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The Faith and Health Perspective, April 2021


PHW Celebrates Earth Day

Earth Day was first celebrated on April 22, 1970, to honor our collective home, which came into being 4.5 billion years ago. Like the good mother that she is, Earth has sustained and nurtured Creation since its beginnings, and human life down through our first ancestors to our present-day grandchildren. At PHW,  we have become increasingly aware of the ties that bind human flourishing to the flourishing of the Earth -- that we must care for Earth’s well-being if we ourselves are to not only thrive, but survive.  As a result,  PHW is proud to present our newly created Sustainability Pledge (directly below), in which we commit to honor and care for our beloved Earth, and encourage all of you in our PHW family to do so as well. We are grateful for all efforts that you are already engaging to ensure the health and well-being of God’s precious gift of Creation.
PHW Sustainability Pledge: Living Our Values

As a program that takes a holistic approach that defines health as the well-being of our bodies, minds, and spirits, Partners in Health and Wholeness is also concerned with the well-being of our faith communities and our shared environment. Our five areas of focus remain the pillars of our program: tobacco cessation, healthy eating, increased physical activity, healthy aging, and mental health empowerment and action. Increasingly, our work has led us to recognize the impact our environment has on our health and ability to flourish. In line with this recognition, we uphold that it is deeply important that we become stewards of God’s good Creation. Through love of our neighbor, we see the impact on our coastal communities as hurricane seasons become increasingly destructive; we see the impact on individuals with asthma and allergies as air pollution persists; and we see the unjust environmental impacts on poor communities and communities of color. With our partner congregations, we hope to cultivate an environment that is healthy, just, and prosperous for the vitality of current and future generations. We are becoming more conscious of our own earth-friendly efforts to be good stewards of our beloved shared home, and we hope you will join us in this work.

Read more here:
Events & Resources 

Sacred Conversation: "Preventing and Navigating Burnout"

Friday, May 6, 11 a.m.  - noon
Online 

Please join PHW and Dr. Clark Gaither, MD, for a Sacred Conversation on "Preventing and Navigating Burnout." Dr. Gaither is a board-certified physician who specializes in burnout. Burnout is different from stress -- it is the culmination of feeling disengaged, hopeless, and emotionally exhausted. Dr. Gaither will teach us how to identify, eliminate, and prevent burnout. After a year of our living through a global pandemic, this event is crucial for all of us, whether we are retired, working, clergy, or simply people of faith.  To register, click here:

Sacred Conversation:  "Caretakers of Creation: A Vision of Shalom in Practical Ways" 

Friday, May 21, 11 a.m. - noon
Online 

What does it mean to be caretakers of creation when we ourselves are a part of creation -- and where do we start when we know that the environments in which we live greatly impact the health of our communities? How do we know what is most important in our advocacy efforts? How do we confront the structural injustices that disproportionately affect historically marginalized communities? Join PHW and Dr. Albert "Stan" Meiburg, director of the Masters in Arts in Sustainability Program at Wake Forest University, as we explore practical ways to engage with our environment as good caretakers, and increase our awareness of what we can do and how we can advocate as people of faith both individually and collectively. This Sacred Conversation is an extension of the newly updated Partners in Health and Wholeness Sustainability Pledge (above) as we seek to highlight the intersection of health, faith and the environment. To register, click here. 

"Healthy Brain, Healthy Body, Healthy You"

Monday, June 7 - Friday, June 11
Online 

Save the dates! "Healthy Brain, Healthy Body, Healthy You" is an Alzheimer's Association week-long series of workshops focused on brain, body, and heart health with an introduction to "Healthy Living for Your Brain and Body" and breakout sessions focused on mindfulness, yoga, nutrition, and the Mediterranean diet instead of medications. Join in for an interactive cooking demonstration, mat yoga, and chair yoga practice. Workshops will be offered throughout the week of June 7 - June 11, 2021. To register, please contact Denise Young at dyoung@alz.org. Please note: Prior to the event, PHW will be hosting a Sacred Conversation with the Alzheimer's Association on Alzheimer's prevention on Friday, June 4, 11 a.m. - noon. More details to come!

PHW Collaborative Pledge and Mini-Grant Cycle

The PHW Collaborative Pledge is open as of January 15, and the second PHW Mini-Grant Cycle of 2021 will open June 1. The PHW Collaborative Pledge is a commitment to continuing a journey of putting faith into action in your community. Through the Collaborative Pledge, we aim to promote connections and relationships among our congregations to share wisdom, provide support, and build a community around health and wholeness. Click here to take the Collaborative Pledge. 

The PHW Mini-Grant allows Collaborative congregations to support projects that promote health and wholeness while engaging the community. Congregations are able to request up to $1000 for an individual mini-grant, and up to $5000 for a community mini-grant among a minimum of three congregations. Congregations must have submitted a PHW Collaborative Pledge in the last 12 months for their application to be considered. Community Mini-Grants are limited. For more information please reach out to our Program Coordinator, Michelle S. Peedin, at PHWinfo@ncchurches.org. Please click here to browse our FAQs and to get started!
Check out our calendar of events here, and our list of resources here, to keep up with PHW and community-based events and resources across the state related to faith, health, and justice.
A Prayer for Creation 


We give voice to the cry of all peoples:  Earth is our birthplace. Our shelter, our garden, our table, our fountain. Our beauty, our altar, our hope, and our breath. In all our diversity, this is our common home! And it is a good and joyful and serious thing, to be alive on this bright day in this broken and bountiful world.


Yet, we must speak the truth -- with the courage and hope that our faith calls out in us. It is not easy to confess: Humans have delighted in the bounty of the earth, consuming, harnessing, mining, grasping, and using everything within our reach, and still we reach for more. Our actions make it plain: we have forgotten that Creation is sacred beyond its immediate usefulness to us and our dangerous divisions. We seek to own what cannot be owned. This earth, the body of God.



We are ready to be catalysts of a turning toward justice and lasting peace. We insist and petition, demand and implore: Let there be greening, birth from the burning. Water that blesses and air that is sweet. Health in God’s garden, hope in God’s children. Regeneration that peace will complete.


God of all living, God of all loving, God of the seedling, the snow and the sun -- Teach us, deflect us, Christ reconnect us, using us gently, making us one. 

(From the United Methodist Church Creation Care Summit)
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