Environmental Stewardship promotes protection of our air, water, land, and wildlife resources. Problems include global warming/climate change, proliferation of human-created greenhouse gases, unsustainable development, energy inefficiency, land misuse and lack of preservation, unsafe nuclear materials and waste management, poor water quality, sacrificing natural landscapes and coastal waters, etc.

The first part of Psalm 19 is a hymn in praise of the Creator for the amazing order and law of creation, the second part is a prayer of confession, repentance, and trusting dependence. "Who can discern their errors?" The rhetorical question has an implied answer: "No one, least of all me." The vast wonder and order of creation has led the psalmist to an awareness of how little he really understands, how little he really knows even of his own life. And so he prays, "Forgive my hidden faults." (That is, hidden to me O God, not to you.) And then comes the final petition, based again on the poet's knowledge of unfailing incompetence if left to himself, "May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and Redeemer."

Do we live today with this deep sense of compunction, this sense of our infallible capacity for self-deception? Or are we confident that we have the world figured out and, given enough technology, we will control it? Too often our way of life as individuals and congregations is dictated by a marketplace that cares only for short-term profits, not the long-term health of our families and communities. Can we rediscover the psalmist's pathway, through the meditation on creation to this profound sense of God's law and our fallibility? Or do we fear being grouped with the tree huggers?

Contact a local environmental conservation organization and ask about the most pressing problem in your area at this time of which most people are unaware. Ask the Creator to guide you about what to do with what you discover. To be involved you don't need to have a degree in environmental matters--only to believe that the environment matters!

If you would like your South Carolina environmental stewardship ministry organization featured on this website, please contact us.