In recent months, the Office of Church Relations at Warren Wilson has experienced a wave of churches seeking out ideas and advice about how they can build and operate more sustainably. With the global environmental crisis finally receiving serious attention in our nation and across the world, churches are beginning to understand their obligation to significantly improve In response, the college’s Office of Church Relations has begun a dialogue with the Church through the "Eco-Sermon Challenge." Through a series of advertisements in the Outlook last fall, clergy were invited to submit sermons exploring "...a Christian understanding of our place in creation."
The college received sermons from north, south, east and west, from churches of varying sizes and perspectives. They were ranked on the basis of five categories: Biblical grounding, authenticity and conviction, contextual awareness and relevance, effectiveness (in convicting and encouraging repentance), and sustainability (solutions that are realistic and faithful. Readers/judges for the contest included: two Presbyterian ministers, two laypeople, a student and a staff person from the ELC.
The winning sermon, entitled "Creatures, Creation and the Creator," was written by Rev. Dr. John Wilkinson of Third Presbyterian Church in Rochester, NY. In second place was a sermon entitled, "Remembering God," by Rev. Lee Alder Koontz of Philadelphia Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, NC and third place went to Rev. William P. Seel of Easley Presbyterian Church in Easley, SC for his sermon entitled, "Stewards of Creation: Caring for God’s World."
To our surprise, many of the sermons submitted had already been preached. Another unexpected discovery was how much they had in common in their theories of how humans have gotten things so wrong, possible avenues for repentance and which passages in scripture can help us with these important questions. Please enjoy all the sermons submitted below, and we hope you are inspired to explore "green preaching" yourself.