Some of the youngest members of an Earth Care Congregation in Leesburg, Virginia, are getting an early lesson in Creation Care.
“Preschoolers at Leesburg Presbyterian Church take an active role in the church’s composting program, which began last fall,” said Laura Renauld, who leads the church’s Earth Care Team. Composting involves collecting food scraps and other compostable materials so they can be transformed, with the help of an area company, into a mixture that can then benefit lawns and gardens.
Fifty-three years after its first observance, Earth Day is an annual reminder that what we do to the Earth matters. It matters to humanity, and it matters to God. Being an Earth Care Congregation brings a sense of joy that exudes to anyone you speak to who serves their respective congregation in this capacity.
Ten pairs of trail shoes crunch up the carriage road. A dry August has browned trailside grass and prompted some early color amid the maples. Grasshoppers shoot off in all directions. A few monarch butterflies drift by in pursuit of milkweed. We are on our way to Elder’s Grove, an 8-acre stand of old-growth white pines that date to 1675.
From celebrating World Wetlands Day and engaging in community advocacy to raising butterflies and growing herbs and spices, Dorchester Presbyterian Church in Summerville, South Carolina, shows love for God’s Creation.
When Margo Smith thinks about Black Mountain Presbyterian Church’s commitment to addressing food insecurity and other community needs in western North Carolina, she is reminded of an engraving inside the church’s sanctuary.
