Mission Yearbook: Presbyterians for Earth Care webinar presents hope, challenge for young adults

Emma Marshall, the young adult organizer for Presbyterians for Earth Care, recently presented both hope and challenge during an hourlong webinar that can be seen here.

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Emma Marshall

Marshall, a candidate for ordination in National Capital Presbytery, has brought together Presbyterian young adults ages 18–35 in an organization called CANOPY, the Creation Action Network of Presbyterian Young Adults. CANOPY’s mission statement is this: “We are a community of faith-filled justice-seekers, inspired by the Holy Spirit and informed by the Presbyterian tradition. We come together to advocate and act for environmental justice and Creation care, magnifying our voices and power as a new generation of leaders.

“Heeding the call to love God and to love our neighbors, human and non-human, we seek to:

• Connect through diversity, geography and experience to build collective power
• Educate and learn through experience- and knowledge-sharing to inspire action
• Take action with energy, intelligence, imagination and love in solidarity with Creation.”

Forty-two young adults comprise CANOPY, Marshall said — 16 of them ministry professionals, 13 students and 13 young professionals in non-ministry roles. More than 10 states are represented on the membership rolls.

Online monthly meetings kicked off in September. Marshall said CANOPY members were either “very involved” at the denominational level, as Young Adult Advisory Delegates at General Assembly or as Young Adult Volunteers “who know the PC(USA) world but aren’t seeing it in their congregation,” or their local congregation “is super active on environmental justice but they don’t know what resources are available denominationally.” 

The worst consequences of climate change will be felt by young adults and by their offspring, Marshall noted. About 3 in 4 express “serious and disruptive concern or worry over the climate crisis,” she said. Nearly 4 in 10 Gen Zers — young people in their teens or 20s — report delaying having children or choosing not to due to environmental anxiety.

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“For a lot of young adults, the course of their life will look different because of the climate crisis,” Marshall said. “We are hearing this existential anxiety is coming home” among “people interested in joining together to do this work.”

Environmental justice connects several facets of social justice, she said, including racism, economic inequality and gender inequality.

Asked to name justice issues important to them, people on the call responded with immigration and migration, food insecurity, housing costs, microplastics and health, colonialism, and environmental racism. Marshall said two have emerged among CANOPY members: conflict and war, especially in Gaza, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Ukraine; and native and indigenous rights. She said CANOPY members appreciated the Presbytery of San Gabriel’s recent action to return ancestral land to the Gabrieleno Tongva Tribal Council.

Marshall said the young adults in CANOPY want to learn best practices, more about taking tangible actions, about leading both passive and activist congregations, and connecting worship to action.

They want to battle hopelessness and helplessness, promote an environmental justice framework (“folks have heard a lot about sustainability and are hungry to connect environmental justice to other social issues,” Marshall said), promote denominational divestment, and develop both policy and advocacy.

They want to feel connected with a faith group, supported by their peers and be inspired and confident as church leaders. They also want to be taken seriously as leaders, Marshall said.

“I believe young people have a stake in the future of the church,” Marshall said. “I want to encourage young people to claim that stake and increase their advocacy as leaders in the church.”

Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service (Click here to read original PNS Story)

Let us join in prayer for:

Erin Skinner, Ministry Relations Officer, Development Office, The Presbyterian Foundation
Ashley Smalley-Ray, VP Director of Compliance, Trust Services, The Presbyterian Foundation

Let us pray:

Gracious and loving God, we are grateful for the witness of those who work together to make dreams a reality. We ask that your healing presence would surround us and that your love and guidance would support us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Mission Yearbook: ‘Everyone has an ecological story,’ webinar shows

Presbyterians for Earth Care recently offered a webinar on “Coming Home to Your Ecological Self” featuring a member of its Steering Committee, the Rev. Dr. Shannan Vance-Ocampo.

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The Rev. Dr. Shannan Vance-Ocampo is pictured alongside her favorite chicken, Madonna (Photo courtesy of Shannan Vance-Ocampo).

Vance-Ocampo is general presbyter of the Presbytery of Southern New England, where she spends some of her spare time gardening and raising backyard chickens.

Her doctoral research included work she put in on land, food and faith formation. Among other things, Vance-Ocampo wondered what prevents pastors from preaching on climate justice. She formed a cohort to test some of her ideas and heard from clergy that some parishioners heard such preaching as political rather than biblical.

“One thing that came out is folks feel disconnected ecologically. Many didn’t have a good connection to the natural world,” she said. “It got me to thinking about this issue of the ecological self. We need to be connected ourselves before we can do the work with others.”

Briefly, Vance-Ocampo modeled a process that people in faith communities can use. “We often don’t know the stories of the people around us,” she said. “More people than we realize are pretty disconnected theologically.”

Vance-Ocampo displayed a number of photographs outlining her own ecological journey, including photos of the Jersey Shore and a beach in Puerto Rico, as well as the Catskills and Colombia, from which her husband hails.

“A whole new landscape became part of my story,” she said, displaying photos of her mother-in-law’s home along Colombia’s Magdalena River, where the family has lived for nearly three centuries. Mango trees her mother-in-law planted 60 years ago are now taller than oaks, Vance-Ocampo noted.

“During the pandemic, I supercharged my gardening here in Upstate New York,” she said, including adding a few chickens. In the summer the chickens enjoyed treats including frozen watermelon, the subject of another photo.

“Those sweet animals helped me reconnect,” Vance-Ocampo said. “It was a place to engage in prayer and have time to let my mind wander. The garden and the work I have done on it has been a significant point of reconnection.”

They constructed a pond near the garden and have rewilded the space around their house. One photo was of the alpha male American bullfrog who lives in and around the pond. The photo depicted him all alone on a rock. “He owns that rock,” Vance-Ocampo said. “No other frog will come onto it.”

Her mother-in-law died eight years ago. Vance-Ocampo and her husband work on the gardens she created when they’re in Colombia. “It’s a very different environment. I know what to do in the Northeast,” she said. Still, her ecological reconnection “has changed how I preach and what I focus on and has given me a lot of new language to consider,” she said.

Webinar attendees then spent time in small groups discussing their own ecological stories. Some reported back.

“It was good to hear from others, and it wasn’t surprising that all of us had positive experiences in nature,” said one. “Our formative years were in a natural setting.”

The group then read John 1:1–5 and verse 14, which describes Jesus as the completion of God’s Word. Vance-Ocampo quoted Victoria Loorz, the author of “Church of the Wild: How Nature Invites Us Into the Sacred”: “To position Jesus as more than a man crucified by the state, John sought to identify him with the logos: the divine indwelling, ‘through [which] all things were made,’ an interconnected relationship underlying and holding together the whole universe.”

“I am interested in hearing about places that have a plan for reconnecting people in their congregation to ecology,” said one participant. “We have a long way to go in our church. Not a lot of our church members are on board.”

“We may long for a simpler life, but the world is whizzing by,” said another. “We have to work hard to [highlight] things that thank God for Creation and that use Creation for good.”

“Everyone has an ecological story,” Vance-Ocampo said. “By sharing them with others, we get to know people more deeply — and we get to know God in a deeper way, too.”

Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service (Click here to read original PNS Story)

Let us join in prayer for:

Janeen Lush, Accountant, Accounts Payable Office, Administrative Services Group
Catherine Lynch, Senior Relationship Manager, Presbyterian Investment & Loan

Let us pray:

Loving Gather, we thank you for the courageous and faithful. As we serve, let us all walk humbly with you as we follow the example given to us by Jesus Christ. Amen.

From the Earth Care Lenten Devotional - Second Sunday in Lent

Second Sunday in Lent

March 1, 2026

John 3:1-7

It seems that as the days change and seasons slide into one another, that our own lives can have trouble keeping up. We want to live the best lives possible, but often find that even those that we rely on for clear meanings and interpretations have to admit to a cloudiness of vision.

In today’s scripture, John 3: 1-17, given for meditation and reflection, we find an important and learned man, Nicodemus, facing those same needs for clarification. He is well respected and possibly doesn’t want his reputation damaged in any way by coming to ask Jesus for guidance. Therefore, he comes under the cloak of darkness. Nicodemus comes to truly ask Jesus who He is. Jesus’ response is not of this world and creates even more confusion, as it does with us, “to see the kingdom of God you must be born again.”

Wait a minute! In Jesus’ time, as well as our own, that can’t happen. Anyone who has given birth or been with someone in labor knows a child, especially a person fully grown, can’t return to the womb. Therefore, Jesus can’t be speaking about the physical realm we live in, but one of a spiritual nature. Jesus has spoken to us earthly things and we don’t believe. Now He asks us to believe of a spiritual life.

With the ending of this scripture, one of the most relatable pieces is hand to us: John 3:16 – “For God so love that world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have Eternal life.

Use what you have learned of what is expected in our physical world and translate that into setting a living example in the spiritual life.

Prayer: Good and Gracious God, walk alongside us and untangle our minds and hearts so that the things that we don’t seem to understand make sense. Help us to show your love and work within our communities. Let us be the light that you have lit during this season.

Barbara Hassall

Elder, The Sanctuary Church, Fort Lauderdale, FL

Tropical Florida Presbytery

From the Earth Care Lenten Devotional - First Sunday in Lent

February 22, 2026

Matthew 4:1-11

As I write, I have just returned from the Call for Clergy in Minneapolis to witness and resist their extrajudicial authoritarian occupation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Instead of facing our demons in a desert, religious leaders from across the nation faced them on the prairie, wrapped up in ski pants and foot warmers, thermal underwear and stoles safety-pinned to parkas. With negative thirty-four degree wind chill temperatures, Mother Earth herself screamed, “If you really want ICE, I will give you some ICE!!”

Jesus in our midst, among the least of these members of his family — strangers unwelcomed by our federal government but companioned by all who see in them the face of Christ — faced down those demons with us, in a story of reverse temptation:

Mutual Aid societies proving the miracle of loaves and fishes for families left behind after the abduction of their loved ones, including the delivery of breast milk to a three month old left unattended after ICE broke down her door without a judicial warrant and kidnapped her mother.

Movement chaplains, including a colleague from seminary, rushing to the scenes where Renee Good and Alex Pretti were murdered, offering prayer and comfort while being pummeled by pepper spray and sound cannon.

And civic leaders refusing to cave to external demands that would protect them from judicial probes at the expense of their citizens.

Over and over again, with every reason to give up, these Beloved of God, baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus, show up for one another and for God in this crisis. This same level of urgency, demon-confronting, and long haul commitment can be ours for earth care. Let us begin!

Prayer: Holy One who overcomes horror with inspiration, grant us wisdom, grant us courage for the facing of this hour.

Rev. Gusti Linnea Newquist, Pastor

Shepherdstown Presbyterian Church, West Virginia

Presbyterians for Earth Care - Lenten Earth Care Devotional 🌅Now Available (English & Spanish)

2026 Earth Care Lenten Devotional Free Download Our 2026 Lenten Devotional was made possible by the volunteers contributing their devotions as well as Spanish language collaboration with our partner organization Red Presbiteriana para el Cuidado de la Creación. Thank you to all of the writers who contributed! CLICK HERE to download the English language translation of the Lenten Devotional. CLICK HERE to download the Lenten Devotional in Spanish. Would you like to receive each devotion on its designated date in your email Inbox?  If so, you can request devotional emails (both English and Spanish translations) through Lent by signing up with your email. CLICK HERE to Sign Up for Devotion Emails From Our Partner Organizations: You’re Invited to Host the 2026 National Faith + Climate Forum! Join Blessed Tomorrow on Saturday, April 25, 2026, as a host location for the National Faith + Climate Forum, a powerful national gathering uniting people of faith to lead on climate solutions grounded in justice, hope, and spiritual courage. Host a gathering at your congregation, campus, or community space and:  Experience the live-streamed national event together  Participate in powerful conversations  Inspire climate action rooted in faith in your community We make hosting easy with a turnkey planning guide, customizable outreach materials, faith-rooted climate resources, and direct support every step of the way. Host locations can receive up to $500 and host locations with 15+ attendees will receive preferential consideration for grants of up to $1,000 to support climate or creation care work in their communities. Register Your Location Today! Creation Justice Ministries 2026 Annual Resource CLICK HERE for Info on this Free Download How can we help you care for God’s creation?  Drop us an email and let us know at presbyearthcare@gmail.com Help us grow! Please let us know if there is anyone we should add to our list!  Just reply to this email.  Thank you! Please help us to continue to assist individuals and churches in creation care work by donating to PEC through our website by CLICKING HERE.  Thank you!

Copyright (C) 2026 Presbyterians for Earth Care. All rights reserved.

Mission Yearbook: Presbyterians for Earth Care’s webinar discusses GA overture on caring for Utah’s wilderness lands

Presbyterians For Earth Care recently hosted a webinar designed in part to explore “On Adopting ‘Protecting Utah’s National Monuments and Wildlands for Ecology and Justice,’” an overture passed by the 224th General Assembly (2024). The overture calls for ongoing protection of wilderness areas including Bears Ears National Monument and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Listen to the webinar “Protecting Sacred Lands for Culture, Climate and Justice,” hosted by Jenny Holmes, the co-chair of PEC’s Advocacy Team, here.

Holmes’ guests were Travis Hammill, the District of Columbia director for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, and Tara Benally, the field director for Stewardship Utah.

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Photo by Emily Campbell via Unsplash

The environmental stakes are at present quite high, Holmes said, including “the commodification and industrialization of our national public lands on a scale never seen before.”

“This is contrary to Presbyterian values and faith commitments and to those of many other denominations and faiths, including people of no faith,” Holmes said. What’s needed is for people organize “in all ways at all levels to undergird legal and legislative work.”

“All of us who care need to be engaged to protect God’s Creation and vulnerable people from permanent and large-scale damage over the next four years,” Homes said. “We can’t afford to be on the sidelines.”

Hammill said the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA) works specifically with lands managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM). “What’s most important to remember is wilderness is the highest level of protection that can be afforded to federal lands,” Hammill said. Four of the five national parks in Utah were first national monuments, he noted.

He said he’s “proud of the work SUWA has engaged with tribal nations and the partner organizations that advocate for the tribes to find support for the legislation we work on, and for conservation of both the natural world and the cultural and historical value these places have for the people groups throughout the Desert Southwest and around the country.”

Benally, who was born a seventh-generation Hopi but was raised on Navajo lands, is involved with the Women of Bears Ears. She said her people have historically migrated to Bears Ears on a seasonal schedule. Her mother remembers being chased off by law enforcement one spring after Bears Ears had been designated BLM-managed land, “something my family was not familiar with,” she said.

More recently, it’s hard to find “a single pottery shard, a single arrowhead, a fire pit or a hogan or a horse corral” that used to dot the Butler Wash Interpretive Site, she said, adding, “there’s significance in reading the land and understanding it as natural conservationists.”

She thanked those who joined the webinar. “Being part of these conversations is really crucial to us. It’s part of our living, breathing family,” Benally said. The region “has sustained us for hundreds and thousands of years.”

Holmes then explained the history of the overture, an idea that originated with the Episcopal Diocese of Utah, then became an interfaith letter and finally an overture to the 224th General Assembly (2024), which passed it by consensus. The overture also calls on the PC(USA)’s Office of Public Witness to advocate for America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act and for tribal sovereignty in the co-management of Bears Ears National Monument. That legislation, most recently sponsored in the House by U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury of New Mexico, would designate more than 8 million acres of BLM land in Utah as wilderness.

As Holmes pointed out, the Book of Order states, “God sends the Church to share in the stewardship of Creation, preserving the goodness and glory of the Earth God has made” and includes “caring for God’s Creation” in the commitment to participate in Christ’s mission.

“This is not an optional thing. It’s considered integral to our faith,” Holmes said. “This is who we are. This is part of our identity.”

Mike Ferguson, Editor, Presbyterian News Service (Click here to read original PNS Story)

Let us join in prayer for:

Staci Wihelm, Vice President, Finance, Board of Pensions
Aniria Williams, Administrative Assistant I, Stewardship & Funds Development, Administrative Services Group (A Corp) 

Let us pray:

God of Justice, we thank you for your unfailing love. We strive to reflect your love through our thoughts, our decisions, and our actions. Strengthen us as we learn to serve. Show us the way to let the oppressed go free as Jesus of Nazareth declared. As Jesus is our witness. Amen.

Lenten Earth Care Devotional and Upcoming Webinars

2025 Earth Care Lenten Devotional   Our 2025 Lenten Devotional was made possible by the volunteers contributing their devotions as well as Spanish language collaboration with our partner organization Red Presbiteriana para el Cuidado de la Creación. CLICK HERE to download the English language version of the Lenten Devotional CLICK HERE to download the Lenten Devotional in Spanish Would you like to receive each devotion on its designated date in your email Inbox?  If so, you can request devotional emails through Lent by signing up with your email CLICK HERE. NEW WEBINAR Neonicotinoids: The Pesticides Threatening Bees, Birds, & Our Health Join us for our next webinar and learn more about the effects of pesticides on pollinators! Webinar Date: Tuesday, March 25, 2025 Time: 7:30 pm EDT (6:30 CDT, 5:30 MDT, 4:30 PDT) Presenter: Daniel Raichel, NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) Our presenter will explain the science behind the threats posed by neonicotinoid pesticides, aka “neonics,” to pollinators, biodiversity, and our own health as well as neonics’ surprising prevalence in our environment.  The popular pesticides contaminate soil, water, and plant life on a nearly unprecedented scale, driving mass losses of birds and bees, and raising alarm bells for a whole host of wildlife, clean water, and human health.  The presentation will conclude with a discussion of what we can all do to protect and promote pollinators in our environment. Speaker Bio: Daniel Raichel, Director, Pollinators & Pesticides, Nature Program, focuses on protecting our nation’s bee populations from the ever-growing threats to their health and existence—in particular, the use of bee-toxic pesticides. Before joining the Nature Program, Raichel was co-director of NRDC’s Community Fracking Defense Project and an advocate for the cleanup of industrial pollution in the New York region. Raichel holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Cornell University and a J.D. from Columbia Law School. CLICK HERE TO REGISTER Online Bible Study What do you see Moses and Jesus saying about generosity toward the poor, and how are we generous to the poor today? Do you know people or corporations/businesses that have been affected or displaced because of climate change disasters such as rising sea levels, fires, floods? What climate actions can you and your congregation take, and do you see yourself advocating on behalf of creation care to your legislators? We will explore these questions and more in our upcoming study of a lesson on Economic Climate Justice. You are invited to join Presbyterians for Earth Care on Sunday, March 23rd for an online study of: Let Justice Roll Down: God’s Call to Care for Neighbors and All Creation by Patricia K. Tull Suggestions for Leaders by Rebecca Barnes Please join PEC for this unique monthly opportunity for community and meaningful study.   Time: 7:00 pm Eastern/ 6:00 pm Central/ 5:00 pm Mountain/ 4:00 pm Pacific. The study will run for 75 minutes. Study Leaders: Rev. M. Courtenay Willcox and Rev. Lucy Youngblood The study guide is helpful, but not necessary to participate. Each lesson is stand alone - join us online for any or all of our study sessions! We hope to see you there! CLICK HERE FOR INFO & ZOOM LINK Webinar Recording Now Available Climate Change, Water Wars, and Other Scary Stuff: A Webinar on Militarism and Climate Change CLICK HERE for Recording & Resources Save the Date! Registration opens in May Presbyterians for Earth Care Biennial Earth Care Conference “Sacred Creation: Justice Flows Down Like Water” October 8-11, 2025 Ferncliff Camp & Conference Center How can we help you care for God’s creation?  Drop us an email and let us know at presbyearthcare@gmail.com Help us grow! Please let us know if there is anyone we should add to our list!  Just reply to this email.  Thank you! Please help us to continue to assist individuals and churches in creation care work by donating to PEC through our website by CLICKING HERE.  Thank you!

Copyright (C) 2025 Presbyterians for Earth Care. All rights reserved.