Faith, Learning, and Service in Action
By Sydney Houck. “A Rocha’s approach, integrating scientific work with a Christian worldview, showed me how deeply intertwined environmental stewardship is with a sense of moral and spiritual responsibility.”
The Language of Lilies: A Review of “Birds in the Sky, Fish in the Sea”
By Hannah Hubin. Reading “Birds in the Sky, Fish in the Sea” feels a bit like learning another language, which means I must admit that the life within my own backyard often feels “foreign” to me – another vocabulary, another planet… Dickerson and Clark gently acquaint us with our own world and remind us that we are all called to know and care for a beautiful and groaning creation.
Churches of Restoration in Milwaukee: Currents of Kenosis
By Noah Guthrie. Our labors for creation, muddying ourselves so that the creatures of mud can be dignified, are profoundly Christ-like. What is the incarnation but Jesus plunging in the muck to drag TVs and shopping carts from the creek, striving to heal the creation He loves?
Twistflower Cross
By Noah Guthrie. The sprouting of these seeds echoes another resurrection, and their tattered flowers recall another body raised on a stem to be pierced, tortured, and buried. “Truly, truly, I say to you,” Jesus said, “unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (John 12:24).
Glory of the Small
By Heidy Sumei Chuang. To paint the butterfly, to reveal its minute beauty in extravagant brushstrokes and living color, is to live in wonder and hope.
God’s Worshipful Design: An Invitation to Churches and Artists
By Heidy Chuang. If the Church, in a world full of industry and agenda, can create spacious places for artists to flourish, they will become the storytellers, teachers, and hope-bringers God has designed them to be.
Churches of Restoration in Austin: Hearing Creation’s Call
By Noah Guthrie. What can it look like, in practice, to treat creation as “sacred”? Part of what it may look like is entering a conversation with our landscapes and their species. It may look like asking, “What does the Living God – the Source, Redeemer, and Sustainer of this place – invite us to hear? And once we have listened, how might God invite us to respond?”
Orchestra of the Sea: Preserving God’s Creatures in Kenya
By Dr. Robert Sluka. A dugong hadn’t been spotted in Kenya in a long time – but what was the big deal? I argued that these animals were one voice in the orchestra of creation praising God, and that protecting them and helping them thrive again was an important part of our Christian faith.
Creature Feature: The Eastern Oyster (Crassostrea virginica)
By Sydney Houck. A Rocha USA interns and A Rocha USA’s Lead Scientist, Dr. Robert Sluka, have volunteered with the Brevard Zoo to establish oyster reefs, collect data, and build gabions – wire cages filled with oyster shells, which Restore Our Shores uses to encourage the colonization of oysters.
Birding with Hope: A Review of Courtney Ellis’s “Looking Up – A Birder’s Guide to Hope through Grief”
By Simon Stuart. As the birds accompany her on her journey from grief to hope, Ellis weaves in reflections on almost all of life. She gives us thoughtful insights to being a wife, mom, pastor, daughter, granddaughter, sister, friend – always in a way that rings true. She muses on the character of God, the state of the church and society, and much more, with great wisdom.