Have you ever passed a congregation’s street sign and glanced for a symbol – say, that four-color globe overlaid with a cross that indicates “ELCA”? What you see tells you something about what’s going on inside. Or maybe you’ve seen a symbol on a bumper sticker – say, “26.2”, that once you’re in-the-know indicates the person could tell you something about running marathons.
With the launch on October 4 of “One Home One Future”, congregations of many varieties will start popping up with a new symbol that tells you something about what’s going on inside and that can start important conversations. It is a visible effort to invite creation care and climate action.
INVITATION FROM BISHOP EATON
“In the ELCA, we are called to care for creation and for each other. The ELCA is proud to be part of ‘One Home One Future’, a multi-faith campaign to strengthen vitality, relevance and community connections across generations in local congregations nationwide. We invite all of our congregations to participate no matter if they have an active creation care program or are just getting started,” said the Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton, ELCA Presiding Bishop, in a campaign launch video. “I look forward to seeing ELCA congregations participate in cities and towns across the country, and I am proud to stand together across faith traditions to protect our given and shared home.”
A banner to hang in front of your house of worship is one of the items in a free congregational toolkit for those that sign up for the campaign, along with free access to trainings, guides and more organized through ecoAmerica’s Blessed Tomorrow program. (The ELCA is a Blessed Tomorrow partner). Check out onehomeonefuture.org for details.
OUR CREATION CARE EFFORTS ARE NOT ALONE
When Bee Moorhead, Executive Director of Texas Impact in the ELCA-affiliated state public policy office network, spoke of her enthusiasm around the new campaign, she said it is easy for local congregations to feel “that they’re the only one in their community who cares about this issue. [Seeing] those signs is going to help them understand it’s not just them, and it’s not just their little congregation… [They] are going to be able to see all over the country, and all over their local community, that there are people who share those values.”
Plus, the resources help. “Our folks know that no organization, no matter how great it is, and no denomination has all of the answers and all of the tools they need. So the access to a library of information from all of our colleagues is really important.”
Explore “One Home One Future” for your worshipping community to strengthen your congregation and care for creation in ways that are inspiring, fulfilling and accessible. Moorhead is excited. “It’s going to bolster [our congregations’] courage and make them take steps they might not otherwise have felt confident to take.”
SYMBOL AND HOPE
And maybe wave or honk when you see the new symbol, because it tells you something about what’s going on. It is our duty to be responsible caretakers of God’s creation, motivated by hope. As stated in “Earth’s Climate Crisis,” an ELCA social message: “With God’s help humanity can turn from the present course, take loving and just action, and live more harmoniously within God’s beautiful and verdant creation.”
