Las Cruces Lutheran Church delves into ecological spirituality this Lenten season through Pope's guidance
LAS CRUCES – Lent is a time each year Christians turn inwards to examine their spiritual selves. This year, Peace Lutheran Church is including a series of special services each week looking at the role all individuals have on addressing climate change.
Pope Francis issued an encyclical in 2015 entitled Laudato Si’ – On Care For Our Common Home. Within the papal letter, he outlined the need for Roman Catholics, Christians and all people “of good will” to start addressing the seven goals he outlines to mitigate the effects of climate change.
Rev. Henry Atkins of Holy Cross Retreat Center is an Episcopal priest and eco-theologian who moved to Las Cruces a year ago to coordinate an area response to the encyclical. He said it is the second year of seven in implementing the Pope’s goals.
“(Pope Francis) comes from Latin America and he understands the so-called third world very well, and he understands the relationship between the world of the poor and what is happening to the earth,” Atkins said. “He acknowledges that we are faced with a crisis such as we have never been faced with before.”
Atkins explained that the seven outlined goals respond to:
Respond to the cry of the earth
Respond to the cry of the poor
Ecological economies
Adopt sustainable lifestyles
Ecological education
Ecological spirituality
Community resilience and empowerment
Atkins said some churches have been slow to respond to the encyclical. He added that part of the problem is some people believe technology will solve the problem of climate change while others are overwhelmed by the enormity of the situation. Still others see climate change as just another problem like hunger, immigration and unemployment.
“People often treat the climate crisis as if it's an option,” Atkins said. “Everything depends upon how we respond to this, and all the other issues we face are related."
Holy Cross Retreat Center has adopted several encyclical programs including showing the 2022 documentary film “The Letter: A Message for our Earth” during retreats and to the public. The documentary tells the story of five people’s journeys from around the world to the Vatican to start the discussions with the Pope.
Each person represents the poor, the Indigenous, the youth and wildlife – voices often lost in society’s discussion on the environment.
Rev. Lyn Bussian of Peace Lutheran Church said it was at one of these retreats where she first learned about Laudato Si.’ Bussian is currently the bridge pastor between the church’s former interim pastor and the new full-time pastor.
Bussian said she decided to share the message of Laudato Si’ with the congregation this Lenten season through weekly showings of parts of “The Letter” along with a contemplative worship.
“Most Christian churches look for ways to help the people in their congregation look inward and upward – to look at themselves and to see how we can become better people and to look toward God to help us along the way,” Bussian said. “We have the science to know what to do to fix our climate, but we don't have the moral imperative to do it, and that's really entrusted to the churches.”
Each Wednesday during Lent, Peace Lutheran is hosting a “look at climate change through a spiritual lens” through song, prayer, meditation and segments of the documentary.
Bussian said the issue is substantial, but addressing climate change starts with education. Atkins added that individual education is important because often people do not think that their actions alone are impactful.
“Noted saints such as St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas have pointed out that there are two major revelations of God in human history that have been given to us,” he said. “One is scripture, but the other is nature, and we so often don’t even realize that nature is a reflection of God in our history, in our world. And if you want to see what awe and mystery looks like you can certainly read the psalms, but you also can look at the mountains, you can look at the ocean, you can look at the stars.”
People are welcome to join the Wednesday services, held at 6 p.m. March 1, March 8, March 15, March 22 and March 29. Each service is about 30 to 45 minutes long.
Peace Lutheran Church is located at 1701 Missouri Ave. Those interested in participating virtually can contact the church at office@peacelutheranlc.com for the Zoom link.
“The Letter” documentary is also available to view for free on YouTube at https://youtu.be/Rps9bs85BII.
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Leah Romero is the trending reporter at the Las Cruces Sun-News and can be reached at 575-418-3442, LRomero@lcsun-news.com or @rromero_leah on Twitter.
This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Las Cruces church delves into ecological spirituality for Lent
