with Rev. Dr. Leah Schade and special guest Rabbi Yonatan Neril" recorded in May 2022
Submitted by Creation Justice Ministries
Resources from Rev. Dr. Leah Schade
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Are you wondering how to preach a sermon about climate change that connects with Scripture and your congregation? This piece by Rev. Dr. Leah Schade contains a sermon outline that you can adapt to your context using different biblical passages. A sample sermon is included that breaks down the anatomy of the sequence so that you can see the outline in action.
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/ecopreacher/2022/11/how-to-preach-a-sermon-about-climate-change-and-your-congregation/ - Believers, Sympathizers, and Skeptics: Why Americans are Conflicted about Climate Change, Environmental Policy, and Science
Daniel Cox, Juhem Navarro-Rivera, Robert P. Jones, Ph.D., 11.21.2014
https://www.prri.org/research/believers-sympathizers-skeptics-americans-conflicted-climate-change-environmental-policy-science/ - Norman C. Habel, "Guiding Ecojustice Principles," in Readings from the Perspective of Earth, ed. Norman C. Habel, The Earth Bible (Cleveland: Pilgrim Press, 2000)
https://www.amazon.com/Readings-Perspective-Earth-Bible-Sheffield/dp/1841270849/ - Eco Bible, Volumes 1 and 2, by Rabbi Yonatan Neril and Rabbi Leo Dee: https://interfaithsustain.com/ecobible/
Web Sites/Organizations
- ecoAmerica: https://ecoamerica.org/
- Research on climate and public sentiment: https://ecoamerica.org/research/
- Blessed Tomorrow: https://blessedtomorrow.org/
- Interfaith Center for Sustainable Development: https://interfaithsustain.com/
- Greenfaith: https://greenfaith.org/
- Interfaith Power & Light: https://www.interfaithpowerandlight.org/
- Lutherans Restoring Creation: https://lutheransrestoringcreation.org/
- Preaching resources: https://lutheransrestoringcreation.org/worship/preaching-resources/
Intrinsic Hope: Living Courageously Through Troubled Times by Kate Davies (book)
Whether working directly on ecological or social issues or worried about children and grandchildren, this book is for everyone concerned about the future and looking for a deeper source of hope for a better world.
Submitted by Bob Ullman
TED Talk with Katherine Hayhoe
In this inspiring, pragmatic talk, Hayhoe shows how the key to having a real discussion is to connect over shared values like family, community and religion -- and to prompt people to realize that they already care about a changing climate.
Submitted by Bob Ullman
- Kinship: Belonging in a World of Relations, edited by Gavin Van Horn, Robin Wall Kimmerer and John Hausdoerffer
- Watershed Discipleship, edited by Ched Myers
- A Watershed Resource: Congregational Watershed Discipleship Manual: Faith Communities as Stewards of the World's Waters
- Free download from Vermont Interfaith Power and Light on Watershed https://vtipl.org/556-2/
Musical Resources:
1.) Mark Miller (hymn-writer, musician)
https://ism.yale.edu/people/
https://songselect.ccli.com/
2.) All Creations Sings (published by The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America)
https://www.augsburgfortress.
3.) The New Century Hymnal
https://hymnary.org/hymnal/
https://www.thepilgrimpress.
4.) For the Beauty of the Earth Arrangement (Chuck Bell)
https://chuck-bell-music.
5.) Carolyn Winfrey Gillette Hymns
https://www.carolynshymns.com/
6.) Porter's Gate (an album of songs for creation)
https://youtube.com/playlist?
7.) Jake Blount’s “The New Faith”
https://jakeblount.com/the-
8.) Convergence Music Project
https://convergencemp.com/
9.) “For Everyone Born” Glory to God #769
https://hymnary.org/hymn/
10.) Holy Disorder of Dancing Monks, Abbey of the Arts, Christine Valters Paintner
https://abbeyofthearts.com/
Books and Other Resources:
1.) Katherine Hayhoe’s “Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World”
https://www.barnesandnoble.
2.) Harper Collin’s “The Green Bible”
https://harperone.com/
3.) “In Deep Waters: Spiritual Care for Young People in a Climate Crisis” by Talitha Amadea Aho
https://www.fortresspress.com/
4.) "The Planet You Inherit" by Larry Ramussen
https://www.barnesandnoble.
5.) Rev. Mariam White-Hammond
- Podcast with the BTS Center
https://thebtscenter.org/climate-changed/podcast- season-one-episode-1/ - Professional Website
https://www.revmariama.net/
6.) Resources on spiritual formation and spiritual practice in creation from The Center for Spirituality in Nature.
www.spiritualityinnature.org
Resources submitted by Bret Meyers
"High on the Hog," "Fantastic Fungi," and "Kiss the Ground”
All three films/series are available on Netflix.
Links:
1.) https://www.nytimes.com/2021/
2.) https://fantasticfungi.com
3.) https://kisstheground.com/?
A liturgy for Ash Wednesday
Imposition of Ashes
by Rev. Bret S. Myers
For zoom participants, you may wish to find a non-toxic substance to use as virtual ashes before we begin. Or you may simply use your mind’s eye to visualize ashes being placed on your forehead when we get to that point.
“Remember that you are earth, and to earth you will return.” --- Genesis 3.19
Ashes represent the dust of the earth from which we were created and to which we will return. We come from the earth, and will again become earth. Rather than making us feel inferior, a true sense of our connectedness and equality of worth with all creation should make us feel blessed — no more than any other part, but still not insignificant. We are sacred, just as the earth and each part of creation is sacred. God made us, and declared each of us good. God did not claim any part of creation to be better or best, nor worse or worst. Each is in need of the other in order for the harmony God intended to be fulfilled. We are all dust...sacred dust — a reminder for us to be humble as we consider our relationship with the earth and all its inhabitants, and a recognition of our relationship with the Creator God who, though loving us unconditionally, expects of us to act responsibly as we do the same.
The ashes are often the charred remains of the palm leaves. Though once bound together in unity as a branch of honor and praise, they are now disintegrated into brokenness and the darkness of sin. They summon us to remember that Lent is a time for putting away our “Hallelujahs!” and “Hosannas” of celebration so that we may reflect on how we may be better restored to right relationship with God and our neighbors far and near. Even as the ashes remind us of our finitude and brokenness, so the oil reminds us of God’s healing balm that rejoins those ashes and mixes with them to create a renewed spirit and a restored earth. It is a reminder of God’s creative power to take dust and breathe into it life. That is God’s good news!
“Repent, and believe in the good news.” --- Mark 1.15
All on zoom who wish to do so may use any non-toxic substance you have on hand to impose “ashes” on your own forehead and that of family members who so desire
Resources submitted by Holly Morrison
Saving Paradise: How Christianity Traded Love of This World for Crucifixion and Empire restores the idea of Paradise to its rightful place at the center of Christian thought.
“In a world that requires knowledge and wisdom to address developing crises around us, "The Gatherings" shows how Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples can come together to create meaningful and lasting relationships that benefit us all.”
Resource submitted by Lawrence Ryan Del-Md Synod ELCA Creation Care
Resources submitted by Bob Ullman:
“Speak with the Earth” (book) by Daniel Cooperrider
Speak with the Earth and It Will Teach You attends to the theological wonder of God's first book: nature. Examining creation through the lens of history, biblical story, philosophy, and a bit of hiking, author Daniel Cooperrider shares the renewing wisdom that comes when we study the earth and all its forms.
“Creation Communion,” and “The Sacrament of Holy Baptism”
Two liturgical pieces written by Michael Mulberry of the MI Conference UCC
Resource submitted by Lawrence Ryan
Resource submitted by Creation Justice Ministries
Resources submitted by Rabbi Yonatan Neil
“EcoBible” by Rabbi Yonatan Neril
An amazing resource for reading the first five books of the Hebrew Bible using an ecological lens.”
Resources submitted by Leah Schade
‘All We Can Save’ (book) “has great essays that give ideas for solutions, meaning-making, etc.”
Sermon (by Leah Shade), “if any of you are looking at ways to preach about the resurrection from an ecological perspective, this piece might be helpful”
Resource submitted by Jim Steingass
Resource submitted by Elizabeth Garnsey
Resource submitted by Elizabeth Garnsey
Resource submitted by Kristina Keefe-Perry (she)
(Article) “Summary: The author defines economic systems — Socialism, Communism, nationalization, the welfare state, consumerism, the welfare state, the global economy. He concludes that today’s economism is “the most powerful and successful idolatry of all time,” and examines ways in which economism destroys both community life and human values. An alternative is presented: economics for community.”
Resource submitted by Pastor Jamie Gallagher
Creation Lectionary Cycle, the Northern Illinois Synod of the ELCA
Resource submitted by Priscilla Dreyman
Third Act, an environmental organization involving people over 60, founded by Bill McKibben.
"Extending God's Table of Love into the Woods and Beyond", through Cape Elizabeth United Methodist Church in Maine (Facebook Page)
Resources submitted by Kristina Keefe-Perry
a. Tomorrow’s Child--Rubem Alves (book)
This book clears away the debris of realism and lays the groundwork for a constructive theory of creative imagination, moving us toward new forms of social organization where the community of faith can be found.
b. Watershed Discipleship (Website and organization)
Description: “Watershed discipleship” is an intentional triple entendre:
- Recognizing we live in a watershed moment of ecological crisis,
- Learning to be disciples in our watersheds, and
- Developing awareness of the ways our watersheds act as our rabbis (teachers), pointing us to God.
c. Sense of the Possible — by Callid Keefe-Perry (book)
A useful book for folks who want to get a sense of the importance and power of imagination for the work of Community Leaders / Preachers...
Resources submitted by Cláudio Carvalhaes
a. Liturgies from Below— Cláudio Carvalhaes (book)
The culmination of a project organized by the Council for World Mission! More than 100 people on four continents created indigenous prayers and liturgies for their own communities, meant to be shared with believers worldwide. From radically different groups dealing with many oppressive issues come authentic and uplifting stories of faith.
b. How Do We Become Green People and Earth Communities— Cláudio Carvalhaes (book)
Cláudio's every literary, liturgical, artistic expression is an exquisitely magical reflection of God's truly radical love.
c. Ritual at World’s End: Essays on Eco-Liturgical Liberation Theology— Cláudio Carvalhaes (book)
It is time for an eco-liturgical liberation theology! One that hears the cries of the people and the earth and orients thinking and practices from their pain and suffering. In this book, Cláudio Carvalhaes writes from where it hurts in multiple registers and crossings.
https://www.cokesbury.com/
Resources submitted by Bret Myers
a. “Yes, “Socialism or Extinction” Is Exactly the Choice We Face” (Article)
Extinction Rebellion leaders have dismissed the idea that protests for climate action have anything to do with “socialist ideology.” But refusing to take political positions — and to relate green politics to the interests of the social majority — will reduce environmentalism to an ineffective moral protest.
b. “Worship Resource for Land Acknowledgement”
Unison Call to Collective Confession; “Acknowledgement, Apology, & Restitution”: We the church, and we who are not First Nation peoples, acknowledge that the land upon which we worship, reside, work, and play here in Washington County, Vermont was the traditional territory of the Western Abenaki people, a tribe affiliated with the Wabanaki (i.e., “People of the Dawn Land”) Confederacy. Their spiritual presence is imbued in the lands and waters surrounding us. Remnants of their sacred sites and places are still evident. We acknowledge that their lands were stolen, not discovered, by our European ancestors; often under false pretenses and through bloodshed. Laws were created to nullify their rights to reside, worship, and thrive on these lands and waters. We cannot take back the past, but we can own it; as well as the benefits of laws and mindsets still designed to benefit we who were immigrants to the detriment of those peoples already present on this continent.
We apologize for past and present wrong-doings; and for the thinking that dehumanizes and minimizes what was, and is still, unjust. Moreover, we commit ourselves to hear the stories of our Native American brothers and sisters with empathy, understanding, and contrition so that we might gain knowledge of how to best work towards a cooperative and collaborative mutual existence respecting the dignity and equality of human rights of those who have been without them for generations. We will seek to establish restitution and reconciliation with the Native American peoples still surviving on this continent; while also remembering and honoring those who have been exterminated in the past due to greed, hatred, mistrust, and other reasons that were self-serving. We promise today and for all tomorrows to work on our relationships with First Nations peoples all over the earth, and to seek to make amends for injustices still accruing presently. May we be blessed by wisdom and compassion in these endeavors, and seek to build a foundation of trust and mutual respect from the ashes of past sins and misdeeds. We ask for forgiveness; but with an understanding for our own need for repentance. May we make sacred for the future our relationships; and may we come to be a blessing to one another in the eternal present. As the sun sets on our past grievances, may it rise on our future generosities. May it be so.
Resources submitted by Daniel Carlson
- Season of Creation
Activities and resources to celebrate the Season of Creation are supported by an ecumenical steering committee and a coalition of partners from around the world. - Refugia Faith by Debra Reinstra
Refugia Faith: Seeking Hidden Shelters, Ordinary Wonders, and the Healing of the Earth explores how Christian spirituality and practice must adapt to prepare for life on a climate-altered planet. - This Sacred Life by Norm Wirzba
In a time of climate change, environmental degradation, and social injustice, the question of the value and purpose of human life has become urgent. What are the grounds for hope in a wounded world? This Sacred Life gives a deep philosophical and religious articulation of humanity's identity and vocation by rooting people in a symbiotic, meshwork world that is saturated with sacred gifts.
Resource submitted by Kristina Keefe-Perry
Black Church Food Security Network
We co-create sustainable food systems across the United States that are anchored by Black churches working in partnership with Black farmers and small business owners.
Resource submitted by Joey Clavijo
For Nature Walks: Living in an Icon by Robert Gottfried and Frederick W. Krueger
Many people experience God most strongly in nature but do not know how to incorporate this experience into their spiritual life. Others question whether Christianity has room for nature at all and seek alternatives elsewhere, often leaving Christianity entirely. This book addresses this crucial issue by providing a resource for fostering a closer relationship with God and creation.
Suggested Topics: Green Burial, Buddha Dharma, Interfaith Service Outdoors for Lament for the Earth
Resource submitted by Enno Limvere
Church of the Wild: How Nature Invites Us into the Sacred by Victoria Loorz
With an ecospiritual lens on biblical narratives and a fresh look at a community larger than our own species, Church of the Wild uncovers the wild roots of faith and helps us deepen our commitment to a suffering earth by falling in love with it--and calling it church.
Resource submitted by David Warner
The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben
In The Hidden Life of Trees, Peter Wohlleben shares his deep love of woods and forests and explains the amazing processes of life, death, and regeneration he has observed in the woodland and the amazing scientific processes behind the wonders of which we are blissfully unaware.
Resource submitted by Rev. John Gage
From the moment European settlers reached these shores, the American apocalypse began. But Native Americans did not vanish. Apocalypse did not fully destroy them, and it doesn't have to destroy us.
Resource submitted by Nancy Wright
Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology website
The Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology is an international multireligious project contributing to a new academic field and an engaged moral force of religious environmentalism.
Resource submitted by Jenny Reece
Seven Pillars of Creation by William P. Brown
In their highly selective and literal reading of Scripture, creationists champion a rigidly reductionistic view of creation in their fight against "soulless scientism." Conversely, many scientists find faith in God to be a dangerous impediment in the empirical quest for knowledge. As a result of this ongoing debate, many people of faith feel forced to choose between evolution and the Bible's story of creation.
But, as William Brown asks, which biblical creation story are we talking about? Brown shows that, through a close reading of biblical texts, no fewer than seven different biblical perspectives on creation can be identified. By examining these perspectives, Brown illuminates both connections and conflicts between the ancient creation traditions and the natural sciences, arguing for a new way of reading the Bible in light of current scientific knowledge and with consideration of the needs of the environment.
Resource submitted by Duane Lahti
Speak with the Earth and It Will Teach You by Daniel Cooperrider
Speak with the Earth and It Will Teach You attends to the theological wonder of God's first book: nature. Examining creation through the lens of history, biblical story, philosophy, and a bit of hiking, author Daniel Cooperrider shares the renewing wisdom that comes when we study the earth and all its forms.
Resource submitted by Lawrence Ryan
Resource submitted by Alley Smith
Resource submitted by Paul Mitchell
The United Methodist Creation Justice Movement Worship Team has developed a new Season of Creation Justice worship resource with the theme “Let Justice and Peace Flow.” The prayers, liturgy, music, sermon starters, and other resources draw on texts from Ezekiel and Romans. The central image is a mighty river. It includes ways to engage all ages, through a variety of resources and contexts in worship during the upcoming season.
Resource submitted by Lisa Dahill
Lisa Dahill’s full presentation on Rewilding Christian Worship.
Resource submitted by Tamara Franks
SING (Spirituality in Nature Groups)
Information on SING groups from the Center for Spirituality in Nature
Resource submitted by Elizabeth Garnsey
The Power of Place by Winifred Gallagher
“A book which traces human distancing/disconnecting from natural rhythms of nature… the advent of incandescent light, air conditioning, and so on.”
Resource submitted by Pax Ressler
Resource submitted by Phil Jones
“Spirit Wheel: Meditations from an Indigenous Leader” by Steven Charleston
Preaching in the Purple Zone by Leah Schade
https://thepurplezone.net
Resource submitted by Rev. John Gage
“We Survived the End of the World” by Bishop Steven Charleston
Resource submitted by Beth Simmons
“Seeing the Generative Story of Our Time.” OnBeing Podcast with Krista Tippet
Resource submitted by Katie Grosh
“Ministry for the Future” by Kim Stanley Robinson
https://bookshop.org/p/books/
Avery Davis Lamb
Rev. John Gage
Leah Schade
Rooted and Rising by Leah D. Schade (Editor), Margaret Bullitt-Jonas (Editor)
Climate Church, Climate World (Jim Antal)
Nicole Diroff
The BTS Center did an event on Solastalgia in 2021: https://thebtscenter.org/
