Protect God’s Creation: This “Sun Day” Take Faith Action to Protect Our Earth! 

This is an invitation—a call—to you and your congregation to join millions of people across the United States on September 21 as we celebrate the gift and power of clean energy and the urgent need to accelerate America’s transition to the free, abundant and clean energy God has provided. This nationwide event is called Sun Day and the United Church of Christ is partnering with scores of other climate, faith, justice and environmental organizations to proclaim that climate action is a spiritual and moral imperative.  

The need for a broad-based, unified public witness has never been more urgent. While we already have all the technology, we need to immediately make the transition to 100% safe, clean, reliable, renewable energy. Instead in July Congress passed the so called “Big Beautiful Bill” which (among other injustices) guarantees increased profits for fossil fuel companies, and ends tax credits for wind, solar power and electric vehicles. As if that’s not enough, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proposed a plan to abandon any governmental regulation of greenhouse-gas emissions. (Our affiliate, Creation Justice Ministries, makes it easy for you to tell the EPA: Protect Our Health, Our Communities, and God’s Creation.)  

Here are some of the many ways you can participate in Sun Day by drawing attention to God’s great gift of creation along with our generation’s call to embrace the clean and renewable energy sources that we have been given from the sun, wind, and water: 

∙ Of the thousands of congregations that celebrate Earth Day each year, many are embracing Sun Day as an opportunity to lift up a similar theme near the autumnal equinox.  

∙ Hundreds of congregations already participate in the Season of Creation from September 1st through St. Francis Day (October 4^th). “Peace with Creation” is the 2025 theme, and emphasizing Sun Day can be part of that. 

∙ Perhaps your congregation already plans to celebrate Just Peace Sunday on September 14. The 2025 theme for Just Peace Sunday is “The Earth Mourns.” (Materials posted here) Invite your congregation to see the connection between our commitment to being a Just Peace denomination and our commitment to celebrate the power of clean energy. 

∙Even if you don’t focus your worship on Sun Day, consider hosting a Sun Day event on the afternoon of September 21. Click here for religious and spiritual resources. 

∙ Some congregations will worship outside, perhaps alongside other Sun Day events organized in their communities.  

∙ Register your congregation to receive advocacy cards for members to write messages to congress members on Sun Day. 

∙ And whatever you decide to do, be sure you share what you’re doing on social media. You can use this social media guide for pointers. 

Please click on the Third Act Faith Sun Day link. There you will find resources and Sun Day event ideas. Once you’ve decided to participate, let the world know that you’re hosting a Sun Day event by registering your Sun Day event here.  

Fifty-five years ago, no one imagined that an unknown rag-tag group of organizers could succeed in getting the Federal government to enact laws and legislate rules that would protect land, water, air, flora, fauna, and humans. But on April 22, 1970, when 20,000,000 Americans showed up in the streets and parks and lecture halls in every part of the country, the mandate was clear and change happened. 

In the decades since that first Earth Day, scientists and engineers have done their job. They have given us all the technology we need to power our lives and our economy with clean renewable energy. 

Now it’s up to us, to our generation—whatever generation you may be part of—to celebrate the fact that “we can do this,” and to embrace the opportunity to make the transition to clean, God-given renewable energy a reality, not only for those who can afford it, but for the least of these among us. Let’s make Sun Day a day filled with the light of truth and the promise of hope, a day that reveals a just and secure future, not only for us, but for all of God’s creation. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Jim Antal serves as Special Advisor on Climate Justice to the General Minister and President of the United Church of Christ. Antal’s 2023 book, Climate Church, Climate World – Revised and Updated, is being read by hundreds of churches. From 2006 to 2018, Antal led the 350 UCC churches in Massachusetts as their Conference Minister and President. He has preached on climate change since 1988 in over 400 settings and has engaged in non-violent civil disobedience on numerous occasions.