This project focuses on the development of liturgical resources and aids through conversation, dialogue, exploration, and the development of worship materials with pastors and congregations over a sustained period of time. The work will constitute another chapter in the broader project of sacramental ethics which explores a variety of ways that our worship practices shape and intersect with our daily lives. These resources will focus on ways that the liturgy can support practices of liturgical sustainability and be published for use throughout the church. The development of these resources will occur by nurturing pilot congregations to: identify current ecological practices; expand their congregation’s efforts to engage ecological practices; articulate theological grounds for their actions; and name and celebrate these actions in the assembly’s liturgy. The topic is of critical importance as North American culture wrestles with identifying ways to respond to the critical issues of global warming and sustainability. In conversation and partnership with the broader culture on this critical issues, congregations have an opportunity to provide leadership rooted in their own biblical and theological convictions.

The project will include consultation with key leaders in the field of ecological studies and with experts in developing theological and ethical approaches that support the work of transformational practices in ecological sustainability in the lives of local congregations. The development of liturgical resources will highlight the importance of contextuality by enabling congregations to identify their own ecological practices and the theological grounds for them in the worship life of the assembly.

The project provides opportunity to work with and learn from diverse congregations about ways in which the can explore, articulate, and embody ways of caring for the earth that are theologically grounded in our lives as disciples of Jesus Christ.