The Joyful Environmentalists: Eugene Peterson and Peter Harris | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction

The Joyful Environmentalists: Eugene Peterson and Peter Harris | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction: "Creation care is a hot topic among Christians, but it is nothing new for longtime friends Eugene Peterson and Peter Harris. Peterson's recent memoir The Pastor (HarperOne) is saturated with environmental themes and metaphors, grounded in his annual visits to the family cabin in the highlands of Montana, where he now resides. In 1983, Peter and Miranda Harris and a few friends founded a Christian ecological study center in Portugal called A Rocha (Portuguese for 'the rock'). It is now an international conservation organization that has recently expanded its work in the United States. Christianity Today editor at large Andy Crouch spoke with Peterson and Harris on the banks of the Frio River in Texas at a conference on faith and technology at Laity Lodge.

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Prayer for Food

Andreas Stech [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Lord, I pray for enough food for everybody.

I pray that, in Australia, the cost of food may be kept affordable. I pray that those who are struggling to buy nutritious food for their families or who have little money left over once the groceries are bought may find new ways to reduce their grocery bills and use the food they buy more wisely. I pray that the cost of groceries do not rise so high that it causes too much pressure on Australians.

Lord, I pray that we may find cheap and sustainable ways of producing food for the whole world. But I also pray that we do not neglect the health of the land, the health of people in other countries and the health of future generations. May our food production reflect Your care for the whole world, not just people living in the western world today.

Lord, I pray that we eat wisely. I pray that we turn to those foods that are truly good for us and good for the land. Help us see and appreciate each stage of the production and consumption of food, instead of seeing it only as a product on our supermarket shelves. Help us not to waste food through each of those production cycles. I pray that we really start to value food and appreciation what has gone into making that food, instead of just seeing it as a disposable and unimportant item.

Lord, I pray for those who are starving. I pray that they are not ignored by the rest of the world, but that we see and care for their situation. Give us the eyes to see those who are starving in the way that You do. I pray that they may have enough food to eat and that the western world does everything it can to help them receive this. I pray also for those people whose children have died starvation, that they may receive comfort. But I also pray that everything possible is done to lessen the amount of people dying from starvation every day.

I also pray that as we eat our food that we feed not only our bodies, but our souls. I pray that the way we eat helps us to feed those souls. May we eat nutritious food with people we love, remembering to be thankful for what we have. But I also pray that You continue to nourish our souls, giving us the spiritual food we need. And I pray that everybody who comes to You, with hands outstretched, in spiritual hunger, receives what they need from You.

Feel our bodies, Lord, but also feed our souls.  

Amen.

ARRCC | Religious Leaders Delegation to Canberra

ARRCC | Religious Leaders Delegation to Canberra: "Recently ARRCC organised a delegation of Religious Leaders from a number of states to visit Parliament House in Canberra and meet with the Prime Minister and other politicians about the urgent need for climate action. Following the visit a public forum was held.

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New Links

Ther'es a whole heap of new links in the section to the right.

Eco-Congregation

Eco-Congregation: "A prayer about recycling

Generous and loving God,
your Creation is filled to overflowing with bounty.
Keep us mindful that many live on less than we do;
keep us mindful that it is not enough to simply buy what we want
and then put it out at the curb when we are finished with it;
keep us open to making real changes in our lives
for the good of Creation.
Keep us thankful and hopeful and active.

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The Bible and the Environment, by Professor Gordon Wenham

The Bible and the Environment, by Professor Gordon Wenham: "The Bible and the Environment

Extract:

It was over 30 years ago that I visited Israel for the first time, and I remember how it transformed my reading of the Bible. Up to then I had never paid much attention to the place names in the text: I just focused on the characters and their actions. But after visiting many of the sites mentioned in the text my reading of the stories changed: I picture them taking place in the specific places mentioned in the Bible.

Something similar happened to me some fifteen months ago, when I was asked to read a paper to a conference of environmentalists on The Old Testament and the Environment. Though I was quite familiar with many of the texts in the Bible relating to environmental issues, I had not asked myself how the biblical writers regarded the environment. But once ask the question and you will soon realise it has a lot to say on this topic. Mind you I could find little help from modern biblical scholarship. They tend to share the blind spots of modern city dwellers and not address these issues either.

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