Since 2018, First United Presbyterian Church has been an Earth Care Congregation. This is a certification program of the PCUSA, and we are one of just a few churches in Arkansas which have earned this honor.

In order to get our certification, we have done many things that demonstrate our commitment to righteous stewardship of God’s creation.

We have solar panels that provide a large part of the electricity for our campus. We use LED bulbs and heat pumps to reduce our energy footprint. We use compostable materials and make sure to recycle all we can. We gather together to combat invasive species on our church campus.

We also make use of special paraments during our Earth Care services. One of the three designs, created by Jay Jarrow, includes a cross.

These paraments are made of organic cotton canvas so they can be used far into the future and did not cause environmental harm when they were made. They were printed by Spoonflower, a company that makes use of nontoxic dyes and is careful to avoid wasting water.

With the scripture from Psalms and the thoughtfulness of their production, the paraments help to increase awareness of the importance of environmental responsibility to our church. The cross reminds us that this is God’s world. It represents sacrifice and caring for something greater than ourselves. This is a reminder of our call to be stewards of the environment, protecting it for future generations.

The horizontal and vertical beams of the cross can also represent the interconnection of all things, including humanity and the natural world. This perspective highlights the need for us to consider the environmental impact of our actions.