A Senate in the Gun Lobby's Grip

For many with a heart to work for less violent communities, the April 17th Senate vote blocking the forward movement of legislation for expanding background checks for gun sales represents the disconnect between the voice of 90% of our population who support expanding background checks and our elected leaders in Congress. Former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords from Arizona a survivor of a gun shot wound to the head stated, "those senators made their decision based on political fear and cold calculations about the money of special interests". Please read more from the article posted by the General Board of Church and Society of the United Methodist Church by clicking the link provided. We must not give up in our efforts to reduce gun violence. Remember we are the hands and feet of Christ in this world. "I give you a new commandment, that you should love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples,.." John 13:34-35.

http://umc-gbcs.org/quotes/on-a-senate-in-the-gun-lobbys-grip

A Place at the Table

A Place at the Table

This movie will be presented at the Yavapai College Performing Arts Center on April 24 at 7:30 pm.  It addresses hunger in America.

Earth Day Weekend Celebration

EARTH DAY WEEKEND CELEBRATION

April 20^th and 21^st

Caring For Each Other and God's Earth

Have you prayerfully considered what role you play in the care of God's world? The first step is to appreciate what a wondrous place of magnificent complexity and delicate beauty God has given us, then to celebrate it every day and especially on Earth Day. Come join us in giving thanks on Earth Day weekend and sharing in an inspirational message from our own Patti Blackwood.

The Council of Bishops in their 2009 document, God's Renewed Creation, admonishes us to live not as though being created in God's image gives us special privilege, but instead as though our status as human beings increases our responsibility. When we sing, "I love thy kingdom, Lord," we remember that the word love is a verb that not only connotes feeling but action.

"Climate change, once considered an issue for a distant future, has moved firmly into the present," according to the National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration's Data Center. Their recent National Climate Assessment draft written by 240 scientists and business leaders called the use of fossil fuels by humans the main driver of climate change. Every time we add just a little bit more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, it makes things a little bit warmer and shifts the odds toward more extreme weather events such as Hurricane Katrina and Superstorm Sandy. While some areas are affected by too much water, others such as our own Southwest have too little and experience devastating wildfires. We need to be aware that our brothers and sisters around the world suffer as a result of our using more resources than any other country and creating so much trash, waste, and pollution.

We ask God's forgiveness and help in beginning new more mindful ways. How do we already reduce our use of fossil fuels and what more can we do? Drive less? Buy less? Eat more locally? Waste less? Do we advocate for limits on the amount of carbon industries can emit, for expansion of the use of renewable energy(e.g., our church's new solar panels), for the reduction of tropical deforestation, and for solutions to rampant population growth? In short, we ask ourselves how our lifestyles increase our carbon footprints, and as the bishops in their report said, "We love God and neighbor by changing our behavior."