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Welcome: We welcome you to the ELCA seminary section of Lutherans Restoring Creation. We provide resources and ideas as means to bring care-for-creation into the full life and mission of ELCA seminaries. Our common goal is to prepare leaders for the ELCA who will offer care-for-creation leadership in ELCA congregations and other institutions and in their communities and the larger world. Please join us as partners to help to make this happen. David Rhoads, LRC Director.
LRC Manual and Checklist:
LRC Seminary Manual: Here is a 23 page manual for ELCA seminaries ro embrace care for creation in the educational program, worship life, building and grounds, lifestyle commitments of the seminary community, and public witness. This manual provides a comprehensive vision for the mission of the seminary along with resources and suggestions for specific actions and programs.
LRC Seminary Checklist: Thumbnail list of items for seminaries to consider when making a comprehensive effort to bring care for creation into the full life and mission of the seminary.
Reports from Lutheran Seminaries Seminary Reports: Care for creation commtments, actions,and programs at each of the ELCA seminaries.
LRC Seminary Contact People: A list of the care for creation leaders and LRC point persons for each of the ELCA Seminaries.
Contribute a Report Here are several suggestions for ways your seminary can contribute a report or update a report for this site.
Suggestions
Worship at Seminary: Worship planners and worship faculty can work together to incorporate care of creation into communal liturgies for every day! Check out all the resources at www.letallcreationpraise.org.
Care-for-Creation Services. Consider a standard schedule of special care-for-creation services on your annual seminary calendar of worship: Blessing of the Animals, Covenant with Creation, Thanksgiving Service, Rogation, Epiphany Festival of Light, Greening of the Cross, Earth Day Worship, and more. Institutionalize these worship opportunities.
ELCA Seminary Faculty: Here is a list of faculty teaching courses related to ecology at ELCA seminaries. Please add your name to the list by answering these questions:
How has your faith been shaped by place, location, landscape or environment? What difference does ecology/environment make in your teaching? Please list any of your courses, publications, or presentations that address environment Send your information for posting to drhoads@lstc.edu. |
News and Highlights:
Gettysburg Seminary Goes Geothermal: link. Gettysburg Joins Wartburg as the second ELCA Seminary to embrace geothermal energy sources.
Earth Year at LSTC (2009-2010): Events and resources related to the environmental theme year at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago
http://www.lstc.edu/earthyear/index.html Bartholomew I, Ecumenical Patriarch (2003): Once we humans did not know that we could harm God's creation. The oceans, especially, seemed so vast as to be invulnerable. But now we know differently. We know how fragile is our precious Earth and its oceans. To protect the oceans is to do God's work. Read this reflection. Links:Connections to other creation-care sites relevant to seminaries.
Green Seminary Intitiative: www.greenseminaries.org. This is the key site for resources, news, and course plans from an ecumenical and interfaith spectrum of accredited seminaries
GreenFaith: http://greenfaith.org. These interfaith partners for the environment have a certification program for congregations and a certification program for pastors. They are in process of developing a certification program for seminaries. To speak with someone who has completed the two-year certification for pastors, contact Gil Waldkoenig, professor at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg (gwaldkoenig@ltsg).
Faith in Place: www.faithinplace.org. An ecumenical and interfaith organization providing programs and resources for the Chicago area, including workshops for regional seminarians and pastors.
McCormick Theological Seminary (Chicago) Certification Program for pastors and church leaders. Contact Ted Hiebert, faculty at MTS: thiebert@mccormick.edu or Clare Butterfield at Faith in Place: clare@faithinplace.org.
Web of Creation: www.webofcreation.org. This is the parent website for Lutherans Restoring Creation. As the home of the Green Congregation Program, it provides many resources for greening congregations.
Let All Creation Praise: www.letallcreationpraise.org. This is a new companion site that offers ecumenical resources for bringing care for creation into the worship life throughout the year. Also, it provides resources for celebrating an optional, four-week Season of Creation in the common lectionary cycle.
Bible and Ecology: ww.bibleandecology.org. Provides many resources for pastors, congregations, and academic programs, including the home page of the Earth Bible.
Earth Ministry: http://earthministry.org. Excellent resources for congregations and pastors.
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