Earth Stewardship: Hopes from Our Hearts
During our Books and Bagels book discussions last summer, we read Our Wild Calling by Richard Louv. This book looks at our relationships with non-human animals through many stories. Louv has been putting forth the case for nature and our relationship with it as essential to our health in several previous books. The group discussion about this book lead to the idea that I could lead “EcoWalks” for our congregation as a way to nurture our own relationships with nature. This discussion also led to the formation of our Earth Stewardship Committee.
Linda Sonner has been a long-time activist and leader for nature and environmental issues at FVPC and was a participant in these discussions. She was delighted that this idea of the EcoWalks and an Earth Stewardship Committee was getting some legs. Linda and Susan Strasser wrote the mission statement for our committee:
The Earth Stewardship Committee at FVPC seeks to educate and engage
our church community in the mission of earth care.
The idea behind the EcoWalks was to build on my 35+ years of experience as an ecologist in the Chicago region, and leading nature walks for various ages of Scouts and Scout leaders for the past 20 years. This also aligned with the earth care/earth justice thoughts that came out of the last stewardship campaign.
The first EcoWalk was held at Dick Young Forest Preserve last fall and had a good response and good weather. Offering these EcoWalks on a quarterly or seasonal basis would allow us to experience all the seasons of nature in the Midwest. So of course, for the next EcoWalk it was very cold, which I know kept many away. But we still had a good-sized group of hearty Midwesterners that came out for a walk and discussion at Fabyan Forest Preserve in an area most had not experienced. Our spring EcoWalk was at Johnson’s Mound Forest Preserve and, of course, it rained. Actually, it rained pretty hard in some localities right before the walk, but the participants were only sprinkled upon. We took time to listen to nature and its Creator in the gentle rain, along with looking at the beautiful spring wildflowers that are only present before the trees leaf out in the spring.
Our Summer 2022 (August 6) EcoWalk will take us to Jon Duerr Forest Preserve on the Fox River for an EcoWalk on fully accessible trails. We want this to be a nature experience for all ages and abilities. Come learn about ways we can better care for God’s marvelous creation!
Jeff Mengler
Last fall during our stewardship campaign, worshipers had the opportunity to write down what they think a future with hope looks like for Fox Valley Presbyterian Church. The responses fell into four general areas:
Unity/Together Again/Old-New Directions/More Light
Family/Youth/Children
Service/Justice/Earth Care
Peace/Prayer/Worship
Using the many component words in these categories, we created “word clouds” that reflect the many comments contributed. Over the months ahead, we will be focusing on these word clouds and programs at FVPC that support those goals and hopes. Find other hope-filled stories by clicking the “heart hopes” tag under the title of this post.