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By integrating its environ- mental stewardship into lit- urgy and sacrament, Prince of Peace Lutheran Church, Gaithersburg, Md., made Speicher’s Run, a tributary of the Muddy Branch (which is a tributary stream of the Potomac River), a venue for baptism last summer. Here, Sarah Scherschligt, a pastor of Prince of Peace, baptizes Steven Sullivan.


Now &forever ❀


Sabbath, stewardship and sustainable church


By David Davis


Davis is an environmentalist, a consultant and a member of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Gaithersburg, Md.


16 The Lutheran • www.thelutheran.org


For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield; but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fal- low, so that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the wild animals may eat. You shall do the same with your vineyard, and with your olive orchard (Exodus 23:10-11).


I


t seems like a new spin on an old idea, but it’s been around as long as the Bible. The charge is subtle, but challenging. Sabbath isn’t simply a day of worship


and rest, it’s an inclusive commitment to the well-being of others.


As Christians we do a reasonably good job with the first part of this commitment: seeing human need like hunger and homelessness, and recognizing our biblical responsibility to act. But, as a church, we continue to fumble through the second part of this: the idea that we are appointed to be good stewards of creation. These verses—like many others—point to a clear mandate to be attentive caregivers to the natural world. What’s even more striking about this passage is that in a handful of words it acknowledges God’s blessings that provide for us, and asserts a responsibility to also use those blessings to care for other people and creation. Thousands of years before there was a term for it, the Bible established this broader concept of Sabbath to realize sustainability.


Sustainability is an approach to the material aspects


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