Ecumenical Lenten Carbon Fast begins March 5, 2014
Ash Wednesday (March 5, 2014) invites us into the season of Lent—a time within the church year to acknowledge that we are mortal, limited. Lent awakens us to hope in God whose “steadfast love endures forever” and to struggle against everything that leads us away from the love of God and neighbor. The Lenten disciplines of repentance, fasting, prayer, study and works of love are guides for returning to the steadfast love of God. During Lent we confess our mortality, our limits and our vulnerability so that we might be transformed and become the new life God calls us to be.
We invite you to commit to fasting from carbon during Lent. Beginning Ash Wednesday and throughout Lent, participants will receive a daily email with the day’s suggested carbon-reducing activity. Many will also suggest ways to engage others. Each daily email will also provide material that can be the basis for a weekly congregational conversation.
The activities range from the very simple: eliminate “vampire” electrical use; to the moderately challenging: take “military showers;” reduce your driving speed; to more long term: buy local produce and consider getting involved in a community garden.
Congregations that participate are encouraged to gather weekly to share their experiences, support one another, compare notes, share resources and pray.
By engaging in these activities, you AND YOUR CHURCH can reduce your carbon footprint. Daily email messages will begin on Ash Wednesday, March 5th, and continue through Easter Sunday, April 20, 2014.
This will be the fourth year that New England Regional Environmental Ministries has provided a day-by-day opportunity to fast from carbon as a Lenten discipline. Initiated by the United Church of Christ and endorsed by other denominations and faith groups, people of every Christian perspective—and people who are not Christians—have benefited from this opportunity to become more conscious and conscientious in their daily lives.
For more information and to sign up for the daily emails, click this link. Activities will also be posted on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/carbonfast?sk=wall.
Trinity Lutheran Church 