On Earth Day, Friday, April 22, St. John’s Episcopal Church will sponsor a special program at 7 p.m. about the need for Christians to respond to climate change, a program free and open to the public.
The Rev. Dr. Jerry Cappel, the Environmental Network Coordinator for Province IV of The Episcopal Church and President of Kentucky Interfaith Power and Light, will lead a program focusing on two pastoral teachings about the environment: A Time of Grace for the Whole World, created in 2011 by the House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church; and Laudato Si, published in 2015 by Pope Francis of the Roman Catholic Church. The program itself is entitled “The Appointed Time for the Church: Bishops Speak on Behalf of the Environment.”
“Both of these teachings contain clarion calls for the people of God to amend their lives and align their faith to the challenges the environmental crisis presents,” says Rev. Cappel. “As Christians in particular, we need to revisit, reclaim and renew the threads, themes and theologies within our tradition that will serve us in this transformation.”
Rev. Cappel serves as President of Kentucky Interfaith Power and Light and is a fellow with the Center for Religion and the Environment and GreenFaith. He is a graduate of Harding Graduate School of Religion (M.Div.) in Memphis, Tennessee, and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky (Ph.D.
His work likewise helps faith communities adopt a “deeper shade of green” in their worship, liturgies, fellowship and practice as they attempt to restore a balanced relationship with the earth. As an excerpt from his website, Deep Green Church, notes, “The environmental degradation is a mirror into which we could view our souls, if we but had the eyes to see. This means that much of the work of Restoring Right Relations is spiritual work.” (http://deepgreenchurch.org/).
Before the evening program, members of St. John’s congregation will join in a blessing of the new Native Habitat Teaching Garden and a potluck supper for the church families.
The program is free, and no registration is required. All are welcome. For more information about St. John’s program, please contact Helen Holt, chair of the church’s Creation Care Committee, at hwholt09@gmail.com or St. John’s at 919-556-3656.
