Post-Post week 15--What's next?

What have I learned and where do I go from here?

Ecological facts—

I learned I live in the Peace River watershed.

I learned how to measure water quality, and I’ve got a kit to practice with.

I learned species are disappearing at an alarming rate.

I learned global warming is not only completely true and horribly damaging, it is still being disputed.

I learned the names of few more birds—snowy egret, limpkin, grebes.

Theological facts—

Robby’s expression of inaugurated eschatology—kingdom of God is already present and not yet consummated—is the most helpful new way of thinking for me. The Lord’s Prayer is the description that best illustrates “already/not yet”: “thy kingdom come”—praying for the future and “thy will be done”—praying for the present.

I learned to listen with a new perspective to biblical texts—people are only a small part of God’s creation, God cares deeply about all his creation, and if I love God, I’ll love what he loves.

I learned I can join with God in working to complete the future.

Poetic facts—

I learned Mary Oliver is one amazing poet who cares deeply about creation and expresses her love for it in heart rending language that touches my soul.

I learned Aldo Leopold, who was a pioneer conservationist, left me a valuable book that I can return to for its inspiring beauty and prophetic edge.

I learned that fiction writer Ursula LeGuin has a long history of writing compelling stories that engage my mind and my emotions in making earth care connections.

How I am going to use what I’ve learned going forward?

1)  Pray with more purpose about the earth I love

2)  Live more purposely—reduce, reuse, recycle

use less water—shorter showers and less laundry

use less fuel—fewer car trips

buy less—actively ignore advertising for consumer goods

conserve more—rain barrel in my yard, compost food scraps

plant more—garden for herbs (veggies next)

3)  Advocate for change—letter writing and …I’ll see what’s next.

What do I plan on doing to continue learning about the earth, art, and spirituality?

Basically, I’ll listen, read, write, dig, and pray. Specifically, I’m excited about continuing to work on my ecotheopoetic project—(collecting facts, photos, and stories about the nature of my neighborhood). I also plan to walk and hike more, and I plan to learn how to garden. I have a personal proverb that seems to fit here: I pray because I care, and my caring grows because of my prayers. I want to keep growing!

Post-Post week 14--one more response to The BP Gulf Oil Catastrophe

If I were an artist, I'd paint The Gulf Oil Spill as a wound on the body of Christ as he hung on the cross. Gushing oil would pour from that wound. I'm not an artist, but that is an image I have--the body of Christ is broken and bleeding. And I'm hurting and crying—and God, I think, is hurting, too.

What arrogance and greed! In retrospect we know that BP had a long history of cutting corners for profit--760 safety violations where other companies had only a dozen combined. And on top of that they had no containment material ready for an accident because an accident was unimaginable. And then they used a dispersant to drown the oil--a dispersant that lacks testing and is in fact banned in Britain.

The mantra of the BP executives in responding to the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill was their promise to “make it right.” And in obvious and significant ways that hasn’t happened, including litigation that continues to be an ugly tangled mess with lawyers fighting over fees and financial settlements still pending. Articles concerning the environmental damage are still running in our local paper. Even today, The Ledger (Dec. 5, 2011) ran such an article, “Feds: Bluefin Tuna Probably OK After BP Oil Spill in Gulf.” As much as I want to believe that headline, I really believe Sylvia Earle, a renowned ocean explorer, who says, “I think it’s too early to celebrate a possible greater survival than had been predicted.” She goes on to explain that the revised prediction is only based on contrived models. “The truth is,” she says, “we don’t have enough information to be able to clearly say one way or another what happened to the 2010 class of baby tuna.”

Lawsuits and missing fish are only two examples of how the BP catastrophe has hurt the earth and its people. These difficulties point to many shortcomings—particularly arrogance and greed, but perhaps the biggest ones are disconnection and lack of valuing what is vitally important: relationships. Real relationships with people (who God loves) and with our good earth (that God loves) have been replaced with products and profits.

Perhaps because I’m not an artist I deeply appreciate artistic expression that catches what I feel. Right now I’m thinking of Michelangelo’s marble carving of Christ’s broken body lying in his mother’s arms. Because we know the story doesn’t end there (resurrection is coming), we are able to engage the moment of pain and suffering. We also know our own part of the story doesn’t end here and now—Revelation tells us God wins. It seems in these difficult times we are being given many opportunities to sit with the pain of brokenness. We shouldn’t try to rush through the difficult part. But there is hope, and my prayer is for us to be active, creative participants with God in redeeming and blessing all of his creation—earth and its people, who are yearn for real relationships, for wholeness.

Pre-Post week 14--reflections on BP oil disaster

PRE-POST—respond to the readings

• Naomi Klein, "A Hole in the World." Also, become familiar with Klein on her website and/or Wikipedia and watch "In Deep Water," the Fault Lines documentary embedded at the end of Klein’s essay.
• G. Reid Doster, "A Pastoral Essay on the BP Oil Spill" (download PDF)
• Richard P. Olson, "The Calls from the Gulf Shore Tragedy" (download PDF)
• Ernest Callenbach, Ecology: A Pocket Guide, Environmental Justice

Too much. This is too much pain for me to hold! But somehow I do hold it.  We all do in different degrees, don't we?

The video was a vivid and powerful illustration of how big and bad the BP eruption “spill” really was for people and the environment. It is obvious Naomi Klein has a sharp edge to her presentations. I’m not sure I want to Amen everything she’s supported, but I do want to support her edginess because it helps us hear. God knows we have enough voices saying everything corporate America does is good. I’m reminded of a line I read in an editorial, “Corporations are people too.” And the next line was a reference to our bill of rights, replacing corporation for people—“of the corporation, by the corporation, for the corporation.” And then the writer added a  reference to a famous love song “corporations who love corporations are the luckiest corporations in the world.”  And I’m laughing because I can't cry. But it is encouraging to see Klein’s courage—imagine her chutzpa in crossing Isreal’s handling of Palestinians.  

I’m grateful for the thoughtful response written by Dr. Doster, “A Pastoral Essay on the BP Oil Spill.”  “Ambiguous Loss” is a new term to me, but it seems an appropriate description for the complicated pain associated with a techno-disaster, which is an unexpected event, with uncertain facts, illogical circumstances, and it is accompanied by a sense of pervasive dread—wow! As a mom with a severely handicapped daughter there are striking similarities, so I deeply appreciate the challenge to “the prevailing myth that healthy, normal people find proper “closure,” and placed more emphasis on learning how to cope with ambiguity rather than remove it” (40).  And his list of Specific Ways Faith-Communities Can Serve as Instruments of Healing was wonderful. Beginning with giving “more thought and finesse” to their service.  Oddly enough, it is both silence and talking that deeply resonate with my own spirituality. I want to be one who can sit in silence beside those who hurt, and I also know “Human connection and telling one’s story is healing, and…listening often can be just as healing as telling” (43).  I also liked that Doster supported more active responses as well.  “…respond to God’s call to be advocates or prophetic voices that confront chronic community problems, challenge elected officials, and pursue public policy changes…” (48).

“The Calls from the Gulf Shore Tragedy” was meaningful and important for me to hear.

(1)    “ Remember,” Olson writes, “keep informed, and in some way be involved with the ecosystem, creatures, people, and the communities of the Gulf Shore region” (99).  I have heard nothing from the pulpit along these lines, and even though my spirit agrees, I don’t expect new sermons any time soon. It’s so common for human nature to move on, especially in America.  We seem to have such short attention spans.

(2)    Read the Bible Differently—I like how we have been doing this the whole semester.

(3)    Encourage creation –ecological passion in the lives of our churches like community gardens, sharing of garden produce, support locally grown farmers markets (I'm doing some of this :-)

(4)    Lament and repent—Be sorrowful for our part in damaging our world, and repent—change our actions—quit bad practices! (I'm trying to do some of this, too.)

(5)    Insistence on Restorative Justice—ask 3 questions (1) Who was harmed by the violation? (2) What are their needs? (3) Whose obligation is it to meet those needs?

Coming together counts—combined citizen, shareholder, and consumer pressure!

(6)    Advocate Adequate Regulatory Measures—root causes are systemic, and significant reforms in both industry practices and government policies are needed

(7)    Form-Joint Prophetic Efforts—multi-dimensional prophetic effort is needed. First, develop a different lifestyle, one more in keeping with gospel values—lessen our footprints upon this earth with smaller houses, fewer cars, more walking or cycling, more mass transportation, healthier eating, and gardening. Second, an outward thrust—advocate for more research and higher performance of appliances and vehicles, maintain parks and green spaces, protect endangered species, hold polluters accountable.

The entry on Environmental Justice was one more helpful piece.  “…the environmental movement has become more scientifically and socially sophisticated, ordinary people have grown aware that they face environmental problems unknown to the well-to-do, along with overwhelming problems of economic survival.” The slogan, “Not in Anybody’s Back Yard!” really does seem to define environmental justice because corporations should not pollute our air or water, and polluted places should be cleaned up. The section ended with a call to work together—create an alliance between politically experienced environmentalists and people of all classes and colors and ethnic backgrounds.

With all this difficult to hear material, I still have hope. 

Post-Post week 13--creative project "Faithful pressence--keep picking up trash"

After giving it a lot of thought, it seems I don’t have any “creative project to help the environment.” But maybe faithful presence with a willingness to look a bit eccentric will serve the purpose for this assignment.  I’ve been reflecting on the cliché “Think Global—Act Local.”  This really seems a very good guide for all of us.  It is with this thought pulsing in my mind that I began to take plastic bags with me on my regular morning walks so I could pick up trash. I’ve been remarkably faithful in this practice.  (I must admit it was meaningful encouragement to have Katie, our own locally active environmentalist, tell us on our SEU clean-up day that 70% of roadway litter will find its way into nearby bodies of water—ugh!) I like knowing I’m contributing to keeping trash out of the water. And I must admit I enjoy looking at the strip of clean I leave behind meJ  In addition, maybe I’m a good example because last week I actually saw another older woman who I frequently pass on my walks doing the same thing.  About two weeks ago, one of the dads in our neighborhood stopped his van to roll his windows down and thanked me for my clean-up efforts—in front of his twins. And not long before that two little boys that live on my street and their two friends came rushing up to me as I pulled open my mailbox to show me the trash they had picked up on their walk with their moms. And another friend in my neighborhood thanked me personally for picking up the litter near her house. So my “project” is to continue to be faithful, if somewhat eccentric looking, and keep picking up trash during my morning walks.  

Pre-Post Week 13--Ending McKibbon's Eaarth with hope and other thoughts

Eaarth (chapter 6 and Afterward)

After so much gloom and doom, I was thrilled to be encouraged. I liked his practical ideas—

Get back to farming—less pesticides-more organic, cheaper and healthier, sustainable for the long haul, more meaningful work for more people

Think local for energy—windmills, river hydro-power, sun powered solar panels, even manure waste

Think alternative ways of transportation—bikes, walking, public buses

Think local for food—urban farmers’ markets, home grown gardens

Internet connections—cheap to access, and gives us variety for exploring lots of interesting things, decentralized information sources

It’s funny, I’m the one who needs hope, but I think maybe  Mc Kibben’s positive outlook is too much because for it to really work he is assuming we will all be folks filled with compassion and integrity. Human nature doesn’t always work that way, so I want to add that we need to bring our Christian perspective to these issues. A perspective that includes sacrifice. We need to stay connected to God as our source because there will be folks that will continue to act selfishly, and we need grace for their wastefulness. We want to be able to do the right thing even when others take advantage of our sacrifice.

I also enjoyed the video Greening the ghetto. It is so easy to accept dead end stereotyping of lost places.  I liked that there was a person with a vision of something different, and that person was a woman J  I even liked that she challenged Al Gore when she said things shouldn’t be so top down.

Pre-Post week 12--responding to the end of The Word for World is Forest

The second half of the book was sad and hard to read—all four chapters of it.

I wonder how Le Guin felt writing Ch 5.  She certainly packed a lot into it.  (I loved the small detail of the Athsheans carving figures of themselves in wood, not stone (p 106).)  Lyubov’s insights were pitch perfect—knowing how his people made easy pronouncements about the Athsheans being lazy or not sleeping instead of taking time to understand them (p. 107).  The deeply personal agonizing he does—Had his fear in fact been the personal fear that Selver might, having learned racial hatred, reject him, despise his loyalty, and treat him not as ‘you,’ but as ‘one of them’? (top of p 111). And the whole touching process of the Athsheans works as a critique of our ways of touching—some of the colonists sneered, unable to see in these touch-exchanges anything but their own eroticism which, forced to concentrate itself exclusively on sex and then repressed and frustrated,…every humane response…(p 111). Using Lyubov’s dilemma Le Guin expertly explores the effects of the choices we make. “He (Lyubov) preferred to be enlightened rather than to enlighten; to seek facts rather than the Truth.  But even the most unmissionary soul…is sometimes faced with a choice between commission and omission. “What are they doing? Abruptly becomes, “What are we doing? And then, “What must I do?” (p 124).  Le Guin makes it plain that because he loved his friend he wrote “a soothing report, and the most inaccurate one” (top of p 127). We forgive him because he made his decision based on inaccurate information, too. He didn’t know about the killing Davidson had done or that the Athsheans were indeed preparing to murder everyone. He was fully warned, but he couldn’t fully hear much less heed the message perhaps in part because it came from his friend.  

The unfolding violence of the other chapters was no surprise, but still, it was rough going. I did like that Davidson’s life was spared and that he received creative justice—banishment to Dump Island.

The very last lines—Selver’s reflection about the future—“Lyubov will be here…Davidson will be here.  …Both of them. Maybe after I die people will be as they were before I was born, and before you came.  But I do not think they will. (p 189). This is not an expression full of positive feelings, but neither is it completely dark. What Le Guin has done is capture the complexity of pain and not knowing. But I believe she might also want us to remember Lyubov’s creed—“In diversity is life and where there’s life there’s hope… (p 125).  Ah, yes,…hope.  

Post-Post week 11--Miracle Dreams, a short story

Anna M. Cotton

Miracle Dreams The berries are red and ripe, and we have more than enough. (What a blessing in these days since the second big famine!) Well, I’ll be packing some up to share with our neighbors and even old Mr. Grump, champion complainer. And of course, I’ll

12:31 PM

Miracle Dreams

The berries are red and ripe, and we have more than enough. (What a blessing in these days since the second famine!) Well, I’ll be packing some up to share with our neighbors and even old Mr. Grump, champion complainer. And of course, as a safety measure, I’ll deliver them under cover of night. We all certainly know how important it is to be on our guard against old Grump's lack of understanding, but that’s another story.

The simple truth is I owe it all to Ruth. She’s the one who talked all the time about her dreams, and Chris would roll his eyes or wink or nod politely while thinking his own thoughts. But I stayed with her so much I learned to listen and sort out the truth. Her favorite dream was when the kids were little and she could see them peaking around corners or from behind the last big tree in the yard. She’d laugh so hard telling that simple story that tears ran in rivulets down her wrinkled cheeks.

But it quit being funny to us when the miracles started. Oh, looking back now I wonder what I missed, but there was no mistaking the first dramatic one. It happened on a day when I took her for a rare outside walk. She stopped where one of the new trees was struggling, and she said, “I see them now.” No one was there of course, but she wouldn’t leave until I came to look. I was shocked to see the ground covered in healthy elf-form mushrooms. You know the kind—tiny, tender, tasty, and full of vitamins but outrageously expensive since the second famine. Well, it didn’t take me a quick minute to run inside for a pan knowing we had just found lunch. Chris, I and Ruth loved the soup I stirred up with those mushrooms, and we were careful to give God thanks, but we kept our mouth shut about the blessing.

"A fluke you know," he said. And of course I agreed. But then a few days later Ruth wanted another outside walk and bless her heart I understood and off we shuffled together. And it happened again. How weird was that?  And then she took to sending me outside on certain days to look for her, saying she saw them in her dreams. Sure enough they kept coming back but only when she said, “I see them now.” Chris started calling her his dream baby. It was a hoot really, Ruth with her stooped shoulders and flabby, pale skin. She certainly wasn’t anybody’s vision of a hot babe, but we all chuckled at the joke and slurped happily at our miracle soup.

Ruth had other dreams too. Like the time she told me about seeing leaves in her sleep. Well, seeing leaves is a pretty vague dream if you ask me. But I was with her, sitting right here in a comfortable silence, and just sort of gazing at the standard issue eggplants everybody grows these days, when suddenly a long leaf unfurled before our very eyes. Now we all know leaves do this, but there we were witnesses, so to speak, at the exact moment of birth. It was a sweet miracle, and we both knew it. She reached over and patted my hand saying, “See,” and I did. But that wasn't the end. Two amazing things happened with that plant--we harvested more of those veggies than usual, and they actually tasted wonderful. Well, we were careful to give God thanks, but we kept our mouth shut about the blessing.

Then, slowly, over time, Ruth said our abundance was an "opportunity for sharing," and because we had learned to trust her way of seeing things, we started to share with a few of our needy neighbors. (And we're all needy since the second famine, aren't we?) But we're careful never to use the word miracle. We don't think folks would understand--certainly not Mr. Grump. But that's another story for another time.

Pre-Post week 11--The Word for World is Forest--a real page turner!

Pre-Post week 11—responding to Ursula Le Guin first four chapters

Because I am a Le Guin fan, I really enjoyed reading the FAQ on her website.  This is one of my favorite quotes—“I love living almost as well as I love writing. It was tough trying to keep writing while bringing up three kids, but my husband was totally in it with me, and so it worked out fine. Le Guins' Rule: One person cannot do two fulltime jobs, but two persons can do three fulltime jobs — if they honestly share the work.  The idea that you need an ivory tower to write in, that if you have babies you can't have books, that artists are somehow exempt from the dirty work of life — rubbish.”
And I was encouraged by reading the rejection letter she got for the award winning Left Hand of Darkness. I have a funny story about this book.  We had it in our house, and Rickey and I had both zipped right through it.  Our babysitter found it on the end table got hooked reading it after our girls had gone to bed. She took it home and stayed up reading it at her house and left it on the coffee table.  Her dad came in and picked it up.  He spent the day reading it, and at church on Sunday he ran up to me asking, “Does Le Guin have any more books like that?”   This is hardly a boring book, and I bet the editor who missed that connection was sorry later.

This is my second time to read The Word for World is Forest, and although I really enjoyed it my first time through, I’m discovering things I missed the first time.  For instance, the whole ansible thing, instant communication device, which sounds a lot like computers to me.  Pretty prophetic because PCs weren’t even around in the early 70s. And I loved how Ursula Le Guin had a sense of humor about it--In Dispossessed,(c 1974) the ansible gets invented; but they're using it in Left Hand(c 1968) (and in The Word for World is Forest c 1972) Please do not try to explain this to me. I will not understand.

The second time through I knew I was pulling for the creechies—a meter tall and covered with green fur. And I knew that Captain Davidson view of creechies as lazy, dumb, treacherous, and not able to feel pain was dead wrong. In fact, the whole naming thing caught my attention this time.  Sam was really Selver from Sornol, not a Creechie. Creechie was a derogatory slang term for Asthenians, which were indeed humans. (I’m told it is quite common for American soldiers to call Iraq citizens Hajjis. Creating negative terms has a long sour history, doesn’t it? )

Interestingly, it is only when the review board from the visiting space ship confronts the core issue of humanness that the problems are brought to light and named. (p 76) Or interrupted the Colonel. “…But you knew that the hilfs of this planet are human? As human as you or I or Lepennon—since we call came from the same, original, Hainish stock?

“This is the scientific theory, I am aware—“

“Colonel, it is the historic fact.”

“I am not forced to accept it as a fact…” the old Colonel said.

Indeed! This not accepting of fact had terrible consequences for everyone—death and destruction. The only character who cared, Dr. Lyubov, powerfully expressed the concern wondering “...if they (the creechies )are not proving their adaptability…For four years they’ve behaved to us as they do to one another. Despite the physical differences, they recognized us as members of their species, as men…we have not responded as members of their species should respond.  We have ignored the responses, the rights and obligations of non-violence.  We have killed, raped, dispersed, and enslaved the native humans, destroyed their communities, and cut down their forests. It wouldn’t be surprising if they’d decided that we are not human.” (p 75).

I deeply enjoyed rereading the section where Selver returns to the forest for healing. I liked that it included a deep connection to dreaming. And I had to smile when Le Guin made the men the primary dreamers (Biblical isn’t it—your old men will dream dreams and your young men will see visions?) The women ran the cities and towns. The women were the doers—(p 96) He (her brother the Great Dreamer) saw what must be done; she saw that it was done.

I’m looking forward to finishing the book.  It is a real page turner, too—even the second time around.

Post-Post week 10--Carbon problem/Community solutions

Post-Post week 10—calculating my carbon footprint

Okay, so I have known I’ve been part of the carbon pollution problem, but these survey/math exercises showed me in a stunning way how much I’m been wounding the earth I say I love. I took the Nature Conservancy survey and the totals were shocking.
Results for CO2 were calculated for one year--

--Home energy total 14 tons of CO2            (42% above average)

--Driving and flying total 7.1 tons of CO2    (38% below average)

--Food and Diet total 3.4 tons of CO2          ( 4% below average)

--Buying and waste total .9 tons of CO2      (21% below average)

Next, I took the water use survey, and these results were another bummer. I personally use 133 gallons of water daily-ugh! (133 X 365days =  48,545 gallons yearly)

By now I was expecting bad news, but my contribution of 3, 643 tons of solid waste was still a jolt—almost 4,000 tons—good grief!

Before I took these surveys, I would have said I was doing pretty well.  Obviously, not!

The last part of our instructions asked me to multiply my totals with larger groups.  I multiplied my carbon total for year by 400,000, which is approximately how many folks live in the Peace River Watershed. The total for one year came out to be 51,200,000 tons of CO2.  This is mind blowing!

I spent some time visiting the world sites, but I was confused about how to compare my totals to world totals.  What I do understand is that the United States uses more than its share of resources and that it (and I mean me, too) is a significant polluter. This has to change!

Today it's raining in my yard. I don’t have an official rain barrel, but I put out a plastic garbage container along with a plastic bucket and a watering pitcher to catch my first ever water to use for outside needs. One of my personal proverbs says—Be part of the solution, not part of the problem.  This has mostly meant relationally, but I'm now including it to mean environmentally.  

I drove over to USF to be with Cristin last Friday. (I felt guilty about the gas I was using.)  We went out to dinner at a cool vegan restaurant, The Loving Hut. The big screen TV was running some sort of Asian channel that was pushing the importance of vegan foods because they were not only good for people but they were good for the environment. We accept that fact, and that is one of the reasons we chose that restaurant, but Cristin confessed it was hard to sustain wise choices without a supportive community. This is a genuine concern, and my prayer is that we can all find communities (family, friends, work, church, and/or city) that creatively and consciously seek to cooperate with God’s grace in order to be part of the solution, not so much part of the problem.

Pre-Post week 10

Responding to preface and chapter 1 in Eaarth and video "The Story of Stuff."

I’m aching with all this hard to absorb news of my current reality, but Eaarth is full of important facts I need to remember. The Arctic ice cap and inland glaciers are melting. The oceans are warmer, distinctly more acid and their level is rising. The rain forest of the Amazon is drying, and the great boreal forest of North America is dying, and oil in the earth is more empty than full. This isn’t new information for me, but reading so much at one time makes me feel it more.  But feeling is probably part of my problem. My earth is dramatically different, yet my life still feels so normal. I have plenty of food, clean water still comes out of my faucet, and my yard isn’t dust. I can still afford gas in my car, (I’m trying hard to be wiser with my driving). The impact of how bad things really are hasn’t impacted my daily life, although I can see it coming.

My “seeing” was helped as I watched the video “The Story of Stuff.”  The simple illustrations gave me a visual anchor. And the commentary filled in vital information. Extraction means using finite natural resources, which cause irreparable damage to my world. During production we regularly produce 4 billion pounds of toxic waste. Distribution doesn’t completely pay expenses (particularly fair wages and quality health care). Consumption (with the pulsing golden arrow) hit the hardest—we only use 1% of our stuff 6 months after purchasing it. Gross! During disposal all the toxins we use in production wind up in a landfill or burned up, which only spreads the poison.

Good grief this is all horrible news!  Talk about needing to hold the pain of the world--it is excruciating! So I’m crying to God to help me bare it.  But somehow I’m encouraged that we are engaging this material as a class. We have a chance to talk and support one another in coming to grips with the agony that is a different future than we expected or wanted.

Post-Post week 9--Jesus said, "Come along and see for yourself."

John 1:39:  Jesus said, “Come along and see for yourself.”

Psalm 34: Open your mouth and taste, open your eyes and see— how good God is. Blessed are you who run to him.

If there is anything I’ve learned from reading For the Beauty of the Earth it’s that I’m not at the center of things, and I’m certainly not in control. Annie Dillard’s biting quote makes this stunningly important point, “…(at church) we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares…the waking god may draw us out to where we can never return.” Dillard's words have a forbidding air. God isn’t tame. He’s wild and unpredictable. This needs to be noted and remembered. But I know I didn’t sign up for this Christian life because I was afraid or wanted to win arguments (although I appreciate and value clear, strong reasoning). I joined the family of God because I was drawn by God’s love. I saw God’s love in people I could hang out with, just like Andrew did with Jesus when he asked, "Teacher, where are you staying?" Jesus replied, "Come along and see for yourself." And Andrew ended up spending the day with Jesus. In fact, the first thing Andrew did after finding where Jesus lived was find his own brother, Simon, telling him, "We've found the Messiah.” He immediately led him to Jesus. And we know how that connection ends: Simon is renamed Peter and becomes a rock Jesus can build on.

That’s what I call a solid foundation, but God’s been in the drawing-us-to-him business for a very long time. For example, Psalm 34 directs me to open my mouth and taste, open my eyes and see how good God is. This is where His love tugs at me in a different way, and I’m happy to spend time appreciating God in the taste of rain; ripe, red strawberries fat with rain and sun; His rainbow over the soaked strawberry field and over the wet workers in the strawberry field; and God’s warm kiss on my lips when I say his name with thanksgiving in my heart for it all.  

There is a lot of value in recognizing that God is wild and unpredictable. But it is crucial to also remember that God is Love.  It’s a complex combination, but I’m not confused. “Come along and see,” he says. I’m full of hope and running toward him open, open, open.

Pre-Post week 9--reflecting on "Apocalyptic Sustainability"

Robby’s paper “Apocalyptic Sustainability: The Future of Pentecostal Ecology” was really interesting. Desmond Tutu’s quote was a great hook—truthful, helpful, hopeful. He said, “[W]e are all part of the problem (ecological crisis)…we are also part of the solution… and our Biblical heritage” is a resource that can help us think and act rightly. 

Through a variety of class readings I’ve happily adjusted to hearing alternative interpretations of familiar Biblical texts in support of ecological concerns. Genesis 1:28 isn’t about control, but rather about service and care. And the reference to Psalm 72 where the king exercises justice is another good reminder about the correct use of dominion. Even Mark 10:45 reiterates the proper understanding of Biblical leadership—servanthood not domination. I appreciate one more clear critique of Lynn White’s interpretations as too selective and unrealistic as well as Robby’s poignant insight that we “need to confess our sin of failing to care for the rest of creation.”

Robby's recounting of the Hasidic tale is a great story that catches the complexity of truth--“We need a coat with two pockets. In one pocket there is dust, and in the other pocket there is gold. We need a coat with two pockets to remind us who we are.” Not either/or, but both. This story  vividly speaks of balance and is a fitting introduction to explaining the differing views about the end times and the kingdom of God.

1) Apocalyptic eschatology—an abrupt end with radical divine intervention

2) Inaugurated eschatology—kingdom is already present and not yet consummated

3) Realized eschatology—kingdom fully present now in words and deeds, ours and Jesus’s

I’m familiar with # 1, which Robby noted is popular with poor people. I wonder if that is because they see the present as pretty hopeless and annihilating things would be some sort of twisted justice as well as an instant rescue for themselves.

I’m familiar with #3, which Robby stated is popular with the middle class and upwardly mobile folks. I wonder if that is because it fits so well with their materialist desires and drives.

So, it isn't a surprise that so many folks are theological schizophrenics.

Inaugurated eschatology, located between two extremes, is the one that appeals to me the most.  But it is not what I’ve not heard preached from any pulpit. Why? Robby wrote, “Over the last few decades [underline mine], Pentecostal scholars have opted for neither the apocalyptic nor the realized eschatology and instead have advocated for 'already/not yet' eschatology.” What makes scholarship so slow to seep into the pulpit?

Robby clearly explained inaugurated eschatology—“…the kingdom of God is present on earth, introduced by the words of Jesus, “The time is fulfilled.'” Then Robby said [in fresh wording  that made me smile] “…contrary to popular opinion, the final vision of Revelation does not contain an image of Christians being resurrected and going off to the wild blue yonder, but rather of the kingdom of God coming down to earth (i.e., the descent of the New Jerusalem)." The most useful description appeared in his illustration of the Lord's Prayer.  It is in praying these words that we can participate in both aspects of “already/not yet”: “thy kingdom come”—praying for the future--and  “thy will be done”—praying for the present.

The whole problematic 2 Peter 3:10-13 discussion was professional, thorough, but a bit too technical. Although I can agree to it when I’m reading it, I don’t think I can repeat it.

Robby’s concluding points are crucial: Creation is good. We need to participate in the whole life of the church—service and sacraments—knowing our hope is the coming of God.  Transforming power comes from God. Apocalypse means unveiling or revelation. Christian apocalyptic texts have much to do with discerning the spiritual significance of the present, not predicting the future. And perhaps most importantly of all: As a consequence of reading and connecting with these ideas, we are better able to  contribute appropriate responses to the ecological crisis, which is also a social and economic crisis, because we are moving in God’s spirit working through and in our strong Biblical heritage.

Post-Post week 8--Mystery, Miracle, Gift

I loved our textbook reading from Genesis. I read it aloud to myself listening deeply-- “God spoke, and it was so…God spoke, and it was so… God spoke, and it was so…” I let the repetition of these words sink into my being. What a powerful mystery! Then I listened carefully again and heard--“Out of chaos, order.” And “From emptiness to fullness.”  This remarkable transformation was perhaps a foreshadowing of how God works in our lives. What an incredible miracle! Also, I noticed long before the sixth day when God created Adam, he was speaking life—and it was good and he blessed it. What a gift! (Interesting, isn’t it, how much this story isn’t about people.)

It may be a huge leap, but when I’m outside and awake to God’s creation, I often sense my chaos becoming ordered. It’s not like a magic formula—walk and pray and everything will be okay. It’s more like the mysterious process of learning to lean into God’s sustaining presence—his presence in me and in all of his creation. Difficulties and problems still need my attention, but I’m somehow strengthened knowing God and his creation join me. I’m not alone—a miracle.

Another dimension of sharing my pain is the way creation somehow absorbs it.  Erazin Kohak catches some of what’s happening in my spirit when he said, “God…is teaching Job the wisdom of bearing the pain that can neither be avoided nor abolished but can be shared when there is a whole living creation to absorb it." Amen!  I am a practical person and ever ready to help, i.e., do something to fix problems. I’m learning “to do” isn’t always what God wants from me. So now I’m working on the “being present” part. And I think that is why I find myself asking God to help me absorb the pain of those I love. And like Job I’m learning how pain can somehow be shared by God’s living creation—a mystery, a miracle, a gift!

Pre-Post week 8--reflections on readings

Pre-Post week 8—respond to readings: (1) Steven Bouma-Prediger, Introduction and Chapters 2, 3, and 4 of For the Beauty of the Earth: A Christian Vision for Creation Care. (2) Also, become familiar with Bouma-Prediger on his faculty website. (3) Ernest Callenbach, Ecology: A Pocket Guide, Values

Values was listed last, but it needs to be first in my discussion. Callenbach's simple definition is helpful: Values are basic ideas that guide us in how we should behave. And he explains, "The environmental movement is fundamentally based not on economic or scientific arguments but on moral and aesthetic values about what is right, fitting, beautiful, or satisfying."  Problems emerge when folks don't know how to talk respectfully together about their different values. In fact, if they were able to listen and talk about these earth issues (or any devisive issues), they might discover that they aren't as far apart as they originally imagine. And speaking of imagining, views can be adjusted when folks see concrete consequences of their choices. 

I loved Callenbach's description of what embodied (incarnated) earth friendly values look like: folks invest in actitivies with meaning (money isn't the priority; folks consistantly practice the 3R's--recycle, reuse, reduce; folks eat healthy foods ( I loved this one--paying attention to taste and quality and sharing the joys of preparing them slowly and carefully!) New concepts were Slow Food Movement and Slow Life Movement--emphasizing local and simple--how wonderful:-) 

Three chapters were a lot to read and the material was dense.  I couldn't rush through it, and because I like to grow, I didn't rush. What follows are really my notes--lots of great quotes and some reflections.

In the introduction Bouna-Prediger plainly states his goal: “I mean in these pages not to inform but to persuade. My central claim is simple: authentic Christian faith includes care for the earth. Earthkeeping is integral to Christian discipleship.” He clarified his terms. The book isn’t about environment, nature, or even creation. He says, “This book is about the earth—the earth God created and continues to lovingly sustain and redeem…”

In chapter two he asks, “What’s wrong with the world?” The answer is a lot is wrong. This was painful reading because so much is obviously out of balance.

There are too many people and too many are hungry—1 in 8;

species extinction—we are losing 1 every 8 hours;

deforestation is rapidly increasing;

water—50% of the world doesn’t have adequate water—limited supply & poor quality;

land degradation—3 billion tons of top soil lost in U.S. each year due to wind and water erosion, other land problems desertification, sprawl;

waste—convoy of U.S. trucks would wrap around the planet 3.8 times;

energy—the U.S. uses 25% of world’s commercial energy because of our addiction to fossil fuels;

air—poor air quality related to over consumption of fossil fuels—increased acid rain and smog—hurting our lungs and killing our trees and fish

Climate—global warming is real, the question is how much and how fast

Bouma-Prediger informs me and almost overwhelms me with his persuasive barrage of painful realities, which I as a human, specifically a privileged American, helped cause.

In chapter three “Is Christianity to blame?” he begins by calling us to repentance by quoting James Nash, “Christianity has done too little to discourage and too much to encourage the exploitation of nature.” Then he repeats his premise—our faith calls for us to care for the earth. He spends considerable time deconstructing the all too easily accepted arguments that say Christianity is the problem. Perhaps the most often cited argument-- because the world will ultimately be destroyed, we shouldn’t feel bad about exploiting it. Using different translations he concludes the familiar text in 2 Peter 3 really means “that after a refiner’s fire of purification (v.7), the new earth will be found, not burned up.” And more to the point the rapture isn’t about leaving earth in escape mode, rather it is as N.T. Wright puts it, “…having gone out to meet their returning Lord, they (the saved believers) will escort him royally into his domain, that is, back to the place they have come from.”

Then he shifts--okay if foundationaly Christianity, i.e., correct biblical understanding, can't be "blamed" explicitly, then how has Christianity "contributed" to our present ecological problems. He starts by asserting, “…we Christians need to be (again) reminded that we have not always been good keepers of the earth. We need to begin (and end) with confession and repentance…Many of our beliefs, habits, and practices have in fact not served the earth but rather despoiled it (p71).”

REAL PROBLEMS—

Materialism—both economic and scientific. Success=material possession and economic productivity.

Denial of creation—

(1) we no longer consider a living relationship with God essential because we have science and technology

(2) “Urban societies have undercut the ultimate knowledge of and sympathy for the earth…”—the earth is seen as a resource. We have lost our sense that we are connected to the gifts of the earth.

*(3) Particular technologies and mind-set have changed our attitudes and practices—experience the world through a technological grid or filter. Here I am thinking about the death of Steve Jobs—he is being extolled as a great man who gave us great gifts—all of which are technological. I have read over and over again how he lacked patience and was unkind to real people who didn’t agree with him.

(4) scorned, forgotten, or denies the interdependencies that are necessary for the flourishing of life

(5) growing irrelevance of God—we say God exists, but we don’t act like it. We accept the goals of our culture—The American Dream—house, cars, clothes, gadgets—without needing God. (except maybe as the genie in the bottle to grant the wishes).

The Church

(1) The church is captive to modern Western culture, which says God exists but isn’t intimately connected in any “meaningful way to the created order.”

(2) The church has accepted the “assumptions that humanity is at the center of purpose and meaning in the universe.”

(3) The church has bought into the Western culture view that makes technology a god. Technology has given us much good stuff, like this computer I’m typing on, but it isn’t always good—marketing new versions of new products with limited compatibility with things I’ve already got—like a Blu-ray for my DVDs. The question is what kind of technology, how much, for whom, and at what cost? Do we really need to endanger our fragile seas with more drilling?

(4) The church has forgotten creation. We tend to think of saving souls not creatures. Spirituality fits in certain spheres—accepted church activities. “…we tend to deny the full power of God’s grace.”

Maybe we could ask the same set of questions as in # 3—what kind of Christian faith do we need for the earth, how much, for whom, and at what cost? Umm..interesting rethinking

(5) The arrogant, inattentive and condescending attitudes toward other non-western Christian perspectives--What is needed is humility, which is where repentance fits once again.

Chapter four “What is the connection between scripture and ecology?”

--biblical wisdom and ecological vision

I liked reading the huge chunks of scriptures he used. I read them all out loud, and I think this helped me listen more deeply.

He uses focusing questions--

Where are we?

1) God is the Creator of all things.

2) God shares his power. Creation has the genuine ability to respond. We live in a responsive world.

3) Creation is cosmos. …the universe is a place of order and structure, purposefully and lovingly designed by God.

4) Creation is good. Peace is implied when the scripture says it is very good.

5) The earth is the home for all earthly creatures

6) The climax of creation is the Sabbath.—the celebration of a day of rest was the announcement of trust in God. It shows that life does not depend upon our feverish activity of self-securing…

...a pause in which life is given to us simply as a gift.

With whom does God make a covenant?--with the earth and all its creatures. An everlasting covenant. An unconditional covenant.

Very creative—first endangered species act—initiated by God and obediently carried out by Noah.

My favorite part was his reflection on Job.

Who is at the center of things?

1) Humans are not at the center. McKibben quote: “The first meaning, I think, of God’s speech to Job is that we are a part of the whole order of creation—simply a part.”

2) “man, who is only one of God’s creatures, is not the measure of all things and the sole test of the worth of creation.”

3) “Discerning identity and vocation have to do with shaping and remaking our moral imagination. This text asks of us, as of Job, extended and disciplined attentiveness. Before he is commanded to act, Job is asked to contemplate. Look, behold, appreciate—especially that which is wild, repugnant, dangerous. Conduct flows from character, doing from being, actions from basic attitudes. Cultivate these virtues—attentiveness, gratitude, humility—precisely the kind of habitual dispositions required of those called by God to care for the earth. (p. 97)

4) Moral order…an ethic of ecological hospitality and responsibility

5) …not only is the human decentered and properly among God’s creatures, but something of the character of the created world is revealed. The natural world displays order and patterned regularity. i.e., there is a moral order

6) Connect knowledge of the created order with the isolation and pain of suffering.

Quoting from Embers and Stars, Erazin Kohak writes, “God is not avoiding the issue. He is teaching Job the wisdom of bearing the pain that can neither be avoided nor abolished but can be shared when there is a whole living creation to absorb it." I’m reminded of Belden Lane’s camping trip. And of course, I’m reminded of so much of Mary Oliver’s experience of working through her grief in the poetry of Thirst. I also remember how Jean Vanier, the founder of l'Arche--a welcoming community for the developmentally impaired, took long morning walks before he began his caretaking duties.

Outside reading--

I just reread a chapter in Light through Darkness by John Chryssavagis. The chapter title shares an important focus of our class--"The Book of Nature: Theology, Ecology and Spirituality." Chryssavagis, who is the theological advisor to the Ecumenical Patriarch on environmental issues, writes from the Greek Orthodox perspective. He begins by discussing values. "Whenever we speak (whether about things in heaven or on earth), we are always drawing upon established values of ourselves and of our world. The technical language that we adopt, and even the particular 'species' that we wish to preserve, all depend on the values and the images that we promote, or rather presume. He, of course, emphasizes icons, or sacred images, as way to re-see things. "The icon reminds us of another way and reflects another world. It restores; it reconciles." He then explains, the "world is an icon, a door, a window, a point of entry, opening up to a new reality….And if the earth is an icon, if this world is an image that reflects the presence of God, then nothing whatsoever can be neutral, nothing at all lacks sacredness…The Christian is simply the one who discerns and encounters Christ everywhere."

He uses monologues by Father Zossima in Brother's K to illustrate our connectedness to the earth, our struggle for forgiveness for doing damage, and our need to embrace compassion by relating it to the cosmos. These speeches are amazingly beautiful and full of truth. Chryssavagis continues by saying, "This world is the most inconspicuous and silent sermon declaring the word of God…it is also the clearest, most visible and most tangible sermon declaring God's presence." And he adds, "Humanity, is less than humanity without the rest of creation. And Heaven is less than heaven without this world." After laying this foundation, he shifts "…this world does not always feel or even look like some sort of completion of heaven." Damage has been done, but there is a way out. He quotes St. Paul in his letter to the Colossians, "…God was pleased to reconciled to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross." Our cross needs to include self-denial,--we need to stop being so self-centered. I like how he pointed out that " a spirit of asceticism can lead to a spirit of gratitude and love, to the rediscovery of wonder and beauty in our relationship with the world…Discipline of the heart and the body is a way of relating to and reconciling with the world. His light touch drew me into accepting his premise—"The ascetic is the person who is free, uncontrolled by attitudes that abuse the world; uncompelled by ways that use the world; characterized by self-control, by self-restraint and the ability to say 'no' or 'enough'. Amen!

He suggests fasting as practice of self-denial, as an alternative to over consumption. Fasting would correct our wasting. Fasting would help us let go instead of strive to control. Also, fasting would give us more to share and promote healing of the scars we have left on our world. Chryssavagis concludes, "To fast, then, it to love; it is to see more clearly, to restore ...the original beauty of the world."

He says it is crucial that we "remember and confess--as individuals and as institutions--where we have come, where we are and where we are headed...The sacrament of confession is the process and privilege of recognising what we do and of reflecting on why we do it...It is assuming responsibility for our attitudes and actions, as well as for our inaction and perhaps indifference to action"...and this needs to "encompass the effects of our actions on the natural environment."

Confession leads to the imperative of connection/communion. We are all united by sharing the earth. We are interconnected in intregal and deep ways--breathing air, drinking water, walking on the land, although he stresses how we don't do these things equally or fairly. His suggested "correction may in fact begin with environmental inaction...in the discipline of silence, of vigilance and of detachment." But he doesn't stop here. He expands and adds a third imperative, "that of remembering compassion." His point--"The fact that someone 'has not' changes the character of my 'having'; it undercuts my security and drives me to share." Because our earth is damaged, I can demonstrate my care for it by using less, wanting less, and even needing less.

Three incarnate approaches for practical ministry of earth care--

1) Bibical Model--The church must stand with the weakest part of creation, the most vulnerable of creations, the helpless or voiceless--the groaning creation.

2) Ascetic Model--3 Rs Renunciation--learning to share; Repentance--confess that we do not share, that we are self-centered, that we abuse the goods of the earth; Responsibility--direct our lives in a manner that is at once reverent towards creation and Creator.

Note: Ascetic model is not a better way of action, but in reality a way of inaction, of silence and of vigilance.--

My note: This certainly seems too safe and easy, not costing much. Plus it allows others to continue damaging the earth unchallenged. But if I accept that this is one part of a whole response, then it seems incrediblly valuable. It is not an either or choice. All are called to pray, and some are called to challenge--in speaking, in writing, in protesting, in serving and even in making art. It seems that the most balanced and effective challenges would emerge from this thoughtful, spiritual "inaction, of silence and of vigilance."

3) Sacramental Model--not just ritual observances but ways of active engagement reconnecting us to God and the natural world, by drawing on its elements--water, bread, wine, oil, fire, light and darkness--room for creative reimagining.