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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | September 29th, 2025 WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Monday, September 29th,, national faith leaders gathered at Upper Senate Park in Washington, D.C., to mark the closing of a month-long campaign for the Season of Creation. Organized by Creation Justice Ministries and co-sponsored by Interfaith Power & Light DMV and fourteen national faith-based organizations, the event was a powerful public witness calling for urgent moral action in response to worsening climate impacts, rising heat, and rollbacks of environmental protections. Statement from Shantha Ready Alonso of the America the Beautiful for All Coalition, “We pray on the Senate lawn to call people of faith and conscience to join us in protecting our communities from this Congress and Administration’s ongoing effort to sell out nature to the highest bidders. We continue to endure massive program cuts, and we brace for another reduction in the federal workforce that harms the dignity and livelihoods of so many of our nation’s best stewards of nature. Now is the time to lift our voices for justice in solidarity with the communities that depend on nature the most for physical, cultural, and spiritual sustenance.” Statement from Avery Davis Lamb, Executive Director of Creation Justice Ministries: “From the Sermon on the Mount to his entry into Jerusalem, Jesus’ ministry reveals that public witness lies at the heart of our faith. Today, as we launch the Season of Creation and our Witness for Creation Justice campaign, we stand together in that same spirit of witness—naming the harms inflicted on God’s world, and proclaiming that another way is possible. Joined by the whole community of creation, we declare that caring for our common home is not optional; it is central to who we are as followers of Christ.” Statement from Adam Greene, Emissary of the Great Tayac of the Piscataway Indian Nation to the Indigenous European People in the Western Hemisphere: “The Indigenous Peoples of this beautiful Mother Earth, the people who have the longest experience and the deepest, most intimate knowledge about how to care for Mother Earth, are living in poverty. According to the World Bank, 18.2% of the people in this world in extreme poverty are Indigenous. In this country, as of 2018, 25.4% percent of Native peoples were living in poverty. In some places in this country, that number is as high as 50-80%. We are not asking for charity. We are not asking for handouts. We are asking you to invest in the Piscataway Indian Nation so that we may make our thousands of years of Indigenous knowledge, culture and resources available right now to everyone in our territory who so urgently needs it.” 
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 Back in 2022, I cohosted the Food and Faith Podcast with my good friends Rev. Anna Woofenden and Rev. Sam Chamelin. The podcast focused on the ways that congregations and their leaders were working on issues of food production, access, and distribution. We did a few episodes that were more focused on environmental justice, recognizing how closely the food system is affecting our ecological systems. On a whim, I had an idea to toy with a new format for the show. In that new format, I would look at the passages for the upcoming Sunday from the Revised Common Lectionary, the lectionary that most of my friends/colleagues were using, and I would think about how we would look at those texts through a “green” lens. I reached out to my friend Wilson Dickinson, who had just released his amazing book The Green Good News: Christ’s Path to Sustainable and Joyful Life. Wilson then introduced me to his colleague Rev. Dr. Leah Schade who was already working towards and writing about “EcoPreaching”. We did three pilot episodes, one each for Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, and Easter. CJM’s executive director Avery was a part of these first three episodes as was my friend Dr. Garrett Andrew whose doctorate is in homiletics (preaching). The conversations in these three episodes were fun, lively and helped me to see Scripture in a new light. I was excited to see how I might expand this new “Green Lectionary” podcast while also producing the Food and Faith Podcast. Almost a year later, I started working at CJM. When I started I Was given a list (a long list!) of programs that would potentially be under my purview. I was thrilled to see that the Green Lectionary was on that list and that there was interest in bringing this project under CJM’s umbrella. We recorded the first episode at the Wild Goose Festival in July of 2023. I was on stage with my friend Rev. Katy Cuthill and new friends Rev. Josh Scott, a pastor in Nashville who has been writing approachable books about reading the Bible in context and Debra Rienstra whose book Refugia Faith: Seeking HIdden Shelters, Ordinary Wonders, and the Healing of the Earth was an absolute gamechanger for me. In that hot, sweaty pavillion, we recorded a fun, thought-provoking conversation on the story of the burning bush in Exodus 3. I learned quickly that it was better, at least with four guests, to focus on one passage instead of trying to touch on all of the week’s prescribed passages. Our plan from the beginning was to produce episodes for important liturgical seasons: Advent, Lent, and Season of Creation. In the last two years, we’ve added in episodes for ocean month (June). If you’ve been following along with the show from the beginning, you’ve probably noticed how we’ve slowly decreased the number of guests per episode, going from that initial four person panel at the beginning to the one on one conversations we had for this Season of Creation. To be honest, that started as a logistical decision. Fewer people means less schedules to juggle. But as it has evolved it has given each of our guests more time to consider the passage in light of the good work that they are doing in the world and all of the people who appear on our show are people worth knowing! Don’t worry. The show isn’t going to turn into me just talking to myself! (though that would help a lot with scheduling….hmmm…). Speaking of our guests, I have had the immense privilege of speaking with some brilliant thinkers and preachers. Wilson Dickinson, Leah Schade, Garrett Andrew, Debra Rienstra, and Josh Scott have been back for multiple episodes, as have folks like Ellen Davis, Jerusha Neal from Duke Divinity School. Part of the fun for me has been pairing folks like Norman Wirzba and Ched Meyers who are well known in the eco-theology world with my friends who aren’t big names but who are great preachers and thinkers. We’ve brought in our partners from the BTS Center and the Anabaptist Climate Collaborative and I've also had both of my Food and Faith Podcast cohosts on the show. Of course we’ve leaned into the in-house brilliance of the CJM staff. (My wife has also been on, which I guess is the most in-house I’ve gone for a guest.)  The point of bringing all of these brilliant people together isn’t just so I can have energizing conversations, though I do. The purpose of the podcast comes from a strong conviction I have had from the beginning which we can now back with research: the churches that are most dedicated to working for Creation justice are the ones who hear about it from the pulpit. Helping preachers find creation in the text and to understand that far more of the scriptural narrative points to our relationship with Creation than what they may have imagined is part of how we make preaching on these issues more accessible. The podcast is a way of honoring the way that prophetic preaching can lead to prophetic action and what we need in this climate-changed world is prophetic action. During the Season of Creation, we introduced a new logo for the podcast. We also started a new instagram account devoted to the podcast. We’ll include previews of upcoming episodes, clips of previous episodes, and thoughts on ways to preach on Creation justice. We’ll also highlight the work that some of our podcast guests have been doing. You can follow along @Green_Lectionary. Starting with our Advent episodes (which will release in November) we will also be creating study guides to go along with the episodes to further help preachers take what they are hearing and integrate it into their preaching. We’ll post the guides on our social media and include them in the show notes. (Finally, if you have suggestions or questions about the podcast you can send them to [email protected]) Back when I was preaching on a weekly basis, nothing helped me more than being a part of a lectionary group. Wrestling with the text with a group of colleagues always helped me find something that I wouldn’t have stumbled across on my own. We hope that the Green Lectionary can be that collegial conversation for you. Maybe it will even inspire you to host a Green Lectionary group in your area...  Derrick Weston Director of Theological Education and Formation Creation Justice Ministries  Photo: David Moreno Entrar por la frontera a Estados Unidos, sin autorización, es una infracción civil equivalente a pasar un semáforo en luz roja. Este hecho se convierte en un delito cuando la persona al ser deportada una primera vez vuelve a cruzar la frontera sin permiso. La persecución y secuestro indiscriminado de personas inmigrantes al salir de sus citas migratorias, en sus puestos de trabajo, escuelas y parques se ha convertido en algo común. A esto se suma su desaparición y el posterior envío al Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT) en el Salvador sin el debido proceso, así como la invalidación súbita del Estado de Protección Temporal (TPS) para cientos de miles de inmigrantes. Estos hechos no son el resultado de un aumento repentino de la criminalidad por parte de ellas/ellos, sino una estrategia cruel que usa sus cuerpos como chivo expiatorio para confundir y controlar mentes y corazones frente a una creciente militarización de las calles y la vida de los estadounidenses. La congresista presbiteriana, Kathy Castor, en una asamblea pública sobre inmigración en Tampa (Florida) dijo recientemente que «el gobierno está jugando con los miedos y prejuicios de los estadounidenses». Aún cuando el gobierno de Trump amenazó con deportar a inmigrantes criminales durante su campaña electoral, y el expresidente Obama deportó más personas aún durante el mismo tiempo de gobierno, la crueldad de estos últimos días no se había visto desde la firma de la Ley de Derechos Civiles en 1964. «Por lo visto, todos estamos en un estado de protección temporal» dijo el reverendo afroamericano Norm Hatter, coordinador del Comité por la Equidad Racial del Presbiterio de Tampa Bay, cuando escuchó los testimonios de pastoras y pastores sobre lo que está sucediendo en nuestras congregaciones latinas. Muchas personas no están viniendo más a la iglesia, ni a buscar comida; otras llegan con miedo luego que sus pastores/as han tenido que aprender cómo protegerlas. Esto sucede desde que la administración de Trump revocó la política de Áreas Protegidas, que limitaba la presencia del Servicio de Control de Inmigración y Aduanas de los Estados Unidos (ICE) en centros religiosos, escuelas y hospitales. Hoy en día, no hay lugar seguro. El pastor Hatter no es ajeno a la discriminación racial. Durante su infancia fue testigo de los ‘códigos negros’, donde personas negras podían ser encarceladas solo por hablar demasiado alto en compañía de mujeres blancas, por mirar fijamente sin cuidado a personas blancas, estar desempleados o caminar cerca de las vías del tren. En aquel momento, a pesar de que otros derechos civiles prohibían la discriminación basada en el color de piel, se crearon leyes para mantener al pueblo negro controlado, vulnerable y explotado como mano de obra barata. En aquellos tiempos no había ya esclavitud oficialmente, pero las cárceles llenas entonces de “infractores”, se transformaron en la nueva fuente de trabajadores sin sueldo. Algo que sucede igualmente hoy. Hoy en día organizaciones de derechos humanos como ACLU, LULAC y otras, denuncian que el Servicio de Control de Inmigración y Aduanas de los Estados Unidos (ICE) está deteniendo, sistemáticamente y sin el debido proceso, a personas de color que llegaron legalmente a los Estados Unidos, tienen derecho a trabajar y no son delincuentes. Luego de que los grupos presentaran una demanda ante un Juez Federal en California, y lograran que dictaminara en favor de evitar que ICE pudiera detener y arrestar a personas en la ciudad de Los Angeles, basados solamente en su apariencia, idioma o lugar de trabajo; el gobierno solicitó la intervención del Tribunal Supremo y logró que se pronunciara en favor de continuar con este tipo de arrestos; permitiendo así que Servicio de Control de Inmigración y Aduanas de los Estados Unidos (ICE) continúe llevando a cabo operativos discriminatorios.  Grupo interreligioso proclama: «Rechazamos la mentira de que estas jaulas nos mantienen a salvo. Rechazamos a los que se lucran con la detención. ¡No seremos cómplices!». Photo: Neddy Astudillo Mientras la Iglesia aún está dividida sobre cómo responder a la presente violación de los derechos migratorios y la discriminación contra los/las inmigrantes; en Florida, líderes comunitarios y religiosos desde agosto comenzaron a congregarse para hacer vigilias frente a un centro de detención en territorio ancestral del pueblo Miccosukee (conocido como el Parque Nacional Everglades), convocados por la voz de una mujer indígena, Betty Osceola. En este centro de detención peyorativamente llamado “El Alcatraz de los caimanes”, confluyen la crueldad y la belleza, la fe y las luchas por la justicia migratoria, racial, indígena, ambiental y climática. Congresistas aliados y abogados cuentan la realidad de un lugar que debería ser llamado un centro de concentración, por su realidad del hacinamiento, por encerrar a personas en jaulas, con baños que se inundan cuando llueve; no contar con atención médica y un espacio seguro para reunirse cuando llega ayuda legal para los detenidos. Los grupos ambientalistas dijeron que el gobierno en vez de invertir en esfuerzos de adaptación y protección de uno de los lugares más vulnerables del país frente a la crisis climática, decidió utilizar millones de dólares de la “Agencia Federal para el Manejo de Emergencias” (FEMA) en la construcción de este centro. Esto, sin hacer estudios de impacto ambiental, sin consultar previamente a la comunidad Miccosukee, o tener en cuenta las especies en peligro que ya viven en el pantano. Fijados en la idea androcentrista de un centro de detención rodeado de caimanes, el gobierno volcó 800 mil pies cuadrados de pavimento sobre el área, trajeron generadores para alumbrar las noches, con luz visible hasta 30 millas de distancia, perturbando el ecosistema del murciélago y las panteras protegidas de Florida, así como la comunidad Miccosukee que vive a solo 10 millas de distancia. El gobierno creó su tormenta perfecta. Los Miccosukee y los grupos ambientalistas se unieron en una demanda contra el gobierno nacional y el gobierno local, aludiendo a los daños irreparables que este centro posa sobre el frágil ecosistema que además, es su hogar. El 27 de agosto un juez federal confirmó la orden de desmantelar el sitio en 60 días, pero luego un tribunal de apelación suspendió la sentencia. Aún cuando al final se logre cerrar el centro de detención y el pantano siga al cuidado de los Miccosukee, la necesidad de justicia racial y migratoria para las 3 mil personas que el gobierno busca para deportar diariamente, siguen latentes mientras la prioridad sea seguir construyendo nuevos centros de detención y no haya voluntad para movilizarse hacia una reforma migratoria que le dé estatus permanente a las doce millones de personas inmigrantes que ya viven y trabajan en el país. Mientras no cese la caza de inmigrantes, la movilización de las personas de fe y sus aliadas no puede parar. La solidaridad y la organización entre diversos sectores tiene que afianzarse más, como en este caso descrito del pantano; hacerse más clara, audible y activa. El destino de la pantera, los pueblos indígenas, migrantes, de las comunidades negras y blancas, está íntimamente ligado y hay poder de acción cuando nos unimos. Durante la vigilia, el domingo anterior al fallo del juez federal relacionada con el centro de detención, Nick Carey organizador de “Faith in Florida” dijo: «Rechazamos el nacionalismo cristiano blanco… Aunque nuestra lucha actual es contra las administraciones de Trump y De Santis, también debemos reconocer que este centro de detención es la culminación de más de 100 años de política exterior estadounidense. Trump ha dado rienda suelta a ICE, la cual se fortaleció y creció tanto bajo la administración de Biden como la de Obama. ¡Debemos buscar soluciones! ¡Debemos aspirar a soluciones más ambiciosas que no se queden cortas, hasta lograr la liberación de todas las personas! Puede que no sepamos cómo solucionarlo, pero averigüémoslo juntas y juntos». En palabras de la joven poeta Rose Cervantes, también presente: «No tengo que hacer esto sola. ¡La liberación es colectiva!» 1) National Immigration Law Center (NILC), "Factsheet: Trump’s Rescission of Protected Areas Policies Undermines Safety for All," 26 de febrero de 2025, https://www.nilc.org/resources/factsheet-trumps-rescission-of-protected-areas-policies-undermines-safety-for-all/
Sobre la autora: Neddy Astudillo es eco-teóloga venezolana, pastora de la Iglesia Presbiteriana de EEUU (PCUSA), coordinadora del programa de Certificación en Justicia Climática y Fe, en el Seminario Luterano del Pacífico
Photo Credit: David Moreno Entering the United States without authorization is a civil offense equivalent to running a red light. This becomes a crime when a person who has been deported previously, crosses the border again without permission. The indiscriminate persecution and kidnapping of immigrants as they leave their immigration appointments, at their workplaces, schools, and parks has become commonplace. Added to this is their disappearance and subsequent transfer to the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) in El Salvador without due process, as well as the abrupt invalidation of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for hundreds of thousands of immigrants. These events are not the result of a sudden increase in crime on their part, but rather a cruel strategy that uses their bodies as scapegoats to confuse and control minds and hearts in the face of increasing militarization of the streets and the lives of Americans. Presbyterian Congresswoman Kathy Castor recently said at a public meeting on immigration in Tampa, Florida, that “the government is playing on the fears and prejudices of Americans.” Even though the Trump administration threatened to deport criminal immigrants during its election campaign, and former President Obama deported even more people during his time in office, the cruelty of recent days has not been seen since the signing of the Civil Rights Act in 1964. “Apparently, we are all in a state of temporary protection,” said African American Reverend Norm Hatter, coordinator of the Tampa Bay Presbytery's Racial Equity Committee, when he heard pastors' testimonies about what is happening in our Latino congregations. Many people are no longer coming to church for worship or seeking food; others arrive fearful after their pastors have had to learn how to protect them. This has been happening since the Trump administration revoked the Protected Areas policies (1), which limited the presence of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in religious centers, schools, and hospitals. Today, there is no protected place. Pastor Hatter is no stranger to racial discrimination. During his childhood, he witnessed the “Black codes,” where black people could be jailed just for talking too loudly in the company of white women, for staring carelessly at white people, for being unemployed, or walking near railroad tracks. At that time, even though other civil rights laws prohibited discrimination based on skin color, laws were created to keep black people controlled, vulnerable, and exploited as cheap labor. In those days, slavery no longer existed officially, but prisons, then filled with “offenders,” became the new source of unpaid workers. This is still happening today. Today, human rights organizations such as the ACLU, LULAC, and others denounce how the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is systematically detaining, without due process, people of color who arrived legally in the United States, have the right to work, and are not criminals. After the groups filed a lawsuit before a federal judge in California and succeeded in getting him to rule in favor of preventing ICE from detaining and arresting people in the city of Los Angeles based solely on their appearance, language, or place of work, the government requested the intervention of the Supreme Court and succeeded in getting it to rule in favor of continuing with these types of arrests, thus allowing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to continue carrying out discriminatory operations. Interfaith group chants: “We reject the lie that these cages keep us safe! We reject those who profit from detention! We will not be complicit!” Photo Credit: Neddy Astudillo While the Church is still divided on how to respond to the current violation of immigration rights and discrimination against immigrants, in Florida, community and religious leaders began gathering in August to hold vigils in front of a detention center on the ancestral territory of the Miccosukee people (known as Everglades National Park), called together by the voice of an indigenous woman, Betty Osceola. In this detention center, pejoratively called “ Alligator Alcatraz,” cruelty and beauty, faith and struggles for migration, racial, indigenous, environmental, and climate justice converge. Allied congressmen and lawyers describe the reality of a place that should be called a concentration camp, due to its overcrowding, the confinement of people in cages, bathrooms that flood when it rains, lack of medical care, and no safe space to meet when legal aid arrives for the detainees. Environmental groups protest that instead of investing in efforts to adapt and protect one of the country's most vulnerable places in the face of the climate crisis, the government decided to use millions of dollars from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to build the center. This was done without conducting environmental impact studies, without prior consultation with the Miccosukee community, or taking into account the endangered species already living in the swamp. Fixated on an androcentric idea of a detention center surrounded by alligators, the government poured 800,000 square feet of pavement over the area and brought in generators to light up the nights, with light visible up to 30 miles away, disturbing the ecosystem of Florida's protected bats and panthers, as well as the Miccosukee community living just 10 miles away. The government created its perfect storm. The Miccosukee and environmental groups joined forces in a lawsuit against the national and local governments, citing the irreparable damage this center poses to the fragile ecosystem that is also their home. While on August 27, a federal judge confirmed the order to dismantle the site within 60 days, an appeals court later suspended the ruling. Therefore, the struggle to close the detention center continues. Even if the detention center is eventually closed and the swamp remains under the care of the Miccosukee, the need for racial and immigration justice for the 3,000 people the government seeks to deport every day remains latent, as long as the priority is to continue building new detention centers and there is no will to move toward an immigration reform that would give permanent status to the 12 million immigrants who already live and work in the country. As long as the hunt for migrants continues, the mobilization of people of faith and their allies cannot stop. Solidarity and organization among diverse sectors must be strengthened, as in the case described in the swamp; it must become clearer, more audible, and more active. The fate of the panther, indigenous peoples, migrants, black and white communities is closely linked, and there is power in action when we unite. During the vigil on the Sunday before the federal judge's ruling regarding the detention center, Nick Carey, organizer of Faith in Florida, said: "We reject white Christian nationalism... Although our current struggle is against the Trump and DeSantis administrations, we must also recognize that this detention center is the culmination of more than 100 years of U.S. foreign policy. Trump has given free rein to ICE, which grew stronger and larger under both the Biden and Obama administrations. We must seek solutions! We must aspire to more ambitious solutions that do not fall short, until we achieve the liberation of all people! We may not know how to solve it, but let's figure it out together." In the words of young poet Rose Cervantes, also present: ”I don't have to do this alone. Liberation is collective!" Spanish Version available by clicking here. (1) National Immigration Law Center (NILC), "Factsheet: Trump’s Rescission of Protected Areas Policies Undermines Safety for All," 26 de febrero de 2025, https://www.nilc.org/resources/factsheet-trumps-rescission-of-protected-areas-policies-undermines-safety-for-all/  Rvda. Dra. Neddy Astudillo Eco-theologian Coordinator of the Climate Justice and Faith Spanish program at Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary About the author: Rev. Dr. Neddy Astudillo is a Venezuelan eco-theologian, a PCUSA pastor and coordinator of the Climate Justice and Faith Certification program at Pacific Lutheran Seminary.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | September 15th, 2025
GRAND RAPIDS, MI. – On Monday, September 15th, local faith leaders gathered at Ah-Nab-Awen Park to lament rollbacks on environmental policies and the resulting harm to Michigan communities. Speakers highlighted environmental justice concerns around PFAS pollution in our local watersheds and the connection to our public health. Organized by Creation Justice Ministries and co-sponsored by Michigan Interfaith Power & Light, A Rocha USA, Episcopal Diocese of the Great Lakes, Plainsong Farm & Ministry, as well as eleven national co-sponsors, this event was in celebration of the Season of Creation, a time in the Christian liturgical calendar to celebrate, to honor and to care for Creation. Statement from Leah Wiste, Executive Director of Michigan Interfaith Power & Light: "Today's event was both a celebration and a lament. Our spirits are buoyed by the good work of Michigan communities like Grand Rapids, who are caring for their residents by reducing climate pollution and preparing for extreme weather impacts. At the same time, our hearts ache for everyone who has been and will be harmed by the Trump administration's reckless disregard for science, decency, and the common good. We gather in community because all of this is too much to hold by ourselves." Statement from Avery Davis Lamb, Executive Director of Creation Justice Ministries: “From the Sermon on the Mount to his entry into Jerusalem, Jesus’ ministry reveals that public witness lies at the heart of our faith. Today, as we launch the Season of Creation and our Witness for Creation Justice campaign, we stand together in that same spirit of witness—naming the harms inflicted on God’s world, and proclaiming that another way is possible. Joined by the whole community of creation, we declare that caring for our common home is not optional; it is central to who we are as followers of Christ.” Statement from Jessica Eimer Bowen, Promoter of Justice for the Dominican Sisters Grand Rapids: “The Dominican Sisters have never stood on the sidelines—they have walked alongside the poor and vulnerable and defended God’s creation. Their lives remind us that meaningful change begins when ordinary people choose to act. As we gather for this Season of Creation witness event, we are called to live a little more Dominican: to love our neighbors, honor the dignity of every person, follow the nonviolent way of Jesus Christ, care for creation, and be a flame of truth, hope, and mercy.” For questions, please contact Madison Mayhew: [email protected], 770-359-8417. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | September 15th, 2025
ATLANTA, GA – Monday, September 15th, local faith leaders gathered outside the State Capitol to lament rollbacks on environmental policies, including clean energy incentives and disaster recovery, and the resulting harm to Georgia communities. Organized by Creation Justice Ministries and co-sponsored by Georgia Interfaith Power & Light and fourteen national faith-based organizations, the event was a powerful public witness calling for urgent moral action from our elected leaders. Statement from Rev. Jay Horton, Georgia Interfaith Power & Light Communications Manager and clergy in the North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church: “As Christians, we are called to speak out when policies put profit over people and neglect our care for Creation. Rising energy costs and worsening climate disasters are not abstract concerns—they are already harming families and communities across Georgia. Today’s public witness demonstrates that people of faith are united in urging our leaders to act with moral courage and protect both our neighbors and future generations.” Statement from Rev. Dr. Tiffanie Lanelle Mackey. Georgia Interfaith Power & Light Board Member: “There is an African proverb that says, ‘If you sell your father's land to buy a trumpet, where will you stand to blow it?’ I am saddened by the constant selling of our resources and disgusted by the capitalism of our rights. It would appear that some of our leaders believe our air, water, and land rights should be for sale today without concern for tomorrow. We must all live in harmony with Mother Earth, which means we must work collectively to protect her gift of abundance and resources. Right now, we are failing at this protection.” Statement from Rev. Dr. Jordan Thrasher, Senior Pastor, Embry Hills UMC: “Basing his quote on the Golden Rule, Wendell Berry says, “Do unto those downstream that you would have those upstream do unto you.” We are using up resources and polluting the environment to immediate satisfaction without thinking of who is truly bearing the weight of our actions. It is those who are downstream. Those who are physically downstream as we continue our fruitless water wars, those who are downstream of our economy who get just a trickle, and those who are downstream of our lineage, who will not have much left. Creation is a gift, and we should treat it as such. We should stop deluding ourselves into thinking it is a commodity that we get to buy and sell.” Statement from Jamaar Pye, NGUMC Disaster Response Associate on the Conference Connectional Ministries: “As people of faith, we are called not only to walk alongside communities as they recover from devastating storms, but also to confront the root causes of these disasters. United Methodists in Georgia are committed to working together with partners to care for God’s creation.” Statement from Rev. Krystle Moraska, Pastora at Faith Lutheran Church, Southeastern Synod, ELCA “God's Creation, in its wisdom, has been crying out in lament. God's people, in their wisdom, have been crying out in lament. It is our call as people of faith to take these cries seriously and allow these cries to shape legislative actions to address climate justice. We must hold one another accountable so that there is justice, compassion, and care for one another.” For questions, please contact Madison Mayhew: [email protected], 770-359-8417. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 9, 2025
PHOENIX, AZ – Today, over seventy people of faith gathered at the Desert Botanical Garden to lament rollbacks on environmental policies and the resulting harm to Arizona communities. Organized by Creation Justice Ministries, three Arizona co-sponsors, Arizona Interfaith Power & Light, Arizona Faith Network and Corazón Arizona, and ten national co-sponsors, this event was in celebration of the Season of Creation, a time in the Christian liturgical calendar to celebrate, to honor and to care for Creation. A livestream of the event is available here. Statement from Rev. Katie Sexton, Executive Director of Arizona Faith Network: “Our earth is crying out to be protected. As faith leaders, we are called to raise our voices and stand in solidarity with Indigenous communities to safeguard sacred places like Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni and Ironwood Forest. Protecting these lands is not optional; it is a moral and spiritual obligation to future generations.” Statement from Dr. Toni Hawkins, Southwest Conference Minister, United Church of Christ: “In this Season of Creation, we cannot ignore the truth pressing upon us: the land and waters are groaning. Sacred places like Ironwood Forest, Oak Flat and other holy land face the threat of diminished protections. Rivers are running dry. Fires are burning hotter. Heat is bearing down without mercy. The land, the people, and our siblings crossing the borders for a better life are impacted. We cannot afford silence. Our collective moral voice matters. This Season of Creation is not only for confession, it is for courage. Our voices together can safeguard the sacred. Standing with Indigenous leaders to protect Oak Flat and all holy lands is how we honor both creation and Creator.” Statement from Jeff Proctor-Murphy, Pastor at Dayspring United Methodist Church: "Caring for creation and caring for displaced people are inseparable acts of faith.” Statement from Rev. Caleb Collins, Rector at the Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration: “Loving Mother Earth is critical to embodying and living out the love of God. From my mother’s cultural heritage, as a mestiza Mexican woman, there is a legend about la corúa, the water guardian, a water serpent whose movements in the sands of the desert carve out the life-giving rivers. If la corúa is killed, the river dies too. The message is clear. Don’t cut off your source of life. The earth is our island home of biodiversity in an interstellar sea. How can we ask creation for forgiveness and commit to a better way towards balance and healing?” Statement from Rev. Trish Winters, Community Christian Church: "Three years ago Community Christian Church opened their fellowship hall as a cooling center: a center of respite where folks could come, bring their dogs, find water, a few snacks, and human kindness. It was 103° that first day and fifteen people showed up. Fast forward to three years later following some significant and unfortunate changes in the way the City of Tempe responds to the heat crises and the unhoused, on August 21, 2025, we had 82 people seek shelter that day. That number is not just a statistic but a sign of the times. It is evidence that climate change, and the way that our social and political institutions respond to that crisis, is no longer a future threat, but our shared reality." For questions, contact Madison Mayhew: [email protected], 770-359-8417 or Melanie Beikman: [email protected] FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 2, 2025 WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, national faith leaders gathered at Upper Senate Park in Washington, D.C., to mark the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation and officially launch the Season of Creation campaign. Organized by Creation Justice Ministries and co-sponsored by Interfaith Power & Light DMV and fourteen national faith-based organizations, the event was a powerful public witness calling for urgent moral action in response to worsening climate impacts, rising heat, and rollbacks of environmental protections. Statement from Avery Davis Lamb, Executive Director of Creation Justice Ministries: “From the Sermon on the Mount to his entry into Jerusalem, Jesus’ ministry reveals that public witness lies at the heart of our faith. Today, as we launch the Season of Creation and our Witness for Creation Justice campaign, we stand together in that same spirit of witness—naming the harms inflicted on God’s world, and proclaiming that another way is possible. Joined by the whole community of creation, we declare that caring for our common home is not optional; it is central to who we are as followers of Christ.” Statement from Rev. Adam Russell Taylor, President of Sojourners: “As Christians, we must now reckon with the reality of the climate crisis not as a future hypothetical but as a present reality. When I think about the state of the climate today, I feel both righteous anger and lament for what human beings, each of us created in God’s image, have wrought upon God’s creation. Yet at the same time, I have long believed that we have a responsibility as believers to be prisoners of hope. Despite how we’ve so often ignored the cries of the Earth, God continues to love us unconditionally, extending the promise of doing a new thing on our ravaged planet in and through us. And that has the potential to change everything. Rather than despair, we must press forward, redoubling our commitment individually and collectively to push relentlessly for a sea change in policy and political priorities.” Statement from Bishop Julius C. Trimble, General Secretary of the General Board of Church and Society of the United Methodist Church,: “As people of faith, we believe that God created the earth and all its inhabitants, and declared it good,” said Bishop Julius C. Trimble, General Secretary, The General Board of Church and Society of The United Methodist Church. “Ecological degradation and destruction, over-reliance on fossil fuels, and other extractive practices violate the dignity of creation and disproportionately produce unprecedented harm for vulnerable and marginalized communities.” Statement from Rev. Dr. Kip Bernard Banks, Sr., Senior Pastor of East Washington Heights Baptist Church of Washington, D.C.: “The climate crisis is not a distant storm—it is upon us, demanding that we turn today. As Dr. King said: we are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In baptism, we are called to repent, to leave behind the old life, and to walk in a new way with Christ. That same call resounds now: for each of us to turn from habits that desecrate creation, and for our leaders to turn from policies that destroy our common home.” Statement from Rev. Ginger E. Gaines-Cirelli, Lead Pastor Foundry United Methodist Church: “The same federal government that weakens national climate protections has tied the hands of our D.C. local leaders. We feel the effects in our bodies, in our neighborhoods, in our most vulnerable communities. Residents of D.C. are denied voting representation in Congress and the dignity of self-determination. That is not just a political inconvenience. It is a justice issue, a racial justice issue, and a creation justice issue. Because creation cannot flourish when the people who live here are denied the power to protect the land, the air, the water, and one another." Statement from Adam Greene, Emissary of the Great Tayac of the Piscataway Indian Nation to the Indigenous European People in the Western Hemisphere: “These original instructions were given to all Indigenous People throughout the entire Earth: That human beings were put here to be stewards of Creation. Not outside of Nature but within it. Globally, the Indigenous Peoples of Mother Earth still follow the original teachings as mentioned in the Book of Genesis and other religious books found throughout the world. The 29th Generation Hereditary Chief of the Piscataway Indian Nation Mark Tayac invites you into a relationship of friendship and mutual learning so that we can together as human beings actualize our Creator’s original instructions.” |
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