Caring for Creation

Eliminate Single-Use Plastics: Transition from disposable plates, cutlery, and water bottles to reusable or compostable alternatives.

Encourage Recycling: Set up clearly labeled recycling bins throughout the church and educate members on proper usage.

Compost Food Waste: Partner with a local composting service or start an on-site compost bin for food scraps from church events.

Switch to Energy-Efficient Lighting: Replace traditional bulbs with LEDs and encourage the use of natural light when possible.

Use Smart Thermostats: Optimize heating and cooling systems to reduce energy usage when the building is not in use.

Conduct an Energy Audit: Identify areas where the church building could improve energy efficiency and implement changes, such as improved insulation.

Host a Clothes or Item Swap: Organize events where members can exchange gently used items rather than purchasing new ones.

Support Sustainable Vendors: Source food, supplies, and event materials from local and environmentally conscious businesses.

Reduce Paper Usage: Transition to digital bulletins, newsletters, and event invitations to minimize paper waste.tem description

Lena Van Wyk, founder of the Anglican Ministry New Garden Farm, encourages parishes who have a longing to create an ecological haven on their property, but who don’t have a lot of capacity or land, to try planting a ‘Holy Hedgerow.’ 

Hedgerows were an ancient fixture of land stewardship in England, where a living fence was created between fields to keep livestock in, but also created amazing wildlife corridors and sources of abundant native plant life, for both human and non-human consumption (like berries, rosehips, medicinals, firewood, etc). Hedgerows are easy to establish on native soils with native plants and can be allowed to grow into a wild mix that is aesthetically contained by just hedge trimming, and therefore requires very little maintenance after the first few years of weeding out invasive plants. 

With pollinators, birds, and small mammals so endangered, a hedgerow on your church property can be a small but potent way of providing habitat. For a guide on what natives to plant in your area, see this guide from the Xerces Society and this native plant resource guide from the Homegrown National Park. 

We encourage you to plant 30-50 types of plants, which can often be purchased very affordably from nurseries that supply the DOT in your state (call the DOT and ask where they source plants or look at this buying guide for local nurseries). 

The planting and planning can also be a great opportunity to educate on native plants and native ecosystems with your parishioners, and to include children. Planting plants like native berries, native elderberries, and native roses can be a great way of having a stock of plants to harvest with children as well. If you include native evergreens and native hollies, you can harvest the hedgerow for Advent and Christmastide decorating. Shrubbery pruning can turn into fodder for a great parish bonfire. The possibilities are endless. 

The Sixth Sunday of Easter is traditionally known as “Rogation Sunday” and the following three days are known as “Rogation Days.” The name comes from the latin word “rogare” which means “to ask,” and signifies the three days of fasting and prayer to ask God’s blessing on agriculture and industry, on the land and crops that grow within, and on the farmers who produce food and care for the earth. 

Though these days are signified in our prayer book and liturgical calendar, many are unfamiliar with them. Rogation processions date back to the 5th century, when St Mamertus of Vienne, France developed processional liturgies to pray for God’s blessing and protection over the land by walking through the fields themselves. There had been natural disasters in the land, causing suffering among the people. When the land suffers, people suffer. Jesus tells us in John 16 to pray and ask, and we will receive. Rogation Days take Jesus’ words seriously. Over time, Rogation processions became a time of festival and celebration. 

Many of us feel far removed from the rural, agricultural societies that our ancestors knew so well. Before modern cities and highways existed, the whole community surrounding a church was called the parish. The Rogation procession was a tradition of annually marking the boundary of the parish, neighbors walking side by side and reconciling differences (and land disputes), praying for the very particular land in which they lived and worshiped. This happened in springtime, months before harvest, reminding the people of their need for God’s blessing before the seeds could grow into plants, herbs, and flowers. If the land didn’t produce food, people went hungry. It’s common to thank God for the abundant harvest at the end of the season, but Rogation Days teach us to ask and depend upon God when seeds go into the ground and to trust him to provide for our needs. 

These days of fasting precede the feast of the Ascension, in which we remember Jesus ascending in his human body back to the Father in heaven. Incarnate Jesus– the Word who brought creation into being– interacted with creation throughout his whole life on earth, and has promised to return and restore it. Rogation Days call us to participate in the work of redemption that creation is waiting for (Romans 8:28). We are invited to see the sacred beauty of God beyond the walls of our church buildings, within the good earth God has made and continues to sustain. We do this in the very communities God has put us in, worshiping, walking, and waiting together for the blessing of God. 

Create your own Rogation Procession liturgy, including songs, scripture readings, and prayers over your land, city, industry, and community.

The Book of Common Prayer: pages 613 (Sunday Collect), 635 (Collects of Rogation Days). Read more

• https://thehomelyhours.com/2016/04/27/what-are-the-rogation-days/

A Rocha UK has tips for individuals, families, small groups, and churches found here.