We are God’s stewards of all of creation.
Caring for God’s Creation
Overview
Scripture teaches that humanity has a special role in relationship to the rest of creation. While we are formed from the earth like other creatures, humans are charged with being God’s stewards of all of creation. Our elected officials help support the stewardship of God’s creation by appropriating funding for programs that protect human health and the environment. On a state and national level, these programs include promoting clean air and water, protecting land, preventing harm to plants and animals, and supporting biological diversity and healthy communities. In addition, Congress funds major international development efforts to mitigate the impact of greenhouse gas emissions. These environmental programs are essential to global food and national security, welfare, and economic productivity.
Lutheran Advocacy Ministry Arizona advocates for policies that protect God's creation, recognizing that failure to do so intensifies social injustices across the board. A changing climate increases food prices, forcing people to go hungry. Pollution and lack of environmental regulation in marginalized communities result in disproportionate health outcomes for poor families and individuals. Extreme weather events like Hurricanes Harvey and Maria in 2017 displace people from their homes, ruin economies and cost billions to clean up. And the list goes on.
Caring for Creation Today
Caring for God's creation is an ever-evolving topic in this world, especially with each new natural or human made disaster. As stewards of this world, we are called to care for the earth and examine our behaviors toward creation. While we need to take from the land for food and sustainability, we also need to be careful that we maintain good stewardship and do not exploit the wonderful things the earth provides.
The ELCA is pleased to share a pastoral statement on creation care and climate solutions to ensure a viable, livable world from Presiding Bishop Elizabeth A. Eaton.
The present moment is a critical and urgent one, filled with both challenge and opportunity to act as individuals, citizens, leaders and communities of faith in solidarity with God's good creation and in hope for our shared future.
2018 Earth Day statement
The ELCA has collaborated with ecoAmerica’s Blessed Tomorrow program, a faith community initiative that empowers climate action and advocacy. This is a program by people of faith, for people of faith, offering ideas, tools, and language that are familiar, compelling and effective in addressing climate change. It provides resources that put us on a path to a positive future while maintaining the distinct voice of the ELCA.
Resources
Getting started on your creation care path really is simple. We’ve developed easy to use resource to help your congregation. Learn more here.
View video "God's work. Our hands." produced in collaboration with ecoAmerica.
Lutherans Restoring Creation is a grassroots movement promoting care for creation in the ELCA. It is one of the organizations on this list of "Lutheran, Ecumenical and Interfaith Creation Care Organizations."
Learn more about the ELCA's environmental commitment from our social statement Caring for Creation and our advocacy resources."
Consider becoming a Creation Care Ambassador.
Below are additional issues LAMA works on to promote care of God’s creation:
Climate Change
Severe consequences of climate change are happening more rapidly than scientists believed would be the case even just a handful of years ago. A report by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns that carbon pollution must be cut by 45% within the next 11 years and must be at zero within about 25 years to avoid disastrous global warming.
Significant changes to the climate have already occurred as a result of global warming, disrupting agriculture, worsening food scarcity, poverty, famines, and flooding. Sea level is already seven to eight inches higher than at pre-industrial levels due to melting glaciers, and getting worse quickly. Warming is increasing the intensity of storms, changing habitat for insects and causing disease to spread. And this just scratches the surface.
The world needs an unprecedented mobilization to slow carbon emissions and stop them, a level some compare to the mobilization in the U.S. for World War II. The world must move rapidly to increase efficiency, replace fossil fuels with renewable energy, plant millions of trees, and remove carbon from the atmosphere. We must work to address climate adaptation and resilience. While these economic transitions will be costly to some industries and workers, these changes will also expand economic opportunities, industries and jobs for the future.
52 Ways to Care for Creation from Creation Justice Ministries
Resources