St. Andrew's Creation News

Special Guest for Creation Season


Please join us October 31 at 1:00pm for a lively discussion around the Gospel of Mark and Creation with The Rev. Adam Bartholomew. We will hear the story of creation and the Gospel of Mark in news ways that will draw us into creative discussion around our environment and our relationships with each other that will help us consider how we can heal a broken world.
Adam Gilbert Bartholomew is Co-founder of Network of Biblical Storytellers, International. He taught New Testament at Lancaster Theological Seminary in Pennsylvania for 25 years. 
He lives in Spokane, WA, where he is an adjunct professor in Religious Studies at Gonzaga University.

The course, Healing Creation, brings together the Biblical story of the universe with 20th century developments in science. Adam. along with Joan Connell, a career journalist in religion and ethics, have written Healing All Creation: Genesis, the Gospel of Mark, and the Story of the Universe.

Adam and his wife Linda are both retired Episcopal priests. Their daughter, Jessica, lives in Cincinnati, OH, with her husband and their four daughters whose ages range from nine months to nine years.

When: Sunday Oct. 31 @ 1:00 pm
Where: This will be a Zoom presentation. The link will be provided soon
How: Supplemental Reading for this discussion is provided below but not required.

Healing All Creation: Genesis, the Gospel of Mark, and the Story of the Universe

Creation Season: The Early Years


OUR PLANET EARTH
We began our first Creation Season on October 7, 2012. On that day we commemorated the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi, celebrating not only the gift of animals given to us by God, but also, Francis' deep reverence for all of life and this precious earth, our island home.

We celebrate the beauty and grace of planet Earth, spinning silently through space, our special place in the solar system. We rejoice in the oceans, brimming with life. We praise God for all the fauna and flora; they delight us in their beauty and diversity.

This beautiful planet is enveloped in the life-giving breath of God. We celebrate with all God' children, the Creator's presence in all that we are and all that we have, here on our planet Earth.
(from Creation Season 1 Opening Proclamations written by Jim Couture)
 
Our procession for worship included a river of blue celebrating the Elwha, the Hoh, the Dungeness, the Sol Duc and the mighty Columbia.
Left: a volunteer repots seedlings that will be planted in the riverbed to become trees
Right: Alder saplings beginning to spread on the newly exposed riverbed
(Photos from National Park Service)
 
It was during the early years of our Creation Season that the Elwha River Dam Removal Project took place. As we celebrated the rivers of the Earth in our worship services, the world was watching the largest dam removal and restoration project yet to take place. 

Several people from St. Andrew's went to the Matt Albright Native Plant Center, Olympic National Park's greenhouse facility to join Park botanists, to help propagate native plant species that were eventually transplanted to the riverbed. 

Healing Creation

RECYCLING BEGINNINGS

One of the biggest projects we took on during this period was our recycling program. The city did not offer recycling collection as it does now so Earth Stewardship Ministry worked with Holy Trinity Lutheran Church to collect clean plastic containers from parishioners, sort them buy the number in the little triangle on the container (called a Resin Code).

Debbie Heaton and Pat Milliren took the large clear bags of plastics plus a few small ones to Holy Trinity to add to their recycling efforts. Holy Trinity then delivered them to a recycling station in Blyn.  This project, at St. Andrew's and throughout Port Angeles eventually became the city wide recycling program we have now. 
WHY BUY ORGANIC?
1. No synthetic pesticides.
2. No genetic engineering. The US government has allowed the development and release of many GMOs into our environment
and our food. Until compulsory GMO labeling is adopted in this country, buying certified 100% organic products is the best way
to keep genetic engineering out of your food.
3. No antibiotics.
4. No growth hormones.
5. No sludge. US government regulations permit sludge to be used on conventional farms despite concerns about contamination
by high levels of heavy metals, dioxins, and other chemicals from industrial and commercial sources.
6. No irradiation. Proponents argue that irradiation extends shelf life by killing microbes that spoil food and cause illness.
Opponents argue that it also breaks down the enzymes and vitamins that make the food healthy in the first place.
7. Promotes Biodiversity. Organic growers contribute to the survival of songbirds, bees, fish, and other species that have been
harmed by persistent chemicals in the environment. Many organic growers also raise and preserve rare heirloom varieties of
fruits, vegetables, and animal breeds that cannot be commercially grown on factory farms.
8. Supports a true economy. Buying organic and local is a direct investment in sustainable agriculture and the long-term future
of our county and planet.
9. Organic foods meet strict standards.

Theological Reflection

*"For God so loved the world..." (John 3:16). 

From Earth Ministry's Earth Letter in March 1995,  "In the words of Stephen Jay Gould: 'We cannot win this battle to save species and environments without forging an emotional bond between ourselves and nature as well--for we will not fight to save what we do not love.'"  

From the same issue, written by The Rev. Carla Berkedal (now Pryne; she was a founder of Earth Ministry and an invited preacher at St. Andrew's in the early 1990s), "The word 'proclamation' means to "cry out" ..."before"....each Christian is called, as Paul says, to speak of the hope that is in us.  In an ecological age, that means we are called to interpret the Scripture, worship and tradition of the Church in the light of what we now know about the ecological health of the planet...."

Collected by Pat Milliren
St. Andrew's Episcopal Church
510 E. Park Avenue
Port Angeles, WA 98362
(360) 457-4862
sapa@standrewpa.org
standrewpa.org