Stewardship...
Centenary Annual Earth Day Dinner / Wednesday, April 27 (6:00 pm)
We’ll again have a very special and healthy meal. Our guest speaker will be Dean Naujoks, the Yadkin Riverkeeper. The Riverkeeper’s mission is to respect, protect and improve the Yadkin-Peedee River basin through education, advocacy and action. Inasmuch as those of us in Forsyth County obtain almost all our water from that source, as well as municipalities downstream all the way to Georgetown, South Carolina, it behooves us all to have a vital concern for its protection from threats of contamination from toxic sources and overuse, Dean will discuss his work for the past several years in his role, and update us on the annual “Tour de Yadkin,” canoe/kayak river trips, the challenges to maintaining an adequate supply of clean/treatable water for our use and will give us an update on the ongoing battle between the State and Alcoa for the control of Alcoa’s dams on the river. You will need to make reservations as in the past. This event will be located in the Dining Room. Watch for more publicity about this event later.
Earth Sunday / Sunday, May 1
God’s Creation will be a focus of the sermon and music at Centenary’s 11:00 am Sunday morning worship service, as well as special children’s activities and gifts. This service will be shared as a part of Children’s Sunday as we have done previously. There will be more publicity about this later.
Great American Cleanup / Saturday, May 7 (9:00 - 11:30 am)
In conjunction with the City’s Keep Winston-Salem Beautiful Initiative, church members are invited to join members of the Environmental Council and other groups to help clean up the portion of Silas Creek at Shaffner Park. This is a twice annual event for the council. All equipment, pizza, soft drinks and bottled water will be furnished by the City. Come help us. Our Council will soon begin water sampling for the City in Silas Creek (which feeds the Yadkin.)
Centenary Gardeners
All church members are welcome to become a Centenary Gardener. Volunteers work year round as needed to maintain the church’s five flower beds. Contact Kitty Felts at 765-7993 for more information.
“All creation is the Lord’s, and we are responsible for the ways we use and abuse it. Water, air, soil, minerals, energy resources, plants, animal life, and space are to be valued and conserved because they are God’s creation and not solely because they are useful to human beings. God has granted us stewardship of creation. We should meet these stewardship duties through acts of loving care and respect. Economic, political, social, and technological developments have increased our human numbers, and lengthened and enriched our lives. However, these developments have led to regional defoliation, dramatic extinction of species, massive human suffering, overpopulation, and misuse and overconsumption of natural and nonrenewable resources, particularly by industrialized societies. This continued course of action jeopardizes the natural heritage that God has entrusted to all generations. Therefore, let us recognize the responsibility of the church and its members to place a high priority on changes in economic, political, social, and technological lifestyles to support a more ecologically equitable and sustainable world leading to a higher quality of life for all of God’s creation.”
