Here’s a video of our Earth Day Celebration! Skyline honored this special Earth Day with music, stories, and tree planting on the beautiful campus of Skyline church in Oakland, using Zoom. Skyline is a green congregation.
We were honored to have Mary Ellen Hill, Storyteller and teacher, Pastor Laurie, Catherine Kessler, and more.
Children’s Time Zoom!Children’s Time Zoom Meeting Sunday, April 19 at 11:30 a.m. (PST)
https://zoom.us/j/241524878
View The Human Element free between April 17-26; Discussion Sunday April 26 after service.An arresting new documentary from the producers of Racing Extinction and Chasing Ice, environmental photographer James Balog captures the lives of everyday Americans on the front lines of climate change. With rare compassion and heart, The Human Element relays captivating stories from coast-to-coast, inspiring us to reevaluate our relationship with the natural world.
Thanks to a partnership with Earth Vision Film, Interfaith Power & Light is able to offer you this inspiring film. It’s a must see for people of faith concerned about the impact of climate change on human life in the United States.
SIGN UP HERE to view the film April 17-26
Wednesday, April 22, 12:00 – 1:30pm
Skyline honors this special Earth Day with music, stories, and tree planting on the beautiful campus of Skyline church in Oakland, using Zoom to bring you there. Skyline is a very green congregation.
Featuring: Mary Ellen Hill, Storyteller and teacher, Pastor Laurie, Catherine Kessler, and more TBD.
Access the Earth Day festivities on your computer or smart phone via Zoom here, or click this link:
Meeting ID: 921 0997 9060
Password: 018951
One tap mobile +16699009128,,92109979060#,,#,
It’s Monday, Earth Day, and it’s a glorious spring afternoon. I am sitting in the Garden of Eden which exists in my back yard; as the warm sun kisses my shoulders through the shade of graceful redwood and bay trees, and my senses are filled with the fragrance of roses and trees.
It was Wendell Berry who wrote:
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
All of us who know that all is not as it should be in the world, and it is easy for despair to grow-yet today, Earth Day, we remember our interconnection with Earth and with one another, while pledging to make a difference in how we live, work, and worship.
I give thanks that I am part of a faith community and a denomination that embraces God’s calling to us as active participants in caring for this Garden of Eden.
Join us this Sunday as we are blessed by the music of the Pacific Boychoir Academy, and learn more about how we are advocating for the Green New Deal!
What an amazing Earth Day celebration we had last weekend! (Although, I really believe that we should be honoring and celebrating the earth every day, especially now).
Special thank you’s on this Earth Day weekend to:
On Friday Night we held a benefit concert featuring two extraordinarily talented musicians, Ken Medema and Benjamin Mertz (see photos and videos below). We partnered with our local climate justice coalitions and supported the efforts of No Coal in Oakland, in their advocacy to keep coal out of the Port of Oakland. Thank you for your generosity. We will donate a part of the proceeds to West Oakland Environmental Indicators, a project begun by Margaret Gordon, a Commissioner of the Port of Oakland.
On Saturday we had a workday, to clear away some of the rapidly growing plant life on our campus.
Then on Sunday, we held an Earth Day service, featuring Oakland’s Major Libby Schaaf. 
After the service we engaged in a conversation with her about our partnership as people of faith, to create local policy changes needed to reduce global warming, and to end environmental racism.
This Friday, April 27th, join us for a potluck movie night, Al Gore’s powerful film, “An Inconvenient Sequel, Truth to Power”, from 7- 9 pm. Here’s a review in The Guardian.
This weekend I will be away in Lake Tahoe, honoring the beauty of the earth and my birthday. Rev Ruth Sandberg will be leading worship.
Peace to you all, with love, Pastor Laurie
We recognize humanity’s impact on Earth and the urgent necessity to be stewards of God’s creation for the future of all beings.We will promote awareness of our local and global environment, and work to reduce our environmental footprint in all Skyline activities:
worship
education
buildings and grounds
energy and water use
community service
our individual lives
