Creation Care: A Reading List for All Ages

“God saw everything that God had made and indeed, it was very good.” (Genesis 1:10)

Each year, people around the world recognize Earth Day on April 22. This day serves as an opportunity for us to evaluate our individual and collective environmental impact, and recommit ourselves to caring for the natural resources that God has given us.

A relationship with God's creation and a ministry of caring for and healing the earth are integral to what it means to be a United Methodist. The United Methodist Social Principles address our Christian commitment to creation this way: “All creation is the Lord’s, and we are responsible for the ways in which we use and abuse it. Water, air, soil, minerals, energy resources, plants, animal life, and space are to be valued and conserved because they are God’s creation and not solely because they are useful to human beings. God has granted us stewardship of creation. We should meet these stewardship duties through acts of loving care and respect.”

Because Jesus calls us to love our neighbors, we have a moral obligation to stand with those around the world who have been impacted by pollution and climate disasters caused by environmental degradation. What steps will you take to care for God’s creation – both humans and the natural world – on Earth Day and throughout the year?

One simple, yet important, place to start is by picking up a book or two to learn more about this beautiful planet God has entrusted to us and how to care for it. Here are several recommendations to get you started on your creation care journey:

Ecology & Spirituality

• Collisions of Earth & Sky

• Refugia Faith: Seeking Hidden Shelters, Ordinary Wonders, and the Healing of the Earth

• Sacred Earth Sacred Soul: The Celtic Art of Reawakening to the Sacred

• For the Beauty of the Earth: A Lenten Devotional

• Ecotheology: A Christian Conversation

• Becoming Rooted: One Hundred Days of Reconnecting with Sacred Earth

• Church of the Wild: How Nature Invites Us into the Sacred

• Planted: A Story of Creation, Calling, and Community

• Creation Care Discipleship: Why Earthkeeping Is an Essential Christian Practice

• Rooted: Life at the Crossroads of Science, Nature, and Spirit

• Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants

Kid-Friendly Books

• Old Turtle

• One Earth

• My Friend Earth

• We Are Water Protectors

• The Lorax

• If You Find a Rock

• Compost Stew: An A to Z Recipe for the Earth

• The Earth Book

• We’ve Got the Whole World in Our Hands