This summer has been full of work and travel, so I have greatly valued the few times I was able join you for Sunday worship. Over the last couple months I have had meetings in Kentucky, Chicago, Florida, New York, Boston, Montana, Michigan and West Virginia. I have logged many miles on the road and have slept in many different beds aside from my own.
The purpose of these trips have varied broadly. In Kentucky I joined a cohort of Asbury College students to coordinate recycling at Ichthus – a major Christian music festival that draws between 16,000-20,000 people every summer. This involved three sixteen hour days of rummaging through dumpsters to sort out over 18,000 plastic bottles from leftover burgers and discarded chewing gum – real glamour work here! In Florida I got to meet with an influential mega-church pastor to explore ways his church can become more involved in creation care. As a result, we are now teaming up together and brining in some film-makers to produce a short documentary for churches on the biblical importance of environmental stewardship. Finally, in West Virginia I visited with residents there who are suffering as a result of unethical coal mining activities such as the practice of mountain-top removal. This was a sobering time where I again came face-to-face with injustices imposed on the poor by the powerful and greedy.
In between these trips I am based out of Chicago and working frantically to keep up with the many emails, phone calls and writing projects that come my way. Although always worthwhile and often joy-filled, all this work can be tiring and lonely at times. Some nights I wish I could be at home resting with my roommates instead of on the road and in meetings.
For this reason, I am especially grateful for your faithful prayers and love. You are a crucial partner in my ongoing ministry. I am also grateful for the testimonies you have shared with me. Many of you are making great changes in your outlooks and lifestyles to have more positive impacts on the planet.
Keep this up, and do keep sharing these encouraging stories with me (ben.lowe@arocha.org)! From recycling more and buying less to using energy-efficient light bulbs and taking shorter showers; every step counts and no change made from a heart of worship too small to please God. For even though the stewardship we offer is intended to benefit God’s Creation, the offering itself is one we direct to Almighty God, the Creator of heaven and earth, and to Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord. |
