Earth Care Fellowship at LPPC
The LPPC Earth Care Fellowship was formed in
1998 when the church Session developed our "Earth Covenant, A Congregational
Covenant for Earth Community" document. This document was developed
and approved by Session to publicly declare our intension to assume
responsibility for the care of our Earth Community and Mother Earth.
The Earth Care Fellowship regularly meets to organize our Earth Care activities including the four Solstice/Equinox/Vesper celebrations, care of the Community Jubilee Garden, and highway cleanup days.
Please click here to view the PDF copy of our 1998 "Earth Covenant" document.
Earth Care Fellowship Committee Chair, John G.:
"Saving the Earth with a Lifetime of Gentle Irresistible Persistence"
"Helping to change human consciousness one mind at a time is probably mission one: to facilitate change in a fundamental attitude toward the earth and living on it, in it. This is ultimately so much more powerful than laws, coercions and penalties for destructive behavior, necessary though they may be. We know the change can happen because it’s happened (is happening) to each of us, in various and ever deepening ways. That’s what attracts us to something like Earth Care Fellowship.
So how do we go about it? A few ideas:
First we live the change as best we can, as lifelong students and practitioners. Then we preach it, write it, and teach it. We reach out, sometimes with bold words and actions, but mostly we press forward with gentle irresistible persistence over the remainder of each of our lives. This may sound like a mild response to our predicament, but I believe the key to its power is a deep intention sustained over a long period of time. Irresistible persistence. Saving the planet is a project of many generations, starting with ours. That’s the time scale for such a vast goal. To me no other cause is more important. If humans can’t survive and thrive on and with the earth into the deep future, then all our efforts to raise children and grand children and send them well-equipped and healthy beyond us down the years, all our religion, all art, the fruits of civilization, history, discovery, science, technology and social progress are moot—a brief, fascinating but failed experiment in this little part of the cosmos.
We need to venerate the earth and the web of life--and always more. None of us are finished or particularly advanced in this.
We seek ways to help individuals transmute their sense of themselves in the world, as ours has been and is being transformed—usually not in one bold flash of light, but slowly over time, with thought, wonder and incremental revelations and observations of how things are. And particularly we would hope to influence how children are taught and raised to see themselves as inseparably part of all that lives, with a deep responsibility to honor and protect it. That’s where change becomes powerful and robust and long lasting.
A few more thoughts:
- Let’s minimize hand wringing. It takes too much energy away from the task at hand.
- Each of us finds what he or she can and wants to do, and then does it (and evolves it) year after year. There’s no prescribed path, no proven ideal approach. We need and are beginning to get thousands of approaches to ceasing and ameliorating humankind’s depredations and abuse of the creation. We surely need thousands more.
- Find and create a web of alliances of like-minded people and organizations. This is clearly far too big a project for individuals or small groups going it alone.
- Find ways to make loving and being aware of the earth and all that issues from it a regular part of our spiritual practice, daily if possible."
Solstice and Equinox Celebrations
LPPC holds solstice and equinox celebrations or “Earth Vespers” services at the change of each season. These vesper celebrations are a regular joint offering of the Earth Care Fellowship of LPPC and the Partnership for Earth Spirituality of Albuquerque.
The Earth Care Fellowship greatly values the opportunity to sponsor our Spring and Autumn Equinox services and our Winter and Summer Solstice services. These services have been held consistently for more than ten years. Here are some descriptions of past celebrations:
- The Spring Equinox occurs on or about March 21. The 2009 celebration celebrated "The Earth with Music and Song: Helping Our Communities".
- The Summer Solstice, when the longest day and shortest night of the year occur, is on or about June 21. The Summer Solstice 2009 Celebration was a beautiful concert featuring "Polyphony: Voices of New Mexico". All of the proceed benefited the LPPC Building Fund.
- The Autumn Equinox occurs on or about September 21. We typically hold the service in the Jubilee Garden in the evening giving thanks for the abundant garden we have each year.
- Our Winter Solstice celebration is held on or around December 21. December 2008 was celebrated with candlelight poetry readings, entitled "The Promise Of Winter".
Jubilee Garden: A Community Garden
The Jubilee Garden is a community “organic garden” providing an abundant harvest for those that help plant and maintain the garden and for charitable use for others in need of fresh vegetables. Since 1999, this joint project of the LPPC Earth Care Fellowship, Grounds, and Mission Committees has offered a place for villagers and the greater Placitas community to grow organic produce cooperatively. Organic gardening is defined as "a philosophy that stresses the use of naturally occurring substances and friendly predators and avoiding man-made chemical fertilizers and pesticides." Crop rotation is encouraged and the community gardeners meet to decide on vegetable selection and location each spring.
The Jubilee Garden is located in the heart of Placitas across the road from the Las Placitas Presbyterian Church. Anyone who can afford one hour per week to help weed the garden is invited to take vegetables for their table. The garden is irrigated with mountain spring water from the acequia every Monday morning. This old technique for irrigation is common throughout Placitas. Come to the garden on Mondays between 8:00 am and 10:00 am during the growing months to learn how it is irrigated. The garden is not planted in years that drought conditions exist.
In past years, the garden has grown tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, lettuce,
Swiss chard, peppers, melons, beans, herbs, flowers, beets, and more.
A dozen new fruit trees were planted in the spring of 2001. Many
improvements are anticipated including: more benches, raised beds for
special herbs and flowers, better pathways around the garden, gardening
tools, and a tool storage shed.
For questions or if you’re interested in helping plant, water and cultivate the garden in the upcoming year, please contact Dan through the church office at 867-5718.
CASA ROSA FOOD BANK AND THE JUBILEE GARDEN PROJECT
In May, Casa Rosa started a garden project in conjunction with the Jubilee Garden across the highway from LPPC. Valerie F., a community member, offered to fund equipment, or seeds or plants or whatever was needed to initiate the garden project with input from Casa Rosa clients. Betsy M. secured seeds and tender plants such as eggplant, tomato, and pepper from High Country Garden in Santa Fe. Juliet J. volunteered to organize the work group and secure cold plants such as broccoli and cabbage at High Country Garden in Bernalillo, where she is working part-time for the summer. Dan G., the overseer of the Jubilee Garden, agreed to supervise the Casa Rosa volunteers in the garden work. Max E. plowed the garden with his tractor; Dan rotor-tilled, volunteers made the rows for planting and the seeds and plants have been put in.
About 20 people, who are consumers at Casa Rosa, have volunteered to help in the garden: planting, weeding, watering, thinning and ultimately harvesting. Excess harvest will be brought to Casa Rosa for those who cannot work in the garden, but still need the fresh vegetables. Since there has been more than usual rain and run-off from snow pack this year, there should be sufficient water for the garden to thrive. With the enthusiastic volunteers the garden project is well on its way.
Please enjoy these photos of volunteers working to plant and prepare the garden this spring. Hold your cursor over the photo to see a description of the photo. Check back here for updates throughout the summer!
Earth Care Partnerships
The Partnership for Earth Spirituality of Albuquerque
The Partnership is a non-profit membership organization which brings together people from various religious traditions, ages, cultures and economic backgrounds to promote a better understanding of the interdependence of ecology and spirituality. The Partnership's vision is explored through retreats, forums, seasonal rituals, wilderness experiences, programs for children, hands-on projects and education for sound environmental policies.
Please click here to view their website: www.earthspirituality.org
The New Mexico Interfaith Power and Light
LPPC is a member of the New Mexico Interfaith Power and Light (NMIPL). The NMIPL mobilizes an active response from faith communities to the reality of global warming by promoting energy conservation, energy efficiency and renewable energy in our personal lives and those of our congregations.
Please click here to view their website: www.nm-ipl.org
Upcoming Activities:
Please check back here for upcoming Earthcare events!
Recent Events:
Summer Solstice Gathering, "Return to the Garden", Sunday, June 20, 2010
In celebration of the Summer Solstice our Earth Vespers on the afternoon of June 20 will feature a tour of the Memorial Garden led by Charles and Ila Little and assisted by Dawn Wolf. The garden is intended as an extension of the "sacred space" at LPPC, with places to gather for worship and places to sit and reflect. It is also a carefully planned xeric garden, with environmentally appropriate low water use plantings. We will gather, as previously announced, at 4 p.m. at LPPC.
The tour will conclude with a time of reflection and meditation led by Ken Cuthbertson, followed by a cold picnic/potluck on the church patio. Please bring your own table service (plates, utensils).
Earth Sabbath Sunday, April 18: in a special worship service we had a renewal of baptismal vows and an honoring of those who have been in the forefront of our commitment to earth care. We re-committed ourselves to our Earth care covenant and celebrate the joys of God’s creation. During our Adult Forum discussion, Sister Joan Brown, OSF discussed the global meeting on climate change that took place last fall.
Our Spring Equinox Event " Now Our Minds Are One" took place Saturday, March 20
The annual celebration is a regular combined offering of The Earth Care Fellowship of LPPC and The Partnership for Earth Spirituality as part of the Earth Vespers series.
Please click here for a pdf file of the flyer.
Winter Solstice Poetry by Candlelight at Las Placitas Presbyterian Church, December 21, 2009
(please click here for the PDF flyer)
Thank you to all who attended the Winter Solstice Celebration at LPPC this year, a tradition now for twelve years.
This year’s theme was “Winter and the Mountain,” where twelve poets from Placitas and other parts Southwest each read a poem to the light of a single burning candle. Approximately 90 people were in attendance of this incredibly moving event. It was a wonderful way to spend the longest night of the year.
Solstice readings are a regular offering of the Earth Care Fellowship at LPPC and The Partnership for Earth Spirituality, as part of the Earth Vespers series. All are invited. The event is free, donation requested.
Autumn Equinox 2009: September 21, 2009
In September 2009, we celebrated the 2009 Autumn Equinox with a "Meatless Monday" cooking class with foodie extraordinaire and vegetarian chef, Cheryl Ferrell. Cheryl worked with over 20 participants and their many contributions of summer garden fare to develop scrumptious vegetarian dishes, and sharing information on putting together simple, nutritious and appealing vegetarian meals.
Information is available on the Meatless Monday movement at www.meatlessmonday.com dedicated to lowering our impact on the planet while eating healthier meals one day every week.