Greetings from a snowy and quite cold Madison, WI! The temperature when I got up this morning was minus 4 F, which translates, for those of you in other parts of the world, to minus 20 C.

Don’t feel sorry for us, though! The world in deep winter has a beauty and a wonder all its own, and we love it (most of us do). I rejoice as I watch the sun shine on the snowbanks and tiny birds scrounging for seeds, and I remember that the God of springtime and summer is also the keeper of ‘storehouses of snow’ (Job 38:22).

The Word Became Flesh

And in this part of the world, the onset of winter is a reminder that the end of our calendar year is at hand, a new year approaches and, with it, that wonderful Advent season in which we celebrate the arrival and birth of Jesus, our Savior and Lord. As we at Care of Creation send you our wishes and prayers for a wonderful time of celebration, we trust you are joining with us in remembering Jesus’ birth and all that it means.

So what do a toothbrush and renewing of the mind have to do with each other? Plenty. Stay with me a minute and I’ll explain.

In Romans 12, Paul give us some excellent advice about what to do with our knowledge of God and His ways when we become Christ followers and when we listen to what the Holy Spirit tells us as we go about our daily lives.

Paul says that we are to “renew our minds” so that we can “test and approve what God’s will is”. In other words, Paul is telling us that as believers and followers of Christ, we have to start to think differently than we used to think if we are going to fulfill the purposes that God has for us.

When the world outside your door is beautiful it is sometimes hard to remember how things are elsewhere.

Here in Wisconsin we’re in one of the most beautiful times of the year. Trees that have been dark green through the summer are suddenly a blaze of colors. The air is crisp and cool – even a bit cooler than normal.  We’ve seen a few snowflakes in the air, but nothing to worry us yet.  The skies have been full of birds flying south to escape before winter sets in.  Some of you who live in warm climates would not, perhaps, enjoy the season as much as we do – but even you would agree that God has reserved some of his most spectacular art work for this time of year.

Things aren’t so beautiful in many other places, and for that reason we want to focus this “Call to Prayer” edition of our newsletter primarily on what is happening in two specific places.

Our sister organization, Renewal, is holding their second annual day of prayer today — Wednesday, October 21. Here at Care of Creation we feel a similar urgency to pray – and instead of announcing a separate prayer-event ourselves, I thought I’d ask if you would join us – and our Renewal sisters and brothers – in praying about these things.

One of a series of dispatches and meditations about the world and Caring for Creation

In the Northern and Southern hemispheres, we are constantly reminded of God’s planning as the seasons change. Even near the equator where the swing of the seasons is not so wide, there still are times that are called “the rainy season”.

From where I write this note in Madison, Wisconsin USA, as they do every Autumn, the trees are starting to change color. It’s sort of their last cheer and hurrah and praise before God gives them the winter off to rest and recuperate. It makes me think that perhaps winter is a type of  ‘Creation Sabbath’ that He created.

In the past year, I have come to realize that although God’s creation can be harsh, a lot of the harshness is caused by the way that we treat creation. When we build right on the ocean or strip the land to build houses or burn our forests, there is a good chance that through the processes that are part of creation, our houses will be damaged by storms, rain will bring mudslides or our climate will change.

What if we didn’t do these things? What if we stopped imposing our rules, our expectations and our needs on His creation, lived closer to the way that God intended and stopped fighting His natural way?

Dear Friends of Care of Creation:

On behalf of our entire staff, we wanted to thank you for your prayers and support in response to the recent urgent request for prayer for projects in Kenya and the USA. It’s great to hear from you and know that you are helping us as we work both here and in Kenya.

We still have a lot of funding challenges ahead of us so it is important that we continue to put our faith in God for his future blessings and provisions. The phrase “give us this

Dear Care of Creation Prayer Partners and Supporters:

This is an urgent “Call to Prayer” going out to friends of Care of Creation around the world.  If you have been on our list for a while, you know we don’t do this often, and we hope when we ask you to pray you will consider the needs and join us before the throne of God.  We are not naming a particular “day of prayer” as we have done in the past, but are simply asking you to join us this weekend in particular, but also in the weeks ahead, to ask God for his mercy with regard to the following three items:

Not your typical way of starting out a newspaper article is it?

But, an article Guardian UK on-line this past weekend not only talked about rats but went on to give an outstanding description of the work being done by Care of Creation Kenya.

Another excerpt from the article says:

But for Sorley, 41, who discovered his calling after being diagnosed with a potentially fatal brain tumour two decades ago, global warming, environmental degradation and food and water shortages are some of the greatest threats to mankind today, particularly in the developing world. An easy-going, mild-mannered man who signs off his emails with “Blessings”, Sorley becomes exasperated when trying to explain his church’s reluctance to recognise the urgent need to protect God’s creation.

Could you and would you use it for God’s glory?

Before you try to answer this question, we do know that that some of you live in a house where you have considerably less land than 7 acres (and some more), some of you are farmers and some of you are tried-and-true “urban dwellers” or “dorm denizens” with no land at all.

But, regardless of where you live, we know that many of you are part of a community that owns land and a building. That community is also known as your Church.

The Local Church — Critical In Caring For Creation

Sometime last year during our travels around the country, we started to brainstorm if there was a way that Care of Creation could encourage and instruct churches how to better use the resources (e.g. their land and their buildings) that God has blessed them with to care for God’s creation.

“Elijah was a man just like us… he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops…”
James 5:17-18

As we celebrate Earth Day this week, we do have much to celebrate.  It is entirely appropriate to look back 39 years and to rejoice in the real progress that has been made in many areas.  Just this morning I was having breakfast with an older friend who remembers well the state of the Nashua River in Fitchburg, MA, before the Earth Day-inspired legislative reforms like the Clean Water Act caused the local paper industry to change the way it did business. 

“I am making everything new!” Rev. 21:5

It is not a coincidence that Easter occurs in the springtime.

Spring is exciting, especially for those of us who live in the frozen north, as we do in Wisconsin.  Returning to our house recently, my wife and I pause and glance over our flower beds as we do often at this time of year.  This time she gives a little cry of joy:  Hidden beneath dead leaves and other leftovers from winter isa spot of green.  As we bend to look, we see another and then another: the first signs of resurrection.  Frozen in below-zero soil just a few weeks ago, the flowers are coming back to life.

As we look around what is still a pretty dismal landscape, we realize that these tiny dabs of green are not the only sign of hope.  We look carefully at the branches of the lilac bush in the corner.  Sure enough – it has buds.  We realize that the strange sound we hear is birds chirping in bare branches, as if like Aslan they can sing the leaves back onto the trees. The miracle of springtime is unfolding all around us.  No matter how cold and endless the winter has seemed, and no matter how weak our faith, spring always comes.  It comes with an explosion of new life, with fresh light, with vibrant new colors, with sounds of birds and water and melting snow.  It is the sights and sounds of life overwhelming death.  The outcome may have seemed in doubt a short time ago, but today the end is clear:  Winter’s defeat is inevitable.  Spring is going to win.