Press Releases28 Jan 26

Relationships and reconciliation at the heart of creation care

“What happens when it rains at your house, your school or your church?”

This question was posed by guest speaker Dr Gail Heffner, from Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Michigan, as she addressed delegates at the ‘Let Justice Flow Like Rivers’ conference in Newry on Saturday, 17th January.

As pollution is spread through water flowing across surfaces and into rivers and lakes, she explained that it’s good practice to capture rainwater close to where it falls and then br creative in using this water for the benefit of nature. Rain gardens and other planted areas with native plants and long roots can all help to improve the environment on our doorsteps.

Dr Heffner spoke about the work of Plaster Creek Stewards, which she co–founded as part of the university’s community outreach. The group has recognised that “if you clean the stream without dealing with the ongoing cause then degradation would continue and advance as before.”

Its work expanded to considering who is living downstream within the catchment area, which introduced many people to others who had different experiences and vocations in life or were from differing ethnic backgrounds – and who all lived, worked, worshipped and played within the same area.

An approach based on relationship ecology led to a new understanding of who was a neighbour to one another with an understanding of doing “unto those downstream as you would have those upstream do unto you.”

The problem of pollution, in this instance, originated in the forced displacement of indigenous Americans by Europeans, leading to the area’s industrialisation.

“None of us were born when those problems began,” Dr Heffner noted, but we can “individually perpetuate the problem” if we fail to honestly look at how we live our lives today. The stewards’ work is based on recognising God’s provision for all living things.

She encouraged churches to get involved with local environment groups and provide green spaces for all people in their communities. The National Wildlife Federation shares many good examples from places of worship across the USA through its Sacred Grounds programme – highlighted at www.nwf.org/sacredgrounds

The Plaster Creek Stewards combine a hour of education and two or more hours of action – which may include caring for a lawn, slowing down water run–off, or farm work – in their events. “We never do action without explaining why it matters,” she noted. “We also don’t teach without giving people the opportunity to apply what they have learned in a specific on–the–ground way.”

Among the other speakers at the conference, Dr Hilary Marlow from Girton College Cambridge outlined a comprehensive theology of care for Creation – drawing on Psalm 104 and references throughout Scripture – and presentations about local work by dioceses, parishes and congregations around Ireland were made by Jim Farrell (from Eco–Congregation Ireland), Professor Roy Douglas (from Gracehill Moravian Church), Róisín Nic Cóil (from the Archdiocese of Dublin), and Maureen Rowan (from Centenary Methodist Church in Dublin).

Readers can find out more about the Plaster Creek Stewards through its website: https://calvin.edu/plaster-creek-stewards