These are the words that best describe GreenFaith’s work around the world in 2024.

Last year was not an easy year for the climate. Anti-climate political movements, relying heavily on hateful, neo-nationalist perversions of religion, gained power. COP29, which was supposed to see wealthy countries make financial commitments to curb the climate crisis, produced only mediocre results. Horrific fires and floods struck more and more people. The crisis we all face—regardless of nationality, faith, social background, or political persuasion—has intensified.

Together, in our annual report, we tell the stories of people of different faiths who are creating a transformative movement at the grassroots level, rooted in justice, equality, and the sanctity of life on Earth. I want to thank our thousands of volunteer activists for their courage. You are an inspiration.

2025 is a critically important year. With your support, GreenFaith is ready for this challenge. We know that the world’s faith communities have the moral, cultural, and political power to turn the tide on the climate crisis. Key moments remind us of the urgency of our mission and the immense power of interfaith action.

I believe that together we will build a future where renewable energy is standard, fossil fuels are phased out, and just solutions prevail. I look forward to shaping that future with you.

Read about the change you have all made possible in our 2024 Greenfaith Annual Report.

The post Greenfaith International – Annual Report 2024 appeared first on GreenFaith.

In mid-November, a small group of participants from GreenFaith and the ESG Marburg set out with hoe, spade, and a great deal of commitment to plant 75 small maple trees in a forest in Hesse. Supported by the “7 Years – 700,000 Trees” initiative of the Evangelical Church of Kurhessen-Waldeck, a strong statement was made for the protection of the forest.

This planting campaign may be only a small contribution, but its message is clear: The forest, with all its vital functions for people, animals, and plants, deserves to be protected. The campaign is intended to remind us that the destruction of forests endangers not only the environment but also people. It calls for respect for the resources of creation and for action to be taken to preserve them.

Planting Trees for the Future: A Strong Sign from Greenfaith and ESG Marburg

A similar event took place in the school park on December 5, 2023. A magnolia was planted at that time – a tree that is particularly well adapted to the changing climate in Germany. The planting was accompanied by musical performances, poetry, and speeches emphasizing the interreligious symbol of protecting our planet. In addition to city representatives, members of Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and Baha’i communities also participated.

Tip: Those interested can learn about insect-friendly, native trees from BUND or NABU to get involved themselves.

With such events, the importance of forests is raised and small but important steps are taken toward a more sustainable future. We look forward with hope to the next projects – for a world in which humanity and nature are in harmony.

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Thousands of believers in France, Uganda, and Tanzania are denouncing these projects because they are fundamentally contrary to our values ​​and beliefs: they are climate injustice projects that violate human rights and harm biodiversity and living beings.

• Tilenga and EACOP would cause the emission of up to 34 million tons of carbon per year—a veritable “climate bomb”—while the IPCC and the International Energy Agency clearly state that, in order to comply with the Paris Agreement, no new oil fields should be developed after 2021;
• They would lead to the expropriation of more than 100,000 people, totally or partially, with a litany of economic and social consequences, naturally affecting the poorest; this has already begun, for example, with expropriations before compensation is paid, leaving small farmers without means of subsistence;
• Tilenga would drill 132 wells within the Murchison Falls Natural Protected Area, on the shores of Lake Albert, and EACOP would pass through natural areas rich in biodiversity, particularly along the Lake Victoria basin, increasing pressure and posing significant risks to biodiversity.

These impacts represent the opposite of what our religious and spiritual traditions, in their diversity, promote: justice, peace, well-being for all, compassion, security for families and future generations, harmony and respect for God’s precious creation, nature and all beings.

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In addition to our own workshops on the topics “How does climate activism actually work as a Christian? – An invitation to a burst of courage” and “Voice of justice and hope – Global charity in times of climate change,” team members also participated in several panel discussions. Our main focus was the question of how our faith empowers us to be active participants in the fight against climate change. The Kirchentag offered a unique opportunity to exchange ideas with like-minded people and encourage each other to deepen our commitment to the earth.

A particularly captivating topic was addressed on the panel “Mysticism and Commitment: The Peace-Promoting Power of Christian and Islamic Mysticism.” Here, the panelists Cheikh Khaled Bentounès (spiritual teacher of the Alawiyya-Darqawiyya-Shadhiliyya order), Frère Jérémie (Taizé Community), Feride Funda G.-Gençaslan (Chair of the Sufi Center Rabbaniyya and founding member of Greenfaith), and Thomas Zeitler (pastor for arts and culture and climate activist) explored the spiritual dimensions of their own activism and mystical trust in God.

In addition to our participation in these events, we also had the opportunity to operate a joint booth at the Market of Opportunities in Hall 9. Together with our partners Tearfund and the Micha Initiative, we presented our mission, vision, and (future) activities. It was particularly important to us that our booth be a place of encounter and inspiration. Here, visitors could admire the impressive art exhibition “Art for the Climate” by Lucy D’Souza-Krone. Their works capture the urgency of climate change, the beauty of creation, and the interconnectedness of all creatures in a captivating way. One of our most popular activities at the booth was the poster painting activity. People of all ages were able to unleash their creativity and capture their thoughts and feelings about environmental protection on canvases and post them on our social media photo booth. The resulting works of art were not only an expression of individual perspectives, but also a symbol of community and shared commitment.

A highlight at our booth was undoubtedly the performance by the youth choir Sunrise from Bonn. Their rousing songs and profound thoughts and emotions about climate change not only thrilled visitors but also lent a special energy and joy to our booth.

The Kirchentag 2023 in Nuremberg was a celebration of faith and community. We are grateful to have been able to be part of this inspiring event and share our passion for environmental protection and social justice, as well as contribute significantly to interfaith discourse. The dialogue and encounters we experienced here will stay with us for a long time to come and encourage us to continue to actively participate in shaping a better world. We are already looking forward to the upcoming Church Days and the opportunities they will hold for us.

The post Now is the time for climate justice! appeared first on GreenFaith.

On January 13, 2023, I will join a small procession behind a yellow cross, from the village of Keyenberg to the neighboring village of Lützerath, about 3.5 kilometers away. The approximately 30 participants want to send a sign of solidarity and express their displeasure at the destruction of the neighboring village on the edge of the Garzweiler coalfield, which has become a symbol of the global climate movement. Together, they pray and sing for the preservation of creation and a peaceful and non-violent conflict resolution.

Inside and outside – united in prayer

The initiative “Leave the Church(s) in the Village” (KiDl) had invited people to this ecumenical service at the fence under the motto “Inside and outside – united in prayer.” On the third day of the Lützerath eviction, dozens of climate activists are still waiting in squats, tree houses, and an underground tunnel. The hamlet had since been occupied by police and completely fenced in. Access to the church was therefore no longer possible.

The meeting point for the service is at 3 p.m. in front of the church in Keyenberg. Services are no longer held “inside” the church because RWE Power AG has owned the Holy Cross Church since 2019. It is one of the ten oldest documented churches in Germany. On November 28, 2021, it was deconsecrated with the approval of the Bishop of Aachen. Prior to this, the bells from the church tower had been removed. It’s all the more surprising that at the beginning of the service, their old carillon sounds – over loudspeakers, from the still-occupied former rectory.

Despite the stormy weather, more than 25 devout climate activists gathered for the service. They decorated the locked church portal with a banner reading: “Jesus would leave the coal in the ground.”

Participants in the procession report that two days earlier, RWE and police forces were among the first to clear the “Yew Chapel,” a place of worship run by the KiDl initiative at the southeastern entrance to the town, on the former L227 country road. There once stood a wayside cross, perhaps also a wayside chapel, as local KiDl members had discovered. Anselm Meyer-Antz, the spokesperson for the initiative, explains that the property was a gift to the Catholic parish in Immerath from the predecessors of the now-displaced farmer Eckardt Heukamp. He had stubbornly resisted the expropriation for years. In the spring, however, Heukamp was forced, with a heavy heart, to sell his farm and farmland to RWE after the Münster Higher Administrative Court ruled in the final instance that the energy company was allowed to excavate his property for open-cast lignite mining. “According to the land register, the property of the Yew Chapel is still the property of the local Catholic parish,” said Meyer-Antz. A handful of believers had watched over the open-air chapel until the very end as a “place of liberating and ecological spirituality,” until they were forcibly removed by police forces.

Watch and Pray for Lützerath

The service is led by Manfred Esmajor, a retired Catholic priest from Aachen. He begins by reading the parable of the fig tree (New Testament, Gospel of Mark, chapter 13, verses 28 ff.), in which he sees parallels to the evacuation of Lützerath. Riding in a wheelchair, he leads the procession from the church onto the L12 country road, past abandoned houses. With a microphone and amplifier on his lap, he sings the Taizé hymn “Stay here and watch with me – watch and pray” – Jesus’ exhortation to his disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane – with the congregation.

Shortly before leaving the village, the procession is stopped by the police to allow a group of climate activists, including members of Greenpeace and Scientist Rebellion, to pass by. They had set out in the opposite direction from the newly established vigil in Holzweiler.

Keyenberg is one of the five villages saved, the preservation of which the federal government, the state government, and RWE agreed to in their 2030 NRW coal phase-out deal. Of the original 900 residents, about 60 still live in Keyenberg. After the break, Esmajor reads the names of the villages that have already been excavated by the Garzweiler coal mines. “Thy kingdom of justice come,” the community responds.

Lützerath marks 1.5-degree limit

On the country road, you can see the RWE excavator inexorably approaching Lützerath, and wind turbines in the distance. Rain and wind whip across the fields. This is precisely where, say climate activists, the 1.5-degree limit runs, which must be defended so that Germany can comply with the Paris Agreement – ​​with the goal of averting global climate catastrophe.

The “Leave the Church(s) in the Village” initiative emerged in 2018 from local resistance against the hostile and climate-damaging open-cast mining. At the time, images of the destruction of St. Lambertus Church, popularly known as the “Immerath Cathedral,” went around the world, and four other churches were threatened with demolition. However, the initiative not only advocates for the preservation of the villages, their churches and chapels, and the fertile farmland in the Rhenish coalfield, but also sees its work as inextricably linked to the fight for global climate justice.

Pastor Esmajor reports from Congo as an example. For the Congolese people and communities with whom he works locally, the consequences of climate change have long been felt. Extreme weather, droughts, and floods are becoming more frequent. In December, at least 120 people died in floods and landslides in the capital, Kinshasa, alone.

At the turning point of the procession, participants have the opportunity to express their concerns and feelings and offer intercessions. One woman recalls the many animals and plants that have lost their habitat in Lützerath, another points out the health risks of open-cast mining due to particulate matter pollution and radioactivity. Some express concern about the harmful effects of RWE’s coal-fired power generation on the global climate, while others express their hope for a moratorium on coal mining below Lützerath.

Talking to each other instead of clearing out

They draw hope from the announcement by Green Party state parliament member and fellow environmental activist Antje Grothus that the currently approved operating plan for the Garzweiler open-cast mine includes land whose owners are unwilling to sell to RWE. This threatens lengthy and legally uncertain expropriations in the planned mining area, even after Lützerath is cleared. “The open-cast mine could come to a standstill a few hundred meters beyond Lützerath until its completion,” she said in the press release published the day before. “The motto now must be: talk, not clear,” said Grothus.

Anselm Meyer-Antz reports that his employer, Misereor, has also taken a stand and called on all parties involved in the conflict to exercise calm. The Catholic aid agency for development cooperation is demanding an immediate moratorium on the eviction from the state government in order to resolve the conflicts of interest between compliance with the 1.5-degree climate target and concerns about security of supply. The interests of the Global South must also be taken into account.

“The main cause of the climate emergency is fossil fuels,” emphasizes Meryne Warah, global organizational director of GreenFaith, based in Nairobi, in the statement. “For the sake of life and to prevent massive, cruel suffering, Africa and the entire world need a binding agreement that stops new fossil fuel projects, phases out existing production, and provides generous support for the transition to a clean energy future and universal access to clean, affordable energy.”

The Yellow Cross: From Gorleben to Lützerath

On the way back to Keyenberg, I chat with Michel Friedrich, a teacher from Wedel near Hamburg, who was active in the anti-nuclear movement as a youth. For him, the nuclear and coal phase-outs go hand in hand.

Friedrich recounts that he and his wife Bina participated in the “Way of the Cross for Creation” from Gorleben to Lützerath in the summer of 2021. An alliance of climate and environmental initiatives, Christian groups, and church institutions called for the pilgrimage under the motto “Anti-nuclear meets anti-lignite.” A 1.80-meter-tall yellow wooden cross was carried in 26 stages, nearly 500 km to the edge of the Garzweiler open-cast mine, past the decommissioned Grohnde nuclear power plant, the Tönnies meat processing plants, the Datteln 4 coal-fired power plant, the RWE headquarters in Essen, and the state government in Düsseldorf. The action drew on the legendary 1988 “Way of the Cross for Creation” from Wackersdorf in Bavaria (site of a potential reprocessing plant) to Gorleben – as an expression of the inner connection between the protests and solidarity of environmental activists at various locations.

On August 1, 2021, the Way of the Cross reached its destination. The yellow cross donated by the Gorleben Prayer was erected at the Yew Chapel in Lützerath. “We are erecting this cross as a symbol of hope against the destruction of creation, which is hardly more tangible than at this gigantic hole,” said Cornelia Senne, theologian and member of the “Leave the Church(s) in the Village” initiative at the time.

Yew Chapel 2.0 – A Sign from God

The discovery of the chapel property overgrown with undergrowth – a 40-square-meter enclosure surrounded by yew trees with four steps – in the summer of 2021 was described by Ralf Meister, Protestant regional bishop of Hanover, as a “sign from God.”

Until a few days ago, regular services were held in the open-air chapel, decorated with the Gorleben Cross, candles, and flowers. The chapel has since been cleared, and the yew trees have been cut down. But its foundation still stands. What happened to the Gorleben cross?

“It was taken into custody by the police,” says Meyer-Antz. According to eyewitness reports, an officer “respectfully” carried the cross away. Efforts are now underway to locate and recover it.

“The chapel was a meeting place for people from near and far who feel connected to the Christian climate movement. It will live on not only in our spirit. There will certainly be an Eibenkapelle 2.0,” said Meyer-Antz.

After the chapel was cleared, Anna-Nicole Heinrich, President of the Synod of the Evangelical Church (EKD), expressed her solidarity with the climate activists in Lützerath in an Instagram post. “In recent months, the Eibenkapelle has been an ecumenical place for all people for silence, for reflection, for prayer. To admire and marvel at God’s creation and to consider how we can treat it responsibly,” wrote Heinrich.

She thanked all those who are “nonviolently committed to climate protection, climate justice, and the preservation of creation. In prayer, on the streets, and in politics. We need places like the Eibenkapelle, which give hope and strength for bold action against the climate catastrophe we are hurtling toward.” Keep the people in check

The procession ends at the church in Keyenberg with a communal prayer and song. The believers in a circle shake hands. Despite the sadness and shock over the aggressive behavior of the emergency services during the clearance, the participants intend to continue their non-violent protest against lignite mining and participate in the large demonstration on Saturday.

Pastor Esmajor invites me to read from the environmental psalm “The Earth Groans” by Monsignor Stephan Wahl as the final contribution to the service, a text I brought with me from Bonn. It is taken from the book “Don’t Expect Pious Sayings from Me.” The final verses of the Psalm read:

“Yet not all betray Your glorious creation.

Strengthen the courageous and the resistant in their loud protest.

Your blessing be with all who, quietly but consistently,

live sustainably, preserving the world where they are.

For children and grandchildren shall also be granted

to marvel at the richness of Your diverse creation.

Blessed are You, Eternal One, Creator of days and nights,

preserve the world and keep mankind in check.”

The post Climate protection in the name of creation: Leave the churches in the village and the lignite under Lützerath in the ground appeared first on GreenFaith.

On January 13, I join a small procession behind a yellow cross from the village of Keyenberg towards the neighboring village of Lützerath, located about 3.5 kilometers away. The about 30 procession participants want to express their solidarity and displeasure about the on-going demolition of the neighboring village on the edge of the Garzweiler coalfield, which has become a symbol of the global climate movement. Together they want to pray and sing for the integrity of creation and for a peaceful and non-violent conflict resolution.

Inside and outside – united in prayer

The ecumenical Christian grass-roots initiative “Leave the church(es) in the village” (KiDl) had invited to this service at the fence under the motto “Inside and outside – united in prayer”. It was the third day of the forceful eviction of Lützerath, with dozens of climate activists still holding out in occupied houses, tree houses and an underground tunnel. By now, the hamlet had been taken over by the police and completely fenced off. Access to the inside was therefore no longer possible.

The meeting point for the service is at 3 pm in front of the church in Keyenberg. Church services are no longer celebrated inside the church, because RWE Power AG has been since 2019 the owner of the Holy Cross Church, which is one of the ten oldest churches in Germany mentioned in a document. On November 28, 2021, the church was deconsecrated with the approval of the Bishop of Aachen. Prior to that, the bells were removed from the church tower. All the more surprising to hear at the beginning of the open-air service the sounds of its old carillon – over loudspeakers, from the still inhabited former rectory.

Despite the stormy weather, more than 25 believers and climate activists gathered for the worship service. A couple adorned the shuttered church door with a banner reading “Jesus would leave the coal in the ground.”

Local participants reported that the “Eibenkapelle”, an outdoor chapel surrounded by yew trees and a place of worship of the KiDl community, was among the first to be evicted by RWE and police forces. Located on a former beautiful tree-lined country road, it was once the site of a wayside cross, perhaps also a wayside chapel, as local KiDl members had researched. Anselm Meyer-Antz, the spokesperson of the initiative, explains that the property was donated to the Catholic parish of Immerath from the predecessors of Lützerath’s last farmer, Eckardt Heukamp, who had been driven out in the meantime. Over a long period of time, Heukamp had stubbornly resisted his expropriation for the sake of dirty open-cast coal mining. Last spring, however, he saw himself with a heavy heart forced to sell his 18th-century farm and farmland to RWE, after a Higher Administrative Court had ruled that the energy giant was allowed to excavate his property. – “But, according to the land register the chapel site is still the property of the local Catholic parish community,” Meyer-Antz explains. A handful of Christian protesters tried to watch over and protect the open- air chapel as a “place of liberating and ecological spirituality” until they were forcibly removed by police forces.

Watch and pray for Lützerath

The service is led by Manfred Esmajor, a retired Catholic priest from the region. At the beginning he reads the parable of the fig tree (New Testament, Gospel of Mark chapter 13, 28 et seqq), in which he sees parallels to the evacuation of Lützerath. Riding in a wheelchair, he leads the procession, from the church out onto the country road L12, past empty houses. With a microphone and amplifier on his lap, he sings with the congregation the Taizé song “Stay here and watch with me – watch and pray”; – Jesus’ invitation to his disciples in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Shortly before leaving the village, the procession is stopped by the police to let a group of climate activists, including from Greenpeace and Scientist Rebellion, pass by. They had set off from the opposite direction in the newly established vigil in the nearby village of Holzweiler by the coalition “Alle Dörfer bleiben” (All villages must remain)”.

Keyenberg is one of the five “saved” villages that the federal government, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and RWE agreed to preserve in their 2030 NRW coal phase-out deal. Only about 60 of the once 900 inhabitants still live in Keyenberg. Following the intermission, pastor Esmajor reads out the names of the villages that have already been bulldozed and dredged by RWE’s Garzweiler coal mining. “Your kingdom of justice come” the congregation responds.

Lützerath marks the 1.5 degree red line

On the country road, one can see the huge RWE excavator in the distance, inexorably approaching Lützerath, as well as wind turbines. Rain and gusty winds whip across the fields. Right here, the climate activists say, is the 1.5 degree line that must be defended to comply with the national climate protection law and the goals of the international Paris Agreement – to avoid the worst effects of global warming.

The initiative “Leave the church(es) in the village” was born in 2018 out of local resistance against the people-hurting and climate-damaging open-cast mining. At the time, pictures of the destruction of the St. Lambertus Church, locally known as “Immerather Dom” went around the world, and four other churches were threatened with demolition. The initiative is not only committed to preserving the cultural heritage of century- old villages, their churches and chapels, and extremely fertile farmland in the Rhineland, but also sees its efforts as inseparably linked to the fight for global climate justice.

Pastor Esmajor reports from Congo as an example. For the Congolese people and communities with whom he works with, the consequences of climate change have long been felt. Weather extremes, droughts and floods are becoming more frequent. In December, at least 120 people were killed by floods and landslides in the capital Kinshasa alone.

At the turning point of the procession, the participants have the opportunity to express their concerns and feelings and to say intercessions. One woman recalls the many animals and plants that have lost their habitat in Lützerath, another points out the health hazards of opencast mining due to fine dust pollution and radioactivity. Some express their concerns about the consequences of RWE’s fossil fueled expansion on the world’s climate, others their hope for a moratorium on coal mining under Lützerath.

Talking to each other instead of evicting

They draw hope from the announcement by Antje Grothus, a Green member of the state parliament and environmental activist friend, that the currently approved operating plan for the Garzweiler open pit mine includes areas whose owners did not want to sell to RWE. Thus, there was a threat of protracted and legally uncertain expropriations in the planned mining area and near future even after Lützerath’s eviction. “Open pit mining could thus come to a standstill a few hundred meters behind Lützerath”, she said in the press release published the day before. “We now have to talk instead of clearing”, Grothus said.

Anselm Meyer-Antz reports that his employer Misereor has also taken a stand and is calling on all parties involved in the conflict to remain calm. The Catholic aid agency for international development cooperation is calling on the state government for an immediate moratorium on the Lützerath eviction in order to resolve the conflicts of interest between all stakeholders, compliance with the 1.5 degree climate target and concerns about the national energy security. The interests of the Global South must also be taken into account.

“The root cause of the climate emergency is fossil fuels”, stressed Meryne Warah, global organizing director of Nairobi-based GreenFaith, in the statement. “For the sake of life and to prevent massive suffering, in Africa and the entire world, we need a binding global agreement to stop all new fossil fuel expansion projects, phase out of existing production, and provide generous support for communities to transition to a clean energy future and universal access to clean, affordable energy.”

The Yellow Cross: From Gorleben to Lützerath

On the way back to Keyenberg, I talked with Michel Friedrich, a teacher from Wedel near Hamburg, who was engaged in the anti-nuclear movement in his youth. For him, the nuclear and coal phase-out belong together.

Friedrich and his wife Bina also joined the “Way of the Cross for Creation” from Gorleben to Lützerath in the summer of 2021. A broad alliance of climate and environmental initiatives, Christian groups and church institutions had called for this pilgrimage walk under the motto “anti-nuclear meets anti-coal”. A 1.80-meter yellow wooden cross was carried in 26 stages nearly 500 kilometers to the edge of the Garzweiler open pit mine, past the now decommissioned Grohnde nuclear power plant, the Tönnies meat factories, the Datteln 4 coal-fired power plant, the RWE headquarters in Essen and the state government in Düsseldorf. The Christian climate activation was a reference to the legendary 1988 “Way of the Cross for Creation” walk from the then anti-nuclear hotspots Wackersdorf to Gorleben – as an expression of the inter-coherence of the struggles and the solidarity of environmental activists in various locations.

On August 1, 2021, the yellow Cross, donated by the Gorleben prayer initiative,reached its destination. It was was placed in Lützerath at the Eibenkapelle. “We put up this cross as a symbol of hope against the destruction of the creation, which is hardly more tangible anywhere than at this gigantic hole”, said Cornelia Senne, theologian and member of the initiative “Leave the church(es) in the village” at the time.

Eibenkapelle 2.0 – A Sign Of God?

Ralf Meister, the Protestant church bishop from Hanover, described the discovery of the chapel property in the summer of 2021 – a 40 square meter enclosure with four steps, circled by yew trees – as a “hint from God”.

In the open-air chapel, decorated with the Gorleben cross, candles and flowers, regular services were held until a few days ago. In the meantime, the chapel has been cleared and all yew trees cut down. But its foundation still stands. And what happened to the cross from Gorleben?

“It was taken into custody by the police”, Meyer-Antz says. According to eyewitnesses, a police officer “respectfully” carried the cross away. Efforts are now under way to locate and recover it.

“The chapel was a meeting place for people from near and far who feel connected to the Christian climate movement. It will not only live on in our spirit. There will certainly be an Eibenkapelle 2.0″ says Meyer-Antz.

Following the eviction of the chapel, Anna-Nicole Heinrich, President of the Synod of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), expressed her solidarity with the climate activists and chapel guardians in Lützerath in an Instagram post. “In recent months, the Eibenkapelle was an ecumenical place for all people for silence, to pause, to pray. To admire and marvel at God’s creation, to think about how to become better stewards of our common home”, Heinrich wrote.

She thanked all those engaged in the nonviolent fight for climate protection, for climate justice, for the integrity of creation. In prayer, on the street and in politics. “We need places like the Eibenkapelle that give us hope and strength to take courageous action against the climate catastrophe we are racing towards.”

Keep the human in check

The procession ends at the church in Keyenberg with a common prayer and singing. The participants, standing in a circle, hold each other’s hands. Despite their sadness and irritation about the aggressive behavior of the police force during the eviction, they want to continue their non-violent protest against lignite coal mining and take part in the large-scale demonstration on Saturday.

Pastor Esmajor invites me to read as a last service contribution from the environmental psalm “The Earth Groans”, written by Monsignor Stephan Wahl. I brought the text with me from Bonn as an inspiration for the occasion. It is taken from the book “Expect no pious sayings from me”. The last verses of the psalm read:

“But not all of them are committing treason against your glorious creation. Strengthen the brave and the resistant in their loud protest.

May your blessing be with all, who without fuss, yet consistently, live sustainably, preserve the world where they are.

Because our children and their offspring should also be granted, to marvel at the richness of your diverse creation.

Blessed are you, Eternal One, Creator of days and nights, preserve the world and keep mankind in check.”

The post Climate protection in the name of creation appeared first on GreenFaith.