Just a reminder that on Wednesday, September 1, the Season of Creation begins and runs until the Feast of St. Francis of Assisi on October 4. Our Church and other Christian communities will use this time to offer many insights to the environmental issues of our day, all of which take on so much additional importance considering the report recently released by the scientific working group of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The report had both sobering and hopeful news. Surely, one cannot review this report and have any doubt about global warming. The news this summer has been full of reporting on extreme weather, like heavy rainfall that has caused flooding in Europe, China and southeastern US this summer, and record high temperatures — which already are causing droughts — as well as dramatic wildfires in parts of Europe and the western U.S. and Canada.
 
Here is something we can do during the upcoming month to increase awareness and find practical ideas. Earthbeat, the National Catholic Reporter newsletter on the environment, is featuring a month-long series focusing on a different element (earth, water, air and fire).  Each day of the week will have a theme: Mondays will focus on centering ourselves in gratitude. Wednesdays will explore grief though guest writers who share their personal experiences of how their homes are being impacted by climate change or poor stewardship. And Fridays will center around going forth and our response to these realities.

EarthBeat Weekly: We've turned the heat up in cities, so how can we cool them down?

​www.ncronline.org

Join the Saint Luke Parish Community in celebrating the 2021 Season of Creation from September 1 through October 4. This year’s theme is: 
A Home for All? Renewing the Oikos of God.
Oikos is the Greek word for “home” or “household”, and by rooting this year’s theme to the concept of oikos, we celebrate the integral web of relationships that sustain the well-being of the earth. The symbol for the year is Abraham’s Tent, which represents our commitment to safeguard a place for all who share our common home, as Abraham did in the book of Genesis.

Saint Luke Parish is recognizing the Season of Creation through activities that celebrate our common home and honor the integral relationships among all of God’s created ones, focusing on safeguarding and sharing God’s wondrous gifts.

​Please join us for these events:
September 11 & 12 – The parish Ministry Fair after each Mass will feature Season of Creation prayer cards,  information, and special handouts for kids, along with opportunities to join the Care for Creation Committee in its ongoing work.  Look for us at Abraham’s Tent!
            Contact:  johnjimison@gmail.com
 
September 25 – 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. – You are invited to join a Saint Luke Campus Clean-Up event.  As a group, our community will show respect for the earth that is home to our Church and School community. (Rain date, September 27)
            Contact:  Ahita@lalljie.com
 
October 3 – 1 p.m. Blessing of the Animals – A chance to remind ourselves of God’s abundant love for all creatures, great and small. Held in the Church parking lot.
 
October 3 – 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. – At the Parish Picnic – Learn about composting and recycling and how you can make an individual impact. On the school grounds.
 
October 4 – 7 p.m. – Evening Prayer Service -- Celebrate the Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi through prayer and music. In the Main Church.
 
https://seasonofcreation.org/
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We are all invited to participate in the 2021 Season of Creation through prayer, sustainability projects or advocacy.  The Season begins September 1, World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation and continues through October 4th, the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi.

This year’s theme, “A Home for All? Renewing the Oikos of God” calls us to celebrate the integral web of relationships that sustain the well-being of the Earth.  Honoring this theme, let us acknowledge the deep connections among all of God’s creatures. Let us join our hearts and minds together and give thanks to our loving God for all creation and the Creator’s gifts.
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https://seasonofcreation.org/

Ever wonder what you can do to make a difference in the climate crisis and in ecological equality? Pope Francis calls us to action in Laudato Si’ (“LS”). He concluded LS with A Christian Prayer in Union with Creation (5th stanza), “God of love, show us our place in this world as channels of love for all the creatures of earth, for not one of them is forgotten in your sight. Enlighten those who possess power and money that they avoid the sin of indifference, that they may love the common good, advance the weak, and care for this world in which we live.” Pope Francis has asked us to form seven year plans and commit to those plans this fall in October. 
Here at Saint Luke Parish, we have begun an effort to figure out our community goals and the best projects to pursue over the next seven years. Climate change correction takes large as well as small steps to help our planet and its people better enjoy God’s gifts. In terms of figuring out what steps to take, John Jimison is chairing the Care for Creation committee, please see the parish web site under Organizations (Care for Creation), and join us as we talk monthly about activities that we can all pursue as part of Saint Luke’s plans.  We are working to establish our goals by the end of September to meet Pope Francis’ call to action.  Your input and participation are always welcome
Just as we are trying to make the right choices at Saint Luke’s, we each make small and large daily purchasing decisions. When aggregated together, the choices that we make can carry a lot of weight. Carbon product labeling, started in 2007, has emerged as an area that could be important in consumer purchasing decisions.  The Carbon Trust, initially a UK government entity formed to help encourage reduction in greenhouse gases, offers CO2 and carbon footprint labeling for products and companies. With offices in China, Mexico, Africa, the US and other locations, the Carbon Trust claims to be the world’s largest independent certification body for carbon footprints.  You may have noticed their various logos on products.  They use international standards developed in coordination with the UN such as PAS 2060 to certify the carbon intensity of company activities as well as company products.  In this manner, consumers can look for these labels and choose products and companies that are the most environmentally responsible.  
Two thirds of 10,000 European consumers surveyed in 2020, at the request of the Carbon Trust, indicated that they are more likely to think positively about a brand that could demonstrate that it had a lower carbon footprint for its projects.  As these standards become more widely used, the effect of all of our choices can have a broader impact on climate change.
Please look for these carbon footprint labels, ask about company greenhouse gas policies in products that you purchase and firms that you invest in, and join us on the Care for Creation committee to explore ways we can make a difference at home and for the world.

“…we must recognize our grave duty to hand the earth on to future generations…” ~ Pope Benedict XVI

Many reports about industries and communities who are achieving progress toward zero-waste and zero-landfill goals can be found in the media and online. But what can I do in my daily life to decrease my own contribution to the landfill and to support a zero-waste goal? 
As I strive to avoid single-use plastic and the seemingly ubiquitous excessive packaging that surrounds us, I am excited to learn that a new zero-waste store, Trace, is opening in Vienna this September. www.tracezerowaste.com  This is a reminder for me to be conscious of my choices and to seek out ways to be a better steward of the gifts of the earth.  
Businesses that identify as zero-waste typically offer products with little to no packaging, inviting the shopper to bring their own bags and containers.  Offerings often include dry goods as well as liquid items and range from foodstuffs to homewares to cleaning products and personal care items.  Mason & Greens, in Old Town Alexandria, is an example of a zero-waste store. 
In addition to dedicated zero-waste stores, packaging can be avoided at local farmers markets and at the bulk items sections of MOM’s Organic Market, Good Earth Natural Foods and Whole Foods, to name a few.
Zero-waste is an approach that works toward re-thinking how all resources are treated through the entire use-cycle, beginning with resource identification through production, consumption, reuse and recovery of all products, packaging and materials, finding ways to reuse or recover resources without burning them and without dumping them in landfills, the water, or the air.
Every step each of one of us takes to heighten awareness and to make decisions in favor of reducing consumption and avoiding waste makes a difference and helps us tread more lightly upon our precious Earth.
Links for Zero Waste tips: 
https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/library/branch-out/trash-trimming-tips-for-zero-waste-living
http://www.cleanfairfax.org/2018/03/22/join-the-zero-waste-movement/      https://sustainablefairfax.org/initiatives/zero-waste/
 
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Creator of All,
We are grateful that from your communion of love you created our planet to be a home for all. By your Holy Wisdom you made the Earth to bring forth a diversity of living beings that filled the soil, water and air. Each part of creation praises you in their being, and cares for one another from our place in the web of life.
With the Psalmist, we sing your praise that in your house “even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young.” We remember that you call human beings to keep your garden in ways that honor the dignity of each creature and conserve their place in the abundance of life on Earth.
But we know that our will to power pushes the planet beyond her limits. Our consumption is out of harmony and rhythm with Earth’s capacity to heal herself. Habitats are left barren or lost. Species are lost and systems fail. Where reefs and burrows, mountaintops and ocean deeps once teemed with life and relationships, wet and dry deserts lie empty, as if uncreated. Human families are displaced by insecurity and conflict, migrating in search of peace. Animals flee fires, deforestation and famine, wandering in search of a new place to find a home to lay their young and live. 
In this Season of Creation, we pray that the breath of your creative Word would move our hearts, as in the waters of our birth and baptism. Give us faith to follow Christ to our just place in the beloved community. Enlighten us with the grace to respond to your covenant and call to care for our common home. In our tilling and keeping, gladden our hearts to know that we participate with your Holy Spirit to renew the face of your Earth, and safeguard a home for all.
In the name of the One who came to proclaim good news to all creation, Jesus Christ.
Amen.

​September 1 – October 4, 2021                 SeasonOfCreation.org