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Prayer Service Highlights Climate Change

April 4, 2014
Prayer for climate change

Prayer for climate change

Chris Meehan

Sheets of freezing rain were falling outside the Grand Rapids office of the Christian Reformed Church on Thursday as church, college and government leaders gathered for a press conference marking the first National Day of Prayer for Climate Action.

An ice storm is not unusual at this time of year in Grand Rapids, but it was coming at the end of a difficult Michigan winter in which record snow falls were recorded, said George Heartwell, mayor of Grand Rapids at the press conference.

With snow piles still melting all over West Michigan, the water runoff  threatened to cause flooding.

“Heavy rains nearly caused our Grand River to flood last year, and right now it is already extremely high,” said Heartwell, who is also a member of President Obama’s governmental task force on climate change.

“We are looking clearly at the impact of changing weather patterns on our region. Extreme weather events are part of our new reality.”

Young Evangelicals for Climate Action (YECA), in partnership with the Evangelical Environmental Network and Renewal: Students Caring for Creation, joined the CRC and Calvin College to hold the day of prayer. Following the press conference, a prayer service was held on the topic in the atrium of the CRC office.

Although Calvin and the CRC were the focal points for the day of prayer, more than 20 other schools and institutions also held events this week to highlight the need for a Christian response, especially by young evangelicals, to climate change.

“Climate disruption is not just a scientific or political issue—it’s first and foremost a moral issue and biblical issue,” said Ben Lowe, the national spokesperson for YECA, at the press conference.

“It’s about protecting life and, as evangelicals, we’re particularly concerned about the ways our pollution and political inaction are affecting the poor and those who are most vulnerable.”

Lowe said the day of prayer comes after the recent release of the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a collaboration of nearly 500 people, including 66 expert authors, 271 officials from 115 countries, and 57 observers.

In their report, they say that ice in the Arctic continues to collapse, the oceans are rising, coral reefs are dying, freshwater supplies are diminishing, and the oceans are becoming more acidic.

Heat waves and heavy rains are escalating, food crops are being damaged, disease is spreading, human beings will be displaced due to flooding, and animals are migrating toward the poles or going extinct.

All of this is of grave concern, he said.

At the same time, Lowe says there is hope, especially as churches rally to educate their members about the problem, its causes and as Christians what they can do about it.

Lowe credited Synod 2012 for putting the CRC in the forefront of  this issue by adopting a formal statement on creation care and climate change.

The CRC, said Lowe, has also been aggressive in pursuing energy reductions at their headquarters, reconfiguring the heating and cooling systems, installing rain gardens to sustainably address stormwater runoff, and more.

John Bolt, the CRC’s chief financial officer, said at the press conference that these changes have saved the denomination about $500,000 in energy costs over the last four years.

Those savings, he said, translate into a drop in greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to burning 207,000 tons of coal.

“Synod 2012 called us to action,” he said. “It called all churches to be voices for justice and to serve as a public example of promoting stewardship and taking action within our capabilities.”

Experts at Calvin College have also engaged with surrounding communities in helping to clean up and restore Plaster Creek, which runs through Grand Rapids. It is the same creek that runs behind the CRC office and was being filled with runoff from Thursday’s ice storm.

Calvin College, in addition, helped the CRC office install its rain gardens.

About 50 people gathered in the atrium for the prayer service and time of reflection after the press conference.

Kyle Meyaard-Schaap, who works in the Office of Social Justice and helped organize the event, opened the prayer service.

“We are praying for God’s wisdom and faith,” he said.  “We believe in the God who revels in creation for its own sake. We pray today because as  Christians it is in our DNA.”

They prayed, he said, for God’s guidance to help his church better care for creation and to be a witness, drawing others close to do the same.

Annaka Scheeres, a student leader at Calvin College, said: “I pray that our church and political leaders can come together to support common sense solutions for tackling climate disruption and making good investments in clean energy, efficient technologies, and the next generation of jobs.”