Monthly Archives: May 2019

Earth Moment

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By Jim Musselman

FMCSF’s “Green Team” gave this “Earth Moment” on Sunday, May 19.

Greta Thunberg is a 16-year-old high school student who lives in Sweden. She is a climate activist who has organized an international school strike to fight climate change. Greta gave a speech about climate in London on April 23rd. Here are a few things she said:

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We had everything we could ever wish for and yet now we may have nothing. Now we probably don’t even have a future any more… You lied to us. You gave us false hope. You told us that the future was something to look forward to… Around the year 2030   … we will be in a position where we set off an irreversible chain reaction beyond human control, that will most likely lead to the end of our civilization as we know it. That is unless in that time, permanent and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society have taken place, including a reduction of CO2 emissions by at least 50%.  

And please note that these calculations are depending on inventions that have not yet been invented at scale, inventions that are supposed to clear the atmosphere of astronomical amounts of carbon dioxide.

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Sermon

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By Sheri Hostetler

Psalm 23, Acts 9:36-43

Our story from Acts takes place in Joppa, a coastal town about 35 miles west of Jerusalem. It is now a suburb of Tel Aviv. Dorcas, or Tabitha (the Hebrew version of her name) — actually, I’m going to call her Tabitha because I can’t get this middl-school snicker out of my mind whenever I hear the name Dorcas. Tabitha is one of the main disciples of a small community of Jewish followers of Jesus that has formed in Joppa. Tabitha was devoted to good works and acts of charity, the text says; she was a beloved person in this community, caring for the most vulnerable by making garments for them. Today, in our world of fast fashion, we might not realize what a big deal this was. Clothing back then was major expense — one cloak might cost more than half of the annual wages of a poor person. Tabitha was seriously into the redistribution of wealth by giving widows and poor people clothing.

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Earth Moment

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By Kinari Webb

FMCSF’s “Green Team” gave this “Earth Moment” on Sunday, May 5, 2019.

If we cannot mourn, we cannot heal.

Since a human walked on the moon only 50 years ago, earth has lost 60% of the animals it had then. For a moment think about your favorite animal.

Now mourn with me so many fewer elephants, praying mantises, warblers, butterflies, orangutans, sharks, and fish.

[silence]

Here are some small things you can do:

1) Help rebuild the food chain and be healthier yourself by eating organic.

2) Help reduce climate change and promote more sensible use of land by eating less meat.

3) Support a carbon tax.

4) Partner with rainforest communities so that they have their needs met and can protect massive biodiversity and the lungs of the earth.

5) Fight for justice because we will need everyone’s wisdom and strength to bring about the great turning towards living more sustainably with our earth.

May it be so….