Elliot VanHoy
Doreen Cunningham
Kate Farrow
Edie Lewis
Eastertide 2024
Back to the Garden: A Season of Creation
Throughout April, join together to learn and celebrate a season of creation. There are several ways to get involved, from reading and reflecting upon scripture, to learning from Indigenous cultures. From to listening to guest speakers (Sunday morning Adult & Youth Forum throughout April will focus on being good stewards of our beautiful 39 acre campus), to worshipping in our beautiful outdoor chapel in the arboretum. From making a resurrection garden as a family to kids working on their own Eastertide care packages. All the events are listed by date below.
Join the Rev. Sarah Dunn in “The Creation Care Bible Challenge: A 50 Day Bible Challenge”* a book by Marek P. Zabriskie. This begins on Easter Sunday, so be sure to get your book now!
Read “Braiding Sweetgrass”* by Robin Wall Kimmerer
*books linked to Bookshop.org; please select The Gift Shop at St. David’s as your Bookstore so that 30% of your purchase will go towards international outreach.
Actions to Do Now
Remove or Recycle Single-Use Plastics
The Creation Care Committee invites you consider eliminating all single-use plastic such as cutlery, cups, paper cups, or straws. In addition, the committee is working with TREX to recycle plastic film materials. You may deliver them to the labeled box in St. David’s Chapel narthex. This project is undertaken in collaboration with Main Line Unitarian Church and Christ Church, Villanova.
Compost
Consider composting in your own home or use a Mother Compost. By composting, you are not only creating something that helps keeps plants healthy, but you are keeping compostable waste like food scraps out of landfills.
Your Own Garden
Preserve Pennsylvania’s biodiversity and consider using Native Plants in your home garden. Common grasses and flowers to use could be found online by clicking here.
You might also join St. David’s Good News Garden, a collaboration with the Outreach commission, to grow items for personal use and to donate to those less fortunate. Log into or sign up for a Realm account to learn more here.
Education: Local Environment
Ready for 100% Renewable Energy? Our local townships have passed initiatives to move to 100% clean and renewable energy by 2035. Learn more and consider supporting your townships transition planning efforts by clicking either here for Radnor Township or here for Tredyffrin Township.
On the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day, Karl Schoettle, parishioner at St. David’s, gave this presentation, titled “Climate Understanding and Response.” The presentation is a summary of the known science of climate change with ideas for mitigation and behavior. This is intended for people who might appreciate a summary, for anyone who does not totally understand climate change, and for people who may not realize that our climate is changing.
Karl wrote this with the hope that greater understanding will lead to more proactive, collective action.
Episcopal Covenant to Care of Creation: Putting it Into Practice
In Jesus, God so loved the whole world. We follow Jesus, so we love the world God loves. Concerned about the global climate emergency, drawing from a range of approaches for our diverse contexts, we commit to form and restore loving, liberating, life-giving relationships with all of creation.
Loving Formation
For God’s sake, we will grow our love for the Earth and all life through preaching, teaching, storytelling, and prayer.
Liberating Advocacy
For God’s sake, standing alongside marginalized, vulnerable peoples, we will advocate and act to repair creation and seek the liberation and flourishing of all people.
Life-Giving Conservation
For God’s sake, we will adopt practical ways of reducing our climate impact and living more humbly and gently on Earth as individuals, households, congregations, institutions, and dioceses.
Much more excellent information is found here:
Summer 2020: Action
The Creation Care Committee is taking the lead this season on the Food Pantry Garden at the St. David’s Community Garden to help provide fresh produce for our food insecure neighbors.
The St. David’s Pantry Patch was created in the spring of 2012 as a senior internship project by Bailey Kimmel. Relationships with local community centers and parishes were established and grants were acquired from local nonprofits and diocesan funds. A corner section in the greater Saint David’s Community garden was allocated for the purpose of growing and caring for fresh produce exclusively intended for local soup kitchens and parish feeding ministries. Nine raised boxes were created by Fritz Fischer as an Eagle Scout final project and donated to the Pantry Patch. Dirt and compost were donated from local garden shops, and plants were purchased with the help of grants.
The following year several other Eagle Scouts created a new Deer Proof fence to surround the entire community garden and decrease the amount of damage caused each year. In 2020, new boxes were made by the Kimmel and Farrow families and an energetic group of volunteers tends the Pantry Patch, which is currently partnered with the Ardmore Food Pantry, run out of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, Ardmore.
