by Ashtyn Adams Isaiah 64:1-9 (NRSV) |
To abide in Christ, to be of one mind with Christ in the words of Paul, is ultimately to take on his way of being in the world, which is one of radical intimacy, reconciliation, and liberation for the entire whole. |
Will we not look to our own interests but those of the climate refugee? How might we empty ourselves so the more than human world can thrive? |
Articles:
Wirzba, N. (2016), Christian Theoria Physike: On Learning to See Creation. Modern Theology, 32: 211-230.
![Picture](/uploads/2/5/4/6/25465131/published/mammoth-2021.jpg?1696128826)
As Christians, we know that our sanctuaries are havens of spiritual reflection and growth as well as a place of comfort to connect with God. We treat our sanctuaries with care, recognizing it’s a reflection of our relationship to God. Unfortunately, that is not the way that Stellwagen Bank NMS has been treated.
The lack of an effective management plan has led to the degradation of the sanctuary. Based on the sanctuary condition report in 2007, “Habitat quality...has deteriorated over many years, primarily as a result of long-term use of bottom dragging gear to catch fish...Living resource conditions have followed trends similar to those of habitats and are generally considered to be in fair or fair to poor condition… surface dwelling marine mammals are at considerable risk from strikes by increasing vessel traffic in New England and from entanglement from lines attached to fishing gear.” Despite, this clear issue, no action was taken, resulting in a 2020 condition report that stated, “Data suggest measurable degradation of habitat quality over the past 10 years, primarily due to direct impacts of commercial fishing, but also as a result of increasing noise levels that interrupt behavior and communication of many marine species.”
The faith and conservation communities were hopeful that the 2022 draft revised management plan for Stellwagen Bank would address this deterioration of the sanctuary and propose measures to better care for this piece of God’s creation, but unfortunately the draft did not propose the necessary changes to invest in God’s marine creation. It is with disappointment we note that the final management plan for Stellwagen Bank NMS was released last month without any of the proposed changes from the faith and conservation communities despite many public comments, meetings with NOAA staff and petitions submitted to NOAA. Our community will continue to do our best to care for God’s creation, to advocate for those parts of God’s creation that can not advocate for themselves, and to ground ourselves in the knowledge that God cares for the creation that we hold dear.
Policy Advocate
Creation Justice Ministries
Isaiah 55:1-5 (NIV)
1 Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. 2 Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare. 3 Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David. 4 See, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a ruler and commander of the peoples. 5 Surely you will summon nations you know not, and nations you do not know will come running to you, because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has endowed you with splendor.
God alone owns water, and God wills it to be maximized for the common good.
Books:
Brueggemann, Walter. The Prophetic Imagination. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2018.
Christiana, Zenner. Just Water: Theology, Ethics, and the Global Water Crisis. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2014.
Websites:
https://nationalwaterqualitymonth.org/
![Picture](/uploads/2/5/4/6/25465131/published/mammoth-2021.jpg?1691096079)
About this Blog
This blog shares the activities of Creation Justice Ministries. We educate and equip Christians to protect, restore, and rightly share God's creation.
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