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by Reverend Myrna Bethke
presented to Church Council on August 24, 2009
"In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. ...God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good."
In the beginning God spoke and all that is was called into being. Out of the void, out of chaos creation happened. The book of Genesis records this creation in two different stories, one a story about the goodness of all creation, the second a story of brokenness. God created human beings and gave us power over all creation. This is a power, I believe, that calls us to be keepers of God's creation in ways that continue the goodness that God saw in creation.
The church is the body of Christ, and as such we are charged with living in ways that show others God's love and power. A part of this is how we treat the created order. How we care for the environment, the decisions we make about what we will use, what we will consume are a statement on how well we live out the mandate found in the first story of creation.
As a part of our task we acknowledge our failures, finding our story in the brokenness of Adam and Eve's experiences. We admit to participating in the destruction of our environment, overusing resources, and not caring for things as well as we should.
The United Methodist Church of Red Bank has pledged to become a Green Faith congregation. We will strive to take seriously God's charge to humanity that was begun in creation. We will acknowledge the ways we have participated in the current state of our environment. With God's help we will work towards reversing such destructive habits and patterns not only at an individual level, but also on systemic levels.
Red Bank United Methodist Church has entered into a two year certification process toward becoming a GreenFaith sanctuary, through the direction of GreenFaith.
Greenfaith is New Jersey's interfaith coalition for the environment, founded in 1992, to inspire, educate, and mobilize people of diverse spiritual backgrounds to rediscover their relationship with the sacred in nature and to restore the earth for future generations through shared beliefs of the world's great religions:
- caring for the earth is a religious value; environmental stewardship is a moral responsibility
- we grow spiritually through our relationship with the earth
- everyone has the right to live in a clean, safe environment
- people of faith have a vital role to play in restoring healthy ecosystems around the world.
Green Faith certification is designed to help houses of worship from diverse traditions become religious-environmental leaders. The Green Faith certification is the world's first comprehensive interfaith, environmental certification program. Over two years, participating institutions carry out a range of initiatives to integrate environmental themes into worship, religious education, facility maintenance, and social outreach with the goal of becoming a Green Faith sanctuary. Red Bank UMC has already begun a process of moving toward better stewardship of creation with facility improvements, education of children, youth and adults, and specific programs of information and participation in environmental tasks with local environmental groups. This certification process is a continuation of these efforts on a more intentional and guided level, as we will receive support and education from the staff of Green Faith.
Red Bank UMC is the first Methodist church accepted into the program, and we will work with our team to achieve the goals set for the certification.