Wild Lectionary is for those who want to preach on climate justice themes. In scripture, landforms, skies, waterways, and creatures are transformed. In the world around us they are transformed as well by the advancing global climate crisis. Repeatedly we are called to attend to the wisdom of the more-than-human world. Each week a different contributor offers commentary on the lectionary readings, suggestions for preaching, and links to additional material. We hope you will use and share these resources.
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We are hoping to keep this resource going year-round. If you are interested in collaborating, e-mail Laurel.
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For preachers who want to engage with scripture and with climate crisis here are some tools for approaching biblical texts.
Know and be rooted in your watershed. It has long been understood as good homiletic and exegetical practice to name your social location -the webs of relationship, power and identity which influence your approach to and understanding of scripture. It is perhaps equally important to be aware of your ecosystem location, how your experience of and connection to drought, harvest, storm, herding, and fishing are at play as you encounter these themes in scripture. What are the creature kin, the predators, the waterways, landforms and plants of your place and your heritage that help you to understand (or cause you to misunderstand) the Galilean fishing economy, the Cedars of Lebanon, the lion of Judah, the true vine, the Good Shepherd and the lamb of God?
Focus on Climate Justice. Credited to various activists from the global south, climate justice is a term that asserts that the impacts of global climate change and the work of responding to it are not borne equally. Racialized, impoverished, Indigenous, coastal and island peoples experience the greatest impacts while bearing the least responsibility and are at the forefront of movements for land defense, mutual aid, and corporate and governmental accountability (Gabbatis and Tandon, 2022). Bringing a climate justice approach to scripture means focusing not simply on “creation” or “the environment” but addressing the interrelationships between human and ecological exploitation, extraction, displacement, and inequity.
Apply Eco-Justice Principles. Norman Habel and the Earth Bible Project have identified six principles in scripture.
The Principle of Intrinsic Worth: The universe, Earth, and all its components have intrinsic worth/value
The Principle of Interconnectedness: Earth is a community of inter-connected living things that are mutually dependent on each other for life and survival.
The Principle of Voice: Earth is a living entity capable of raising its voice in celebration and against injustice.
The Principle of Purpose: The universe, Earth and all its components are a part of a dynamic cosmic design within which each piece has a place in the overall of that design.
The Principle of Mutual Custodianship: Earth is a balanced and diverse domain where responsible custodians can function as partners with, rather than rulers over, Earth to sustain its balance and a diverse Earth community.
The Principle of Resistance: Earth and its components not only suffer from human injustices but actively resist them in the struggle for justice.
Use an Eco-Feminist Lens. The Rev. Dr. Leah D. Schade “the eco-preacher” has developed four additional principles.
Focus on Earth-orientation rather than focusing strictly on humans, and particularly male humans. Read Scripture through a “green lens” to ascertain how texts may be oppressive or liberating to women, children, those most vulnerable, and the Earth community.
Proclaim the good news for both the human and other-than-human community of Earth. Analyze the impact and power that certain texts will have when preached in a community of faith within its ecological context.
Practice a hermeneutic of remembrance. Recover biblical traditions so that we can view the biblical story from an ecofeminist perspective, moving away from the inherent human-centeredness and male-centeredness of texts that assume subordination of Earth and women.
Engage creative actualization. Tell stories from Earth’s and women’s perspectives. Reformulate narratives lifting up the discipleship of equals among human communities and with our Earth kin.
Consider the Ecological Triangle of God, Non-Human Creation, and Humanity. Hilary Marlow proposes this alternative method of ecological engagement which allows the texts to speak for themselves. She asks:
What understanding does the text present of non-human creation (local or cosmic)?
What are the assumptions of the author about God’s relationship to the created world?
What effects do human actions have upon non-human creation and vice versa?
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It costs approximately $275 CAD for the work of research, writing, editing, coordinating and hosting one week of resources on Wild Lectionary. If you have appreciated this faithful climate justice resource please consider sponsoring a page or asking your congregation to do so. It is a gift that benefits so many.
Justice for Creation: Twenty Fifth Sunday After Pentecost Year A
The first three of our passages this week are all concerned with the coming of the Creator God to right the wrongs of injustice, violence, and greed on the earth. While the Zephaniah passage and the Psalm describe this coming in terms of destruction for all of earth’s creatures, the Thessalonian passage, along with the gospel, highlights the way in which imperial realities are already engaged in the destruction of creation. The coming of the Creator God, therefore, will bring an end to the destruction that those with power have been wreaking on the earth.
The parable of the talents, on the other hand, describes how one enslaved man refuses to participate in the predatory land-destroying economics that have enriched his wealthy master. It is a sobering reality-check on the cost of non-compliance.
As a result, these passages work well in the context of an extended Advent, as well as in the lead up to the Reign of Christ.
Two Kinds of Apocalypse at the Same Time: 24th Sunday After Pentecost, Year A
This Sunday is the first Sunday of 7-week Advent, a practice a lot of liturgically oriented Christians have been taking up or experimenting with in these last couple of decades.
I have now been practicing a 7-week Advent in my private prayer practice for so many years that I cannot remember exactly when I took it up. I do remember the feeling of discovering it and being drawn to it and what it offers: A chance to take part in the lonely yet spacious anticipatory practices of Advent before December, when the world seems to fill up with the noise and muchness of secular Christmas. The gift and challenge in those first years of strategizing about the creation of a 7-candle wreath and beeswax candles that would fit it. The pleasurably non-commercialized practice each November of going out to gather evergreen branches from actual bushes and trees in the various places I have lived because the stores aren't carrying them yet. And the embodied spiritual experience of an Advent more seasonally attuned, in both the meteorological and liturgical senses, to the apocalyptic threads that are always revealing themselves at this time of year and seeming always to draw my interest and attention.
March of Biodiversity: All Saints 2026, Year A
All Saints is a beloved feast day of the Church remembering those heros in faith who have gone before. It is held each year on November 1 or a Sunday nearby. November 2nd marks All Souls day which remembers those of our family and loved ones who have died. Some churches hold these both together, I prefer to mark All Souls in its own way with a simple common memorial and meal. It has always been well received. These days land in the ‘thin times’ of our year in the Northern Hemisphere when the vibrant life of summer meets the stillness of winter death. There is much spiritual moment that lives here like the ecological edges between biomes.
Who Is My Neighbor? -Twenty Second Sunday After Pentecost, Year A
In today’s Gospel when asked about the greatest of all the commandments, Jesus’ reply is simple, “love God, love your neighbor.” In Luke, this same exchange is followed by the question, “who is my neighbor?” which Jesus answers with the parable of the Good Samaritan. The story of upstanding citizens who fail to respond to suffering after an assault has obvious parallels for first world Christians confronted by climate crisis, species extinctions, and environmental racism.
The Salal + Cedar watershed discipleship community practices a spiritual discipline that is relevant here. We commit to what we call “knowing our place,” or in terms of todays Gospel we ask, “who is my neighbor in the lower Fraser watershed?”
Judgment and Joy: Twenty First Sunday After Pentecost, Year A
I love to return again to the Scriptures, to those visions seen by the prophets and apostles and singers of Israel about the “peaceful reign of God.” There is a strange concatenation of judgment and celebration in some of the Psalms, especially Psalms 96 to 99 and 104. Psalm 99 beings, “The Lord is king; let the people tremble!” In many Christian circles it is today politically incorrect to speak about God as king, as reigning, as judging, and instead God is portrayed as a morally nondiscrimination, indulgent Santa. Such and attitude represents the deliberate denial of a theme that runs through the Bible from beginning to end.
We are grateful to the sponsors who make Wild Lectionary possible:
This program is made possible through a Vital Worship Grant from the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, Grand Rapids, Michigan, with funds provided by Lilly Endowment Inc.