| The Center for the Celebration
of Creation is an inter-religious coalition sponsored
by the Chestnut Hill United Methodist Church of
Philadelphia. The Center encourages congregations
to address environmental issues by providing education,
support, and guidance to interested faith communities.
The Center sponsors public lectures; Earth-based
celebrations such as Sukkot, the Feast
Day of St. Francis, solstice festivals, and other
activities
that promote connection and healing between people
and the Earth. In addition to holding a monthly
colloquium for environmental activists and professionals
seeking to place their work in a spiritual or religious
context, the Center provides consulting services
to congregations and judicatories on issues such
as: sustainability, renewable energy, and
environmental programming.
Since 1991, the Center has produced bulletins for
use in worship services called, “Canticles
for Creation.” Each bulletin provides subscribing
congregations across the country with information,
spiritual reflection, and ideas for action on a
specific environmental issue. It also collaborates
with other religious and secular groups in promoting
the Pennsylvania Interfaith Global Climate Change
Campaign. Under the guidance of the Center, the
Chestnut Hill United Methodist Church now purchases
100 percent renewable electricity, providing a
model for other houses of worship to do the same.
The
Center
is currently helping to form a new coalition of
three dozen congregations in northwest Philadelphia
seeking to leverage their buying power to purchase
energy efficient, fairly traded, and recycled products.
The Center has also been a prominent voice speaking
out against suburban sprawl from a religious perspective.
Working with 10,000 Friends
of Pennsylvania, it published a pamphlet entitled, “The
Costs of Sprawl: A Spiritual Perspective,” and
received a grant to make educational
presentations about sprawl to houses of worship
in Southeastern Pennsylvania, an area seriously
affected by sprawl. In addition to its regional
and domestic work, the Center is helping an indigenous
tribe in the Philippines, the Mandayans, reclaim
some of its ancestral land from multinational corporations
by securing
a twenty-five-acre refuge on their
homeland. |
| Inter-religious: Christianity |
United States of America
(Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) |
| 1990–Present |
| Under the guidance of
Reverend Hal Taussig, the Center for the Celebration
of Creation was founded in 1990 as an explicitly
inter-religious organization hosted by the Chestnut
Hill United Methodist Church of Philadelphia. Since
its founding, the Center has organized spiritual
celebrations of natural events, sponsored lectures
and colloquia by cosmologist Brian Swimme, worked
with the Sacred Ways Dance Company to promote spiritual
and environmental awareness among children, and
provided funding for low-income communities of
color to address environmental concerns. In the
mid-1990s, the Center worked with the Metropolitan
Christian Council of Philadelphia and the Archdiocese
of
Philadelphia to provide training for religious
leaders on issues relating to ecological sustainability.
Since 1999, the Center has provided a religious
perspective on the problem of sprawl by testifying
at state hearings, publishing articles and booklets,
and developing an educational program about the
true costs of sprawl for houses of worship. Thanks
to
the efforts of the Center, the Chestnut Hill United
Methodist Church was named “Green Religious
Buyer of the Year” by Citizen’s for
Pennsylvania’s Future in 2002. |
| “The Center for
the Celebration of Creation is a program of Chestnut
Hill United Methodist Church. An interfaith coalition,
we celebrate the connection between Earth and spirit.
We draw upon religious traditions and institutions
to spark a deeper love of the greater whole. The
Center serves to educate congregations about environmental
issues, involve them in the political process,
and provide guidance on concrete steps for restoring
God’s creation. We create programs and materials
for congregations to use in worship and study.
We also design and produce festive events, rituals,
seminars, and other gatherings that express our
belonging to God and the healing dynamic of the
Earth.” |
Pennsylvania Global
Climate Change Campaign
Northwest Interfaith Movement
(Philadelphia)
10,000 Friends of Pennsylvania |
| None Listed |
| None Listed |
| None Listed |
Center for the Celebration
of Creation
Joy Bergey
Executive Director
8812 Germantown Ave
Philadelphia, PA 19118
Ph: 215.836.5978,
ext. 2
Email: joybergey@earthlink.net
Chestnut Hill United
Methodist Church
8812 Germantown Ave
Philadelphia, PA 19118
Ph: 215.242.9321
Email: ChestnutHillUMC@aol.com |
