On April 6, 2024, over 300 people—229 in person and 102 online—gathered at First Lutheran Church in Duluth for this year’s EcoFaith Summit, on the theme of “Cross Currents in the Flood: Building Arcs Together for a Livable Planet.” Participants engaged in conversation and presentations that helped them confront the realities of the climate crisis, listen for God’s call through the cries of the world, and return home ready to respond to their community’s climate concerns.
Keynote speaker Larry Rasmussen and several “next-generation” respondents spoke powerfully to the critical moment our planet faces and to our role in responding to the exigencies of creation.
Luther Seminary partnered with the EcoFaith Network as an event sponsor. And a contingent of faculty, staff, and students traveled to Duluth to participate and help lead the summit. Here are some reflections from our Luther Seminary representatives.
Swe Maung
It was a great opportunity for me to participate in the EcoFaith Summit 2024 for the very first time but hopefully not the last time. I am grateful to the organizers from Luther Seminary for this opportunity. I learned a lot from the Summit, most particularly from keynote speaker Larry Rasmussen, a Bonhoeffer scholar and environmental ethicist, whom I had longed to meet in person since I had read some of his books. It was also moving and hopeful to see and listen to the two young respondents who challenged us and called us to “vote together for the sake of our future generation”—from whom we borrow this earth. I loved taking part in a very meaningful creational worship together with some of my friends, led by Rachel [Wyffels], and it reminded me of our rootedness and connectedness and God’s abiding love for all creation. The opportunity to see Lake Superior, the world’s largest freshwater lake, and to meet and have connections with creation care partners were priceless. I came back from the program with a personal motivation/assignment: What can I do to create a similar kind of EcoFaith Network back in our country, Myanmar, after my graduation from Luther Seminary. Indeed, it was a precious experience.
Esther Sianipar
It was my first time attending the EcoFaith Summit this year, and I was awed to be present among our Luther community as well as Christian leaders from a variety of institutions and generations, including a twelve-year-old girl who is passionate and yet in fear about her world. When this young speaker called us to save her planet, I cried! She cried as she shared her anxiety about her world—the only one that she and her generation know. The day after the summit, I preached from the sermon that Rev. Emily Meyers had prepared for all of us to use. During my children’s sermon, I invited the children to love God’s creation and to build arcs in their homes using some resources that I learned about from the zero-waste kids session at the summit. The summit was a call to action for me. God meets us where we are to build an arc with our community to preserve our planet. It was a well-thought-out summit with beautiful and meaningful worship.
Ashley Wheeler
I felt fortunate to travel in a car full of Luther Seminary students. Our conversations were full on the drive up to Duluth and back, and there was even some studying going on at a few points in the ride! We were invited to bring water from the places and spaces we were traveling from. It was a beautiful day and I am always in awe of the first look at Lake Superior when you come up over the hill. This great lake is truly a wonder of God’s creation and I thought about the majesty and might of the water as we all gathered in worship. We took our water from all over and poured it into the baptismal font, it was a holy and sacred moment. A reminder of our baptism, a call to honor creation, and a stirring of the waters deep within our hearts and souls. I hope to take the events of the day, the wisdom, the passion, and the care to make a world better than how we found it into my everyday life. It is a baptismal calling that was renewed as the waters from the land of the Dakota swirled with the waters of all of creation.
Rachel Wyffels
I am grateful to have been among friends and colleagues as we listened, reflected, worshiped, and built community around this central issue of our time. Each person shared hopes, fears, realities, and perspectives from around the world that brought urgency and hope to our time together.