Churches celebrate heaven and Earth Day connection

MILFORD – Churches may sometimes disagree on social issues, but members of many Souhegan Valley area faith communities – Catholic, Jewish and Protestant – are coming together on April 19, united by one idea they all agree on: the Earth and its creatures must be protected and cherished.

The Sunday afternoon service in celebration of Earth Day is sponsored by the Souhegan Valley Interfaith Council.

Everyone is invited to the non-denominational event, which starts at 3 p.m. in the Milford United Methodist Church on North River Road in Milford.

Guest speaker will be Jean Elizabeth Shockley of the National Religious Partnership for the Environment.

Shockley said the core of her talk will be based on Biblical passages that relate to the environment. The connection between religion and the environment is already well established, she said, but “people will have to start living it.”

John Bigl, of Milford, who serves as the Unitarian Universalist delegate to the Interfaith Council, said he and other local church leaders decided to have the Earth Day service after their scheduled Martin Luther King service was canceled in January because of snow.

“A lot of faith communities are doing what they can to be proper stewards of the Earth,” he said.

Among the Interfaith Council churches are St. Patrick Church (Catholic) in Milford, Congregational Church of Amherst, Messiah Lutheran Church in Amherst, Congregation Betenu in Amherst, Milford United Methodist Church, Mont Vernon Congregational Church, Brookline Community Church, the Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Milford, First Congregational Church in Milford, and Church of Our Saviour (Episcopal) in Milford.