For many years now, The Environmental Stewardship Team at St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church in Mahtomedi, MN has worked with the church leadership to host a Caring for Creation Sunday around the time of Earth Day. The prayers and sermon are creation-focused, and many times we bring in an outside speaker.  This year, we used some of our team’s donations to bring in Rev. Dr. Barbara Rossing, professor of New Testament at the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago for the sermons.  The choir also follows the theme and this year sang a beautiful rendition of John Rutter’s “Look at the World.”  Some years have been better than others, but several of us thought April 28, 2024 might have been our best effort yet.

We always try to find activities to engage all age groups. This year, Pastor Mike Carlson made a special visit to the Wednesday confirmation class earlier in the week to talk with the middle schoolers about caring for God’s Creation. He spoke about using anger as a motivator.  Pastor Mike is always a hit!

For the Sunday School kids, the team put together 3 stations in the Fellowship Hall with a couple of craft projects:

1.        Planting pollinator seeds in a biodegradable pot for home gardens

2. “Get the Lead Out” chat about the importance of avoiding lead in fishing tackle

3. Bee hydration station made with tiny clay pot and inverted dish glued on top

For the kids that attend Sunday School in the Great Hall building, there were 2 rotations:

The Bee hydration station and our ever popular resident Naturalist, Jim Malkowski, and his collection of reptiles.

New this year, there is a Confirmation kids’ Sunday group, and they learned about bees and pollinators with a visit from Margot Monson of the Pollinator Friendly Alliance.  All the kids will be encouraged to reflect on what they can do and sign a pledge.

For engaging the adults in the congregation, the Environmental Stewardship Team table was better centered in the action this year. Team members Becky and John bought a wheel to spin with a different topic and “Fact or Myth?” associated with each number on the wheel.  Everyone who participated could choose from candy, a cookie or a seed packet.  The seeds were very popular!

Teammate Betsy had a large die to toss and her visitors was challenged to come up with an answer to “How will Climate Change Affect Minnesota?” in various ways: Recreation, Health, Natural Resources, Farming, Industry or roller’s choice with the reward of a candy prize distributed in a compostable baggie.

St. Andrew’s Belonging and Inclusion Ministry provided information and large selection of books for loan regarding Environmental Justice.

Kris Grangaard from St. Paul Area Synod’s Care of Creation Workgroup had samples of the ELCA’s Social Statement on Caring for Creation from 1993 as well as the 2023 social message 30 years later titled Earth’s Climate Crisis.  The Workgroup is hoping to get congregations to sign on to a Covenant to Care for Creation and perhaps eventually have the Synod do the same.   The Workgroup is available to support congregations as they make their way through this process. Kris can be reached at ktbd4@comcast.net

Washington County had a table with Hannah Keller discussing recycling and solid waste recovery.

Citizens’ Climate Lobby is a faithful contributor to the day as they support putting a price on carbon and returning the dividends to the citizens to help them afford the transition to clean energy.  They also encourage planting and maintaining urban forests to mitigate the effects of climate change in urban environments.

Sustainable Stillwater is a group working locally to make the city more eco-friendly.  They have created a Green Business Directory to guide people to follow their values when hiring a contractor or even just dining out.

Anyone interested in Green Burial could get information on the choices available and things coming our way with legislation changes. – sponsored by Mueller Memorial

EST member Cynthia got a table to represent the Master Gardeners in our midst, available to answer any burning questions you may have regarding caring for your lawns and gardens sustainably.

U of Minnesota Extension was also represented by the Milkweed, Monarchs, and Pollinator Team with a “butterfly” answering questions.

Northeast Metro Climate Action is group that sponsors speakers monthly in the White Bear area for enlightenment and discussion.  They showed up to publicize their work and invite!

St. Andrew’s was abuzz with activity on Caring for Creation Sunday this year.  The swarm even came up with a couple of caring for creation ditties that they sang to the crowds periodically.  It was fun to see them all huddle together for church too!