A study of the ELCA social message “Earth’s Climate Crisis” will be offered online Tuesday, July 18, at 6:30 p.m. via Zoom. Carla Janssen, a member of Redeemer Lutheran in Waverly and the Northeastern Iowa Synod Care for Creation Network, will lead the discussion.
The social message can be accessed at www.elca.org/climatecare. Contact Pastor Liz Bell to receive the Zoom link.
The social message was called for from several sources and was adopted by the ELCA Church Council on April 20, 2023. According to the ELCA website, the project was authorized in light of the grim contemporary situation affecting our global home and the need for fresh action on the part of this church. The lead author of the social message is Jim Martin-Schramm, professor emeritus, Luther College. The message draws its framing themes from several social statements, particularly “Caring for Creation: Vision, Hope and Justice”, the ELCA Social Statement issued in 1993, which pairs environmental justice with social justice.
In a video from Presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton, she lifts up the “Earth’s Climate Crisis” social message as a “moment of Kairos, a critical moment in time when God is calling for decisive action in history.” The video can be viewed on the ELCA YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7xlswDxxuY.
