Activating Faith Communities for Climate Justice | Meaningful Movies at First Church Seattle

Activating Faith Communities for Climate Justice | Meaningful Movies at First Church Seattle

Join us Sunday, April 28 at noon for a discussion prompted by The Letter, a documentary about the impact on people around the world of Laudato Si’, Pope Francis’s encyclical on the climate crisis. Two faith leaders in the climate movement will share how faith communities are responding to the climate crisis. You may attend in person or via Zoom.

Rev. Jim Antal, author of Climate Church, Climate World, and a leader of the interfaith climate movement, will join us virtually to share how congregations around the nation are taking action. Jim serves as Special Advisor on Climate Justice to the General Minister and President of the United Church of Christ. An environmental activist since the first Earth Day, he has preached on the climate crisis since 1988 in over 400 settings and has engaged in non-violent civil disobedience on numerous occasions.

Anna Johnson, North AmericaSenior Programs Manager with the Laudato Si’ Movement, will join us in person to share how Seattle-area faith communities, including her own parish, are engaging in the climate justice movement. Anna has an Executive Master’s degree in Sustainability Leadership from Arizona State University.

Before the event, at your convenience, you can watch The Letter, an 80-minute film. Here is a link to watch the film at no cost:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rps9bs85BII. It is not necessary to watch the film to attend the April 28 event.

The film highlights the voices of those most affected by climate change – youth, the poor (including climate refugees), indigenous people, and wildlife. A representative of each of those groups was invited to Rome, and the film shows their dialogue with the Pope and each other.

For those attending in person, lunch will be served after the 10:30 worship service in the Fellowship Hall of First Church Seattle, 180 Denny Way. A $5 donation is requested if you join us for lunch. The program will begin at 12:00 noon and end by 1:15 p.m.

Praise for Climate Church, Climate World by Jim Antal   

Jim Antal shows how the church can engage the urgent moral crisis of climate change. This book will inspire both the courage and conviction people of faith need to provide the leadership necessary to realize God’s dream of a just world in which humanity is reconciled to all of creation.

DESMOND TUTU, the late Archbishop Emeritus

This book is written with unusual authority, because for as long as there has been a serious climate movement in the United States, Jim Antal has been at the forefront. And I’ve watched as his cheerful, insistent, relentlessly loving approach has allowed so many Americans to join in this fight. He is on the short list of heroes who have given their all. 

BILL McKIBBEN, climate activist, author, and founder of Third Act, which organizes people over age 60 to act on climate and to protect democracy. Bill also helped found 350.org, the first global grassroots climate campaign