Act of Solidarity in Support of the Earth Charter

An Act of Solidarity -All Synods – All Congregations– Earth Sunday April 24th

The NY Metro synod asks all synods and all synod congregations to join us nationally on Earth Sunday, April 24th in a joint action of solidarity to raise up the importance of Creation Care and promote the Earth Charter (earthcharter.org).

The ask is simple: during your Sunday service on that day:

1. Include our prepared Earth Sunday Prayer of Solidarity in your church services.

2. Ring a handbell (or the great bell in your steeple if you have one!), one time for each participating church (we’ll post the exact number of congregations beforehand);

3. Perform a ceremonial exchange and gifting of a seedling or indoor plant across two or three generations of congregants, with each exchange including a reminder that the recipient is now the steward of the seedling or plant. We have prepared the wording for the exchange ceremony as well as a prayer for the later planting of the seedling if you chose to do so after your service.

4 . Don’t forget about other congregations in your synod as well as inter-faith congregations in your local community.  Ask them to join you, us, all of us as a further act of solidarity.

Most importantly, get in touch with us so we can forward the above materials and be added to our roster of churches.  You can reach us at MNYSGREEN@gmail.com

Find all supporting prayers and outreach materials in this shared folder (click).