Tales from a Green Shepherd, Lutheran Theological Seminary in Gettysburg (2013)

Participants under the Witness Tree on the Gettysburg battlefield, site of worship at the LRC Retreat.

The second week in August, 2013, about a dozen and a half Lutherans converged on Singmaster House at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Gettysburg for a two-day seminar on caring for God’s creation. The training was led by Lutherans Restoring Creation (LRC) through a grant from the Lutheran Community Foundation (now InFaith Community Foundation).

Participants at the LRC Retreat at Lutheran Theological Seminary in Gettysburg

We shared hopes and dreams – we talked about worship, education, advocacy, buildings, and grounds – we developed plans, as individuals and within our synods – good Lutherans that we all are, we talked and ate – and we worshiped together: an evening Taizé service in a living room with a slightly out-of-tune piano and candles on a coffee table and an afternoon service under a white oak “witness tree” (one that witnessed the Battle of Gettysburg) that also witnessed the sharing of our visions of creation. We left, hopefully, as seeds, to be planted and to grow.

So, why do Lutherans care for creation? Some excerpts and summaries from LRC information:

  • We affirm God as creator of all and cherish the continuing presence of God in, with, and under all reality.
  • The theology of the cross gives us solidarity with “creation groaning in travail;” our affirmation of resurrection offers hope for new life in this world.
  • We see the material as a vehicle of the divine, seeing Christ present in such ordinary elements as grapes and grain. We worship God with creation.
  • We believe that the church exists for the sake of the world, continually reforming in response to the needs and crises of this life.
  • We have an ethic of action created by faith in love for our neighbor and all of God’s creation.
  • With a heritage back to the Reformation, Lutherans have a history of social ministry to the poor, the oppressed, the marginalized, of being a voice for the voiceless. This includes those people hurt by environmental exploitation and degradation as well as the damaged creation.

So, how do you care for creation? How should we care for creation? What seeds do you want to plant, and have planted within you?

Louisa Rettew, P.E., LEED-AP+BD&C