Dear Church Family and Friends,
Those of you who were at the worship service when our most recent new members joined the church will remember that many of them had a strong commitment to the environment. Those same new members are now leading the way for us as our church starts an exciting environmental initiative for the year 2014. Six of our new members have taken “The Planet Earth Pledge.” This pledge marks a commitment to take action against global warming for each week of 2014. A weekly action might be as simple as signing an online petition or sending an email to your legislator. The action might only require 15 minutes of one’s time each week. This is a small price to pay in the fight against one of the most pressing problems of our time.
The Planet Earth Pledge project arose out of our church and now has a growing number of local people outside of our church who have made the pledge as well. The motivation for this project is that people often feel powerless and alone in the face of the global warming crisis. With the Planet Earth Pledge, people can feel like they are a part of something bigger than themselves. When one writes one’s legislator, for example, one can state that one belongs to a group of people who have made a pledge to fight global warming. In fact, one can give the exact number because it will be updated every week on the website for the pledge. Moreover, there will be a weekly email digest of potential actions that will provide an updated number. To pledge or learn more, visit www.planetearthpledge.org.
Our new members were asked why they made the pledge. Here is how they responded:
“There is no PLANet B.” —David Macko
“The reason that I took the Planet Earth Pledge is that the fate of the Earth is in our hands and God gave us stewardship of this magnificent home planet we call Earth.” —David Harrington
“We try to live what we believe.” —Kit and Trixie Stowell
“I believe that God called us to care for His Creation and that one day we will be held accountable.” —Alona Steinke
“If we don’t make major cuts in greenhouse gas emissions soon, we will cross the tipping to irreversible global warming leading to the end of civilization as we know it.” —Don Steinke
Your brother in Christ,
Pastor Brooks