Thursday, January 15, 2026

Presbyterians for Earth Care - Lenten Devotional Writers Needed and Introducing our 2026 PEC Leadership

Lenten Earth Care Devotional

Writers Needed

For the 2026 Lenten season, Presbyterians for Earth Care will provide free daily devotionals based on lectionary readings. PEC will be partnering with Red Presbiteriana Para el Cuidado de la Creación as a collaboration with both English and Spanish Lenten Devotionals to share. We will be including each Sunday in Lent, as well as significant days of Holy Week. If you would like to write a devotion in English, please CLICK HERE. To sign up to write a devotion in Spanish, please CLICK HERE. Please sign up no later than January 23rd. Devotions must be submitted no later than January 30th.

Writer Instructions:

Devotions should be 250-300 words long.
Mention the scripture referenced in your devotion.
Include a brief prayer at the end.
Share your name, church/organization, and city/state.

All devotions should be emailed by January 30th: English devotions to presbyearthcare@gmail.com, and Spanish devotions to redecopcusa@gmail.com.

Se acerca la temporada litúrgica de la Cuaresma y como todos los años Presbyterians for Earth Care nos invita a reflexionar esta temporada desde una mirada más amplia con todos los elementos de la creación. Al igual que en la pasada temporada de Adviento y Navidad, la Red Presbiteriana para el Cuidado de la Creación se ha unido en colaboración con PEC para la producción y publicación de estos devocionales en Español, por eso te invitamos a considerar escribir una pequeña reflexión que resalte tus acciones personales o congregacionales hacia el cuidado de la creación. El formato sugerido para cada página es la Escritura seleccionada del leccionario, una breve reflexión, una oración sencilla y alguna sugerencia de acción a tomar (ejemplo). Para economizar espacio, solamente utilizaremos la cita bíblica, no es necesario copiar todo el pasaje. Necesitaremos que incluyas el nombre, la iglesia u organización y la ciudad o estado. También aceptaremos historias personales relacionadas al cuidado de la creación y la Curesma. La reflexión no debe exceder 300 palabras. PEC la publicará en formato digital en línea para que pueda ser impreso y/o compartido. Debes inscribirte en o antes del 23 de enero de 2026 para enviar tu participación. Necesitaremos recibir tu escrito para el día 30 de enero de 2026 para que pueda ser incluido en el panfleto. Además, puedes compartir fotos o dibujos originales (con permiso para reproducir) que impriman bien en blanco y negro para el panfleto.

Si te interesa escribir una reflexión en Inglés, regístrate aquí , si prefieres hacerlo en Español utiliza este registro. Puedes enviar tu escrito a: presbyearthcare@gmail.com (para Inglés) y a redecopcusa@gmail.com (para Español).

Gracias por tu ayuda y cooperación. Tu participación enriquecerá la temporada de Cuaresma para otro(a)s y beneficiará a toda la creación de Dios.

Introducing the 2026

PEC Steering Committee!

PEC would like to thank retiring PEC Vice Moderator Jane Laping for her dedicated leadership! Jane has been actively involved with our organization for over 25 of our 30 years of existence, and has been called a “PEC Legend” by more than one PEC member. She promises this will not be the last we see of her. Thank you for all you do to care fort God’s creation, Jane!

Missed the Gathering? CLICK HERE for the Video Recording

Resource Now Available: PEC 2025 Conference Workshop Recordings

Did you miss the October 2025 PEC Conference Sacred Creation: Justice Flows Down Like Water, or wish you could watch some of the presentations again? All of the recordings of workshops, keynotes, and worship gatherings are available for anyone to access on our YouTube channel. Please view and share these offerings with your church groups, families, and friends so that all may benefit from top-notch presenters and timely topics.

Recordings Available:

4 Worship Services with Rev. Rebecca Barnes and Rev. Jocelyn Wildwright

3 Keynote Talks with Rev. Andrew Black

7 Engaging Workshops on various topics related to water and spirituality

International Discussion Panel representing work in Guatemala, Kenya, & Peru

CLICK HERE for Conference Video Recordings

CLICK HERE to download Workshop Summaries & Resources

How can we help you care for God’s creation? Drop us an email and let us know at presbyearthcare@gmail.com

Help us grow! Please let us know if there is anyone we should add to our list! Just reply to this email. Thank you!

Please help us to continue to assist individuals and churches in creation care work by donating to PEC through our website by CLICKING HERE. Thank you!

Daily Lectionary Readings for January 15, 2026

Daily Lectionary Readings
(Two-Year Cycle)

Lectionary Readings for

Thursday, January 15, 2026

Morning Psalm 97

¹   The LORD is king! Let the earth rejoice;
          let the many coastlands be glad!
²   Clouds and thick darkness are all around him;
          righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
³   Fire goes before him,
          and consumes his adversaries on every side.
⁴   His lightnings light up the world;
          the earth sees and trembles.
⁵   The mountains melt like wax before the LORD,
          before the Lord of all the earth.

⁶   The heavens proclaim his righteousness;
          and all the peoples behold his glory.
⁷   All worshipers of images are put to shame,
          those who make their boast in worthless idols;
          all gods bow down before him.
⁸   Zion hears and is glad,
          and the towns of Judah rejoice,
          because of your judgments, O God.
⁹   For you, O LORD, are most high over all the earth;
          you are exalted far above all gods.

¹⁰  The LORD loves those who hate evil;
          he guards the lives of his faithful;
          he rescues them from the hand of the wicked.
¹¹  Light dawns for the righteous,
          and joy for the upright in heart.
¹²  Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous,
          and give thanks to his holy name!

Morning Psalm 147:12-20

¹²  Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem!
          Praise your God, O Zion!
¹³  For he strengthens the bars of your gates;
          he blesses your children within you.
¹⁴  He grants peace within your borders;
          he fills you with the finest of wheat.
¹⁵  He sends out his command to the earth;
          his word runs swiftly.
¹⁶  He gives snow like wool;
          he scatters frost like ashes.
¹⁷  He hurls down hail like crumbs —
          who can stand before his cold?
¹⁸  He sends out his word, and melts them;
          he makes his wind blow, and the waters flow.
¹⁹  He declares his word to Jacob,
          his statutes and ordinances to Israel.
²⁰  He has not dealt thus with any other nation;
          they do not know his ordinances.
     Praise the Lord!

First Reading Genesis 4:17-26

¹⁷Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch; and he built a city, and named it Enoch after his son Enoch. ¹⁸To Enoch was born Irad; and Irad was the father of Mehujael, and Mehujael the father of Methushael, and Methushael the father of Lamech. ¹⁹Lamech took two wives; the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah. ²⁰Adah bore Jabal; he was the ancestor of those who live in tents and have livestock. ²¹His brother's name was Jubal; he was the ancestor of all those who play the lyre and pipe. ²²Zillah bore Tubal-cain, who made all kinds of bronze and iron tools. The sister of Tubal-cain was Naamah.

²³Lamech said to his wives: "Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; you wives of Lamech, listen to what I say: I have killed a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me. ²⁴If Cain is avenged sevenfold, truly Lamech seventy-sevenfold."

²⁵Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and named him Seth, for she said, "God has appointed for me another child instead of Abel, because Cain killed him." ²⁶To Seth also a son was born, and he named him Enosh. At that time people began to invoke the name of the LORD.

Second Reading Hebrews 3:1-11

¹Therefore, brothers and sisters, holy partners in a heavenly calling, consider that Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, ²was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses also "was faithful in all God's house." ³Yet Jesus is worthy of more glory than Moses, just as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. ⁴(For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) ⁵Now Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant, to testify to the things that would be spoken later. ⁶Christ, however, was faithful over God's house as a son, and we are his house if we hold firm the confidence and the pride that belong to hope.

⁷Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,

"Today, if you hear his voice,

⁸do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,

as on the day of testing in the wilderness,

⁹where your ancestors put me to the test,

though they had seen my works ¹⁰for forty years.

Therefore I was angry with that generation,

and I said, 'They always go astray in their hearts,

and they have not known my ways.'

¹¹As in my anger I swore,

'They will not enter my rest.'"

Gospel Reading John 1:43-51

⁴³The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, "Follow me." ⁴⁴Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. ⁴⁵Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth." ⁴⁶Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see." ⁴⁷When Jesus saw Nathanael coming towards him, he said of him, "Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!" ⁴⁸Nathanael asked him, "Where did you come to know me?" Jesus answered, "I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you." ⁴⁹Nathanael replied, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!" ⁵⁰Jesus answered, "Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these." ⁵¹And he said to him, "Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man."

Evening Psalm 16

¹   Protect me, O God, for in you I take refuge.
²   I say to the LORD, “You are my Lord;
          I have no good apart from you.”

³ As for the holy ones in the land, they are the noble,
in whom is all my delight.

⁴   Those who choose another god multiply their sorrows;
          their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out
          or take their names upon my lips.

⁵   The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup;
          you hold my lot.
⁶   The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places;
          I have a goodly heritage.

⁷   I bless the LORD who gives me counsel;
          in the night also my heart instructs me.
⁸   I keep the LORD always before me;
          because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

⁹   Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices;
          my body also rests secure.
¹⁰  For you do not give me up to Sheol,
          or let your faithful one see the Pit.

¹¹  You show me the path of life.
          In your presence there is fullness of joy;
          in your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Evening Psalm 62

¹   For God alone my soul waits in silence;
          from him comes my salvation.
²   He alone is my rock and my salvation,
          my fortress; I shall never be shaken.

³   How long will you assail a person,
          will you batter your victim, all of you,
          as you would a leaning wall, a tottering fence?
⁴   Their only plan is to bring down a person of prominence.
          They take pleasure in falsehood;
     they bless with their mouths,
          but inwardly they curse. Selah

⁵   For God alone my soul waits in silence,
          for my hope is from him.
⁶   He alone is my rock and my salvation,
          my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
⁷   On God rests my deliverance and my honor;
          my mighty rock, my refuge is in God.

⁸   Trust in him at all times, O people;
          pour out your heart before him;
          God is a refuge for us. Selah

⁹   Those of low estate are but a breath,
          those of high estate are a delusion;
     in the balances they go up;
          they are together lighter than a breath.
¹⁰  Put no confidence in extortion,
          and set no vain hopes on robbery;
          if riches increase, do not set your heart on them.

¹¹  Once God has spoken;
          twice have I heard this:
     that power belongs to God,
¹²       and steadfast love belongs to you, O Lord.
     For you repay to all
          according to their work.

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Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), 100 Witherspoon Street, Louisville, KY 40202

SojoMail - The Christian poet they called a terrorist

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By Betsy Shirley
Editor in Chief, Sojourners

Shocking footage travels fast, so you’ve probably seen it: ICE agents smashing windows, dragging people out of their cars, and generally doing things that have “nothing to do with laws or national security.” But you may not have seen how the Minneapolis faith community is joining efforts to keep their city safe: holding vigils, delivering groceries for people scared to leave their homes, and offering spiritual care to protesters shaken by what they’ve witnessed.

Hovering over this week is the memory of Renee Macklin Nicole Good. Though the Trump administration has portrayed her as a terrorist, we’ve learned that the woman who was shot in her car by an ICE agent was a Christian committed to loving her neighbors—and an award-winning poet.

Elsewhere, we learned about a bizarre Christmas sermon delivered at the Pentagon and got a disturbing update from aid workers in Gaza—we hope U.S. leaders will heed the latter (the former, not so much).

On a different note, Sojourners released our first-ever anthology this week: Light for the Way: Seeking Simplicity, Connection, and Repair in a Broken World. Published by Broadleaf Press, it features 50+ years of our most beloved content on the spiritual practices that sustain our justice work for the long haul. We wish this book weren’t so timely, but if the first two weeks of 2026 are any indication, we’re going to need all the light we can get. More here: sojo.net/light.

Renee Good Was Not a Terrorist. She Was a Poet

She was also a woman who took seriously what the Bible says about caring for your neighbors. Good was a wife and mother, and her car, now stained with blood, had stuffed animals piled up in the glove compartment when she was shot. She had a heart for showing up however she could, with whatever words she had.

Read the full article