Summertime

EARTHKEEPING NEWS
A NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN COALITION FOR CHRISTIANITY AND ECOLOGY

Volume One, Number Five
May/June 1992

SUMMERTIME! AND THE CHILDREN ARE HOME AGAIN.

LET THE CHILDREN COME TO ME. DO NOT TRY TO STOP THEM, FOR THE KINGDOM OF GOD BELONGS TO SUCH AS THESE. I TELL YOU, WHOEVER DOES NOT ACCEPT THE KINGDOM OF GOD LIKE A CHILD WILL NEVER ENTER IT. (MARK 10:14-15)

What an opportunity for learning to love creation! Raffi, a children's musician beloved by millions of little children and their parents, recently left his young audience to focus on an older one.

He explained his new emphasis on adult responsibility for the environment. "A lot of people say to me, Raffi, you should have stayed with the children. Adults won't hear you. They won't change.

"I find that curious because the adult who is telling me this is passing the buck and not really saying whether he or she will change. It is preposterous to think that our children should be setting the example for us. I had always been taught that it was the other way round." ("Raffi Talks" interview by John Robbins, Earth Save, Winter 1992, vol.3, #1, p. 5 )

With that in mind, here are some tips for all of us teachers, formal and informal:

Co-Workers in Creation: First Steps in Ecology, by Kristen Kemper ($9.95). Elementary grades curriculum for five day vacation church school emphasizes respect for all God's creatures, the interconnectedness of the many parts of creation, and positive steps for us as caretakers of God's world.

Being In Creation, by Elaine M. Ward ($9.95). Twelve session curriculum for any season of the year provides opportunities for children to express themselves through art, drama, poetry, music, building, story, movement and play. Order both books from Educational Ministries Inc., 2861-C Saturn St., Brea, CA 92621-6227; (800) 221-0910.

Singing Mountains and Clapping Trees: Let All Creation Praise, by Colleen Aalsburg Wiessner, Reformed Church Press ($6.95). Ten lessons, each celebrating a different gift of creation, suitable for vacation church school, children's worship and intergenerational activities, 1992 . Order from Presbyterian Publishing House, (800) 554-4694.

Loving Our Neighbor, The Earth, by Christie L. Jenkins; Creation-Spirituality activities for 9-11 year olds, ($14.95). Twenty easy to follow lesson plans on recognizing value in all life. Topics include water conservation, cultivating the earth, "God and garbage", and learning the stars. Order from Resource Publications 1991, San Jose , CA.

To Till and Keep: A Collection of Earth Stewardship Learning Activities for Grades 7 to 12, by Edward Hessler ($6.00). Teaching notes, activities, procedures and a bibliography of resources for 17 lively sessions. Developed by the Nature-Religion Committee of the Minnesota Environmental Sciences Foundation in cooperation with the Minnesota Land Stewardship Project. Order from MN Environmental Sciences Foundation, Inc., 2395 University Ave.#222, St. Paul, MN 55114, (612) 644-1360.

We Are Partners in Creation, for summer camps: leader's guides ($6.95), campers' booklets ($1.00), songbooks ($3.95), and theme t-shirts. Order from Brethren Press, 1451 Dundee Ave., Elgin, IL 60120, (800) 441-3712.

Ordinary People: Family Life and Global Values, by Michael True ($10.95). An exploration of how global values and a loving commitment to God's earth can take root in the home and be transmitted to our children. Order from your Cokesbury Service Center, (800) 672-1789.

Are your church school, camp or daycare center and supplies eco-safe for children? For information on detoxifying your space and making or purchasing non-toxic supplies, see articles in Green Keeping, Sept/Oct 1991. To order send $3.95 to Green Keeping, Box 28, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY 12504, (914) 246-6948.

Meditations with Hildegard of Bingen, by Gabriele Uhlein, OSF; Bear & Co, Sante Fe, NM 1983 (paperback).

Passionate Women: Two Medieval Mystics, by Elizabeth Dreyer, Paulist Press 1989, Mahwah, NJ (pamphlet).

Eight hundred years after her death scholars are re-introducing Hildegard of Bingen, a Benedictine nun and prophetic visionary who preached a theology of ecology. Her devotion to the earth was a natural outflow of her societyÕs cosmology which accepted the idea that God exists in all creation. Her teachings, which include three volumes of theological visions, a nine volume scientific and medical encyclopedia, liturgical poetry and music, are filled with nature imagery. Her writings are also full of warnings for our time. From Lisa Niebauer-Stall, graduate student in theology, College of St. Catherine, St. Paul., 315 S.E.Seymour Pl., Minneapolis, MN 55414.

SUMMERTIME! AND THE CHILDREN ARE HOME AGAIN.

PERFORM A SAFETY AUDIT

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