Earth Day 2023 Activities to Renew Creation and Lift Our Spirits
Earth Day 2023 on April 22nd, lands on a Saturday, and that, says Rev. Margaret Bullitt-Jones, is the perfect day to build community, strengthen our spirits . . . and clean up our corner of the world.
What the Creation Care Director for the Massachusetts Episcopal Diocese suggests isn’t complicated: congregations can be invited to gather outdoors in a place that needs healing–maybe a city park, a riverbank, or stretch of woods. Bring whatever tools you need (e.g., gloves, trash bags, rakes, shovels). Invite the public. Follow the work sessions with lunch or refreshments.
Knowing that it might be hard to sustain a feeling of reverence for creation during a trash pick-up, Rev. Bullitt-Jones’ Creation Care Team has created a simple, ecumenical, outdoor liturgy, Healing Our Hearts, Healing Our Land. This family-friendly liturgy can be adapted to any group’s needs and location. You can download the service here.
Other faith and denominational associations also suggest meaningful practices of Creation Care specifically for Earth Day. The list below is not exhaustive but will hopefully spur you to explore these and other Earth Day resources from your own faith tradition.
Earthday.org
provides a toolkit for engaging governments, institutions, businesses, and the more than 1 billion citizens who participate annually in Earth Day to do their part – everyone accounted for, everyone accountable.
Earthday.org/Faith and the Environment also offers a collection of resources from these traditions: Buddhist, Catholic, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, Protestant, Sikh, and Interfaith.
Richard H. Schwartz, author of Judaism and Global Survival, offers support and resources in Making Earthday 2023 an Environmental Shabbat to encourage rabbis and others all over the world to give sermons and/or classes on that day about Judaism’s splendid environmental teachings and how they can be applied to reduce current environmental threats.
Ramadan began on March 23 and Eid al-Fitr 2023 is celebrated/observed on sundown of Friday, April 21st ending at sundown on Saturday, April 22nd on Earth Day. See How Muslims Across the World Celebrated Earth Day 2022 with Green Khutbah Campaign.
Presbyterian Mission Agency – Earth Day Sunday includes stories of resilience, sermon starters, liturgy and action steps for Earth Day and throughout the year. It also contains an Earth Day Sunday Archives spanning the last ten years and a listing of worship resources, helpful websites, and webinars.
Creation Justice Ministries – Earth Day Resources
include liturgies, action ideas, Bible studies informational articles, and more. The CJM theme for Earth Day 2023 is Sowing Seeds: Prophetic Action to Climate-Changed Lands. It focuses on food systems, climate change, and regenerative farming.
Lutherans Restoring Creation of the Lower Susquehanna Synod hosts a virtual Earth Day worship service on Saturday, April 22 at 9:00 AM on YouTube. Led by the Rev. Dr. R. Guy Erwin, the sermon will be based on the readings for April 23, 2023, from the 24th chapter of Luke. The Synod also offers a toolkit for the whole month of April.
