MARQUETTE — An interfaith group named the Concerned Clergy of Marquette is inviting the public to a pair of events this Saturday about sulfide mining operations in the Upper Peninsula. At noon Saturday, the group will meet for prayers at the front gates to the Eagle Mine on County Road Triple A in Michigamme.

It’s being called “A Liturgy of Loss and Hope Benediction.” Speakers include members of Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, residents of the Yellow Dog Plains, and pastors from several faiths.

At 7 p.m. Saturday, a candlelight service will be held at Messiah Lutheran Church in Marquette. Organizers say residents who live near the mine have noticed the area is no longer quiet, clean and peaceful.

Speakers include members of Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, residents of the Yellow Dog Plains, and pastors from several faiths. At 7 pm Saturday, a candlelight service will be held at Messiah Lutheran Church in Marquette. Organizers say residents who live near the mine have noticed the area is no longer quiet, clean and peaceful.

“It’s a chance to, what I call, balance the equation,” said Rev. John Magnuson of Marquette, a Lutheran pastor and executive director of the nonprofit Cedar Tree Institute.

“There has been a lot attention about the economic development and the revenue the new (Eagle) mine is bringing in Powell Township,” Magnuson said. “But there’s not been an equal amount of attention given to the grief and the loss of what’s happened to the people that live near this new mine and to the wetlands and the forests and the wildlife.”

Benediction means looking backward and forward, according to Rev. Tesshin Paul Lehmberg, Soto Zen Buddhist priest in Marquette.

“I would like the forward (future) to be increased attention toward this beautiful place that we live in,” Rev. Lehmberg said. “As a species we are very adaptable and that’s positive trait of humanity, but it can be a negative trait also because we are so adaptable that we easily forget the past and I don’t think that we ought to do that.”

For more information on the events, call Rev. Magnuson at (906) 360-5072 or Rev. Lehmberg at (906) 226-6407. You can also go to www.CedarTreeInstitute.com