Flourish Magazine, Fall 2009
Items of interest springing up around the creation care community
5 Questions For: Margaret Feinberg
Margaret Feinberg, recently named by Charisma magazine as one of the “30 Emerging Voices” who will help lead the church in the next decade, is a popular Christian writer and speaker, and was a keynote presenter at the 2009 Flourish Conference in Atlanta. She has written over two dozen books and Bible studies, and most recently authored Scouting the Divine: My search for God in Wine, Wool, and Wild Honey. We asked Margaret five quick questions about her life of faith as it relates to creation care. You can also listen to a longer interview with Margaret on the Flourish blog.
What’s the creation care-related scripture that is most meaningful to you?
John 4:35, “”Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest ‘? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest.” It’s a reminder of how integrated our spiritual lives and the agrarian world really are.
What is your favorite spot in the outdoors?
My favorite place used to be on the glaciers when we lived in Alaska, but now that we’ve moved to Colorado I’m loving Red Rocks Amphitheater. Not only is a perfect place for concerts during the summer—yes, even U2 has played there—but it’s an incredible place to work out climbing the stairs and enjoying God’s beauty that fills the foothills of the Rocky Mountains.
Out of the changes you’ve made in your life to follow God’s call to creation care, what has been the most life-giving, community-enhancing, or faith-strengthening?
I’ve appreciated the intentionality and thoughtfulness that goes into consuming less, recycling more, and opting for organic or non-chemical options whenever possible. It’s not a specific action as much as it is a whole change of the way I think and live that forces me to slow down, question, and thoughtfully engage in our world.
What is your guilty environmental indulgence?
Drinking flavored bubbly water out of cans and plastic bottles (La Croix, seltzer water etc.).
What would you recommend as a first step in starting a lifestyle of creation care?
Take a deep breath. Exhale. Take a deep breath. Exhale. Feel that? Feels good, huh? You’re on your way.
New Reads and Must-Sees
The National Parks: America’s Best Idea
Now available on DVD, Ken Burns’s latest documentary feat, on the country’s national parks system, is “the story of an idea as uniquely American as the Declaration of Independence and just as radical: that the most special places in the nation should be preserved, not for royalty or the rich, but for everyone.”
Garbage Dreams
Iskander Films
One man’s garbage becomes another man’s dream in this honest film about Christians’ survival in Cairo’s slums.
Food, Inc.
Magnolia Home Entertainment
You’ll never look at dinner the same way again.
Scouting the Divine: My search for God in wine, wool, and wild honey
By Margaret Feinberg
Margaret Feinberg journeys into the world of agriculture to better understand the world of Scripture.
Everyday Justice: The Global Impact of Our Daily Choices
By Julie Clawson
Decisions fill our days. How do we make the ones that will prove just for our brothers and sisters and all of creation?
A Climate for Change
By Katharine Hayhoe and Andrew Farley
A pastor and a climate scientist—a husband and a wife—write a book together. A new conversation begins.
Crow Planet: Essential Wisdom from the Urban Wilderness
By Lyanda Lynn Haupt
It’s hard to love it if you don’t know it. That’s what one mother and naturalist discovers about all of creation, through this thoughtful, funny, and honest look at one of the world’s more under-appreciated species.
The Wild Marsh: Four Seasons at Home in Montana
By Rick Bass
Read this Books & Culture review by Flourish contributor Cindy Crosby on Rick Bass’s observations, meditations, and celebrations of the rhythm of a year on his Montana homestead.
Green Like God: Unlocking the Divine Plan for Our Planet
By Jonathan Merritt
Jonathan Merritt introduces creation care to a new generation of Christians through his theologically sound, personally engaging first book.
Numbers: Americans Put Greenbacks before Green
With the media trumpeting the cost effectiveness of environmental sustainability measures and the government offering tax incentives for homeowners who “green” their houses, it’s no surprise that Americans living lighter on the earth not in the interest of conserving natural resources, but in order to gain financially from the changes they make. A November 2009 Gallup poll shows that 71% of those Americans who say they have made energy efficient changes to their homes have done so to save money. Only 26% have made those changes to improve the environment.
Source: Savings Trumps Environment for Making Homes Greener
Newsbites
- Flourish President Dr. Rusty Pritchard inspired churches, seminaries and universities across the USA (including Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, DC) with his own passionate blend of environmental expertise, evangelical theology and Southern humor this fall during a cross-country speaking tour.
- The Evangelical Environmental Network (EEN), has chosen Rev. Mitch Hescox as its new President and CEO. Mitch comes to the position with a background in pastoral and non profit capacities, as well as experience in the energy industry. Former EEN President Rev. Jim Ball has transitioned to be the organization’s Senior Director, Climate Campaign. Rev. Hescox commenced his duties on August 1st.
- From September 16-18, the RE:FORM Conference took place in Baltimore, MD. Exploring the convergence of a number of societal ills, this year’s conference speakers looked at the interrelationships between human injustice, environmental decline, and spiritual confusion.
- Urbana, InterVarsity’s diverse annual gathering of global-mission-minded practitioners, features a creation care emphasis this year in partnership with Care of Creation.
- The Creation Care Studies Program will be re-opening its Belize study abroad program in Spring 2010, after a three-semester-long hiatus.
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Quoted
“When I have conversations with the average pew-sitting Christian [about the environment], I can almost hear an exhale; they’re glad to know somebody is trying to offer a biblical answer. But when I talk to people in Christian leadership, I find that some are driven by ideology rather than theology … The average Christian, though, wants to know what God thinks.”- Flourish’s Jonathan Merritt, quoted in the November 2009 issue of Christianity Today
For You
Join Flourish! Supporters who donate $30 by the new year donation will receive a copy of Matthew Sleeth’s book, Serve God, Save the Planet.Speak Up
We want to know what you want to read! Let us know what is most pressing to you about God’s creation and his call to care for it by writing us with your questions and suggestions at editor@flourishonline.org. You just might see your questions answered in a future article! You can also join the ongoing conversation at the Flourish blog.
