Shared worship service
in several parishes
“Disasters are
Harvesting our own seeds"
Berlin, June 30.09.2023, 9, 30:XNUMX a.m – This Sunday, October 1.10.2023st, XNUMX, the Christian churches in Germany will celebrate Thanksgiving. In collaboration with several parishes, this year's Thanksgiving festival is taking place in the spirit of the climate catastrophe together with supporters of the last generation. Special services will be held at various locations to express gratitude for the harvest while drawing attention to the increasing threat to food security from the ever-escalating climate catastrophe.
The services take place at the following locations:
- Nuremberg: Evangelical Lutheran Church of Nicodemus
- Berlin: Evangelical St. Mary's Church on Alexanderplatz
- East Frisia: Peace Church in Wiesmoor near Aurich with Pastor Quinton Ceasar
- Stuttgart: Pauluskirche (here on October 8th)
In addition, the 'Last Generation and Churches' working group has developed worship modules such as prayers, confessions and allusions, which are used in many other communities throughout Germany.
This summer's heat waves and devastating storms have impressively demonstrated how vulnerable and endangered our livelihoods are. Over 250 million people worldwide are already affected by acute hunger. [1] Instead of initiating the transition away from the use of fossil fuels, our federal government is delaying the urgently needed phase-out of oil, gas and coal, thus fueling the catastrophe.
Dr. Ruben Zimmermann, Professor of Biblical Studies and Ethics at the University of Mainz, explains: “We will no longer be able to celebrate Thanksgiving in 2023 as before. Not only crops, but also entire livelihoods of farmers were destroyed in the floods. 'What a man sows, that shall he reap', we read in a saying of wisdom from the Bible. The catastrophes are also the 'harvest' of our own seeds.”
He continues: “But we are also encouraged in the Bible that there is hope: 'As long as the earth stands, sowing and harvesting shall not cease', it says about the covenant of the rainbow after the flood. Prophets have stood up again and again, believed this promise and, with their symbolic protest actions, brought about rethinking and repentance. I see the actions of the last generation in this tradition: They disrupt business as usual, but live out of the hope that change is still possible. I hope that many people will be infected by this belief.”
The churches mentioned above and the Last Generation invite everyone who is interested to join the services, to deal with the causes and consequences of the climate catastrophe as well as possible options for action and to exchange ideas about them.
[1] unric.org/de/040523-global-report-on-the-food-crisis-2023/
Climate Change – EKD