Creation Justice Earth Holders

In order to create a space for people to form deeper connections to Earth and to grieve our unstable climate and species loss, some of the members of First Congregational Church of Colorado Springs decided to form a group we called Creation Justice Earth Holders for our congregation and community. This group actually had roots in a Lenten series I created in 2023, where we practiced sitting and walking meditation, sang Earth songs, listened deeply and discussed these elements: earth, air, water, fire and spacious awareness. We engaged in activities as well. For example, when contemplating water, we had a tea ceremony. We observed the tea, looking deeply at the water that traveled to us through the city water system and before that, perhaps the water was mountain snow or prairie rain.

Then, in the fall of 2023, when our Creation Justice activities were getting underway, we thought that the Earth Sangha was a natural extension and we renamed the group Creation Justice Earth Holders. A sangha is one of the three jewels of Buddhism and is an ancient word for community, where all are welcome. This sangha, Earth Holders, is mainly composed of church members but also includes people from the community who are concerned with climate change justice issues. There was a team of three people from our church, two adults and one youth, who took on facilitation for meeting every other week. One of us led mainly sitting meditation and discussion, another facilitated writing workshops and our youth facilitated walking meditations, including outdoor labyrinths.

We met on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month at 5 pm in different church locations and also outdoors at the Colorado College labyrinth. Some of the resources we used were meditations and readings from Thích Nhât Hanh (various books and articles) and Joanna Macy’s book Active Hope, as well as resources from the UCC Creation Justice website. These gatherings were well-received at our church, and we created a solid core group of people that attended on a regular basis. I would be happy to share any and all resources with any other individuals or churches that would like to create such a group.

Send an email to Lisa November.