Monday, September 23, 2013
The Meaning of This Hour
I first "met" Rabbi Lawrence Troster about six years ago, when I discovered GreenFaith, Interfaith Partners for the Environment, on the Internet. I sent Rabbi Troster (Fellowship Director) an email inquiring about the new program established to provide an avenue to the faith communities, about turning their church communities "green". I even talked with Pastor Dr. Jeff London about participating in the program GreenFaith had launched to create Fellows to go out and spread the "green" word about God's Creation and what we as humans were doing to the planet. It was decided the timing was not at that time, mostly due to the responsibilities with my day job and the conflict of timing.
I read an article in HuffPost Religion, written by Rabbi Troster and I wanted to share some of his thoughts.
In March 1938, Abraham Joshua Heschel delivered a speech to a conference of Quakers in Frankfort called "The Meaning of this Hour." It was later published in 1943. Heschel was speaking out and witnessing the horrors of war. He was arrested in October 1938 and sent to Poland. Six weeks before the invasion of Poland he was sent to England and than to the United States.
Heschel warned of the coming cataclysm in vivid and forceful language, evoking images of the demonic. He said, "At no time has the earth been so soaked with blood. Fellowmen turned out to be evil ghosts, monstrous and weird." He asked the question,"Who is responsible?" We are, he said, by not fighting for "right, for justice, for goodness." He said we should be ashamed, and after the war, when the full horror of the Holocaust was revealed, he said that we should not ask, "Where was God?" but "Where is man?"
We are not facing a world war, but we are facing something even worse. What we are doing with carbon is against the least of these. It's the people on the small islands and other countries without the means to protect themselves from our personal actions. "What we do to the least of these", as Jesus said. But we can stop the situation from getting worse.
In the published version of his speech, Heschel wrote, "The Almighty has not created the universe that we may have opportunities to satisfy our greed, envy and ambition. We have not survived that we may waste our years in vulgar vanities." These words can easily be applied to our lack of action on climate change.
Climate change is one of the greatest moral disasters of human history, because the people who will suffer the most have been the least responsible for its cause.
The meaning of this hour is that we must recognize what we are doing, admit our fault, and bring about the changes necessary to prevent further damage.
Fifty years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. spoke of the "fierce urgency of now." Once again, that is the meaning of THIS hour. Thank you, Rabbi Troster.
I read an article in HuffPost Religion, written by Rabbi Troster and I wanted to share some of his thoughts.
In March 1938, Abraham Joshua Heschel delivered a speech to a conference of Quakers in Frankfort called "The Meaning of this Hour." It was later published in 1943. Heschel was speaking out and witnessing the horrors of war. He was arrested in October 1938 and sent to Poland. Six weeks before the invasion of Poland he was sent to England and than to the United States.
Heschel warned of the coming cataclysm in vivid and forceful language, evoking images of the demonic. He said, "At no time has the earth been so soaked with blood. Fellowmen turned out to be evil ghosts, monstrous and weird." He asked the question,"Who is responsible?" We are, he said, by not fighting for "right, for justice, for goodness." He said we should be ashamed, and after the war, when the full horror of the Holocaust was revealed, he said that we should not ask, "Where was God?" but "Where is man?"
We are not facing a world war, but we are facing something even worse. What we are doing with carbon is against the least of these. It's the people on the small islands and other countries without the means to protect themselves from our personal actions. "What we do to the least of these", as Jesus said. But we can stop the situation from getting worse.
In the published version of his speech, Heschel wrote, "The Almighty has not created the universe that we may have opportunities to satisfy our greed, envy and ambition. We have not survived that we may waste our years in vulgar vanities." These words can easily be applied to our lack of action on climate change.
Climate change is one of the greatest moral disasters of human history, because the people who will suffer the most have been the least responsible for its cause.
The meaning of this hour is that we must recognize what we are doing, admit our fault, and bring about the changes necessary to prevent further damage.
Fifty years ago, Martin Luther King Jr. spoke of the "fierce urgency of now." Once again, that is the meaning of THIS hour. Thank you, Rabbi Troster.
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Equal Exchange is About Community
As we all eagerly await for Autumn to arrive, let me share with you good news from Equal Exchange.
This fall when you purchase coffee, tea, and chocolate, your purchase will count twice. In addition to supporting long-term committed relationships that Equal Exchange has with their small farmers, when we purchase Equal Exchange products, we support our denomination too. Equal Exchange gives additional funds back to our national denomination through the Small Farmer Fund, which PC(USA) decides how to spend.
Last year Presbyterian Church (USA) gave contributions to support The Road to Life Yard-Papaye, an integrated sustainable agricultural development program in Haiti which includes organic farming and Moringa Trees through MPP-Mouvman Peyizan Papay.
I thought you would like to know what a helpful contribution you bring through your purchases to help God's children to become self sufficient.
In Christ, all things are possible.
In peace and joy. Diane
This fall when you purchase coffee, tea, and chocolate, your purchase will count twice. In addition to supporting long-term committed relationships that Equal Exchange has with their small farmers, when we purchase Equal Exchange products, we support our denomination too. Equal Exchange gives additional funds back to our national denomination through the Small Farmer Fund, which PC(USA) decides how to spend.
Last year Presbyterian Church (USA) gave contributions to support The Road to Life Yard-Papaye, an integrated sustainable agricultural development program in Haiti which includes organic farming and Moringa Trees through MPP-Mouvman Peyizan Papay.
I thought you would like to know what a helpful contribution you bring through your purchases to help God's children to become self sufficient.
In Christ, all things are possible.
In peace and joy. Diane
PC(USA) Office of Public Witness: Oppose cuts to SNAP!
PC(USA) Office of Public Witness: Oppose cuts to SNAP!: This week, the House of Representatives will take up a bill that will cut $40 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program ...
As followers of Christ, we must care for those who hunger.
As followers of Christ, we must care for those who hunger.
PC(USA) Office of Public Witness: We Remain Committed to Eradicating Gun Violence
PC(USA) Office of Public Witness: We Remain Committed to Eradicating Gun Violence: We Remain Committed to Eradicating Gun Violence September 17, 2013 The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Office of Public Witness (O...
PLEASE SIGN THE POSTCARD ON THE TABLES IN THE UPPER AND LOWER NARTHEX. PLEASE UNDERSTAND THIS DOES NOT AFFECT A HUNTERS RIGHT TO OWN FIREARMS. THIS IS STRICTLY ABOUT ASSAULT WEAPONS.
PLEASE SIGN THE POSTCARD ON THE TABLES IN THE UPPER AND LOWER NARTHEX. PLEASE UNDERSTAND THIS DOES NOT AFFECT A HUNTERS RIGHT TO OWN FIREARMS. THIS IS STRICTLY ABOUT ASSAULT WEAPONS.
Monday, September 16, 2013
3. Fruitfulness Principle: (Part three of a piece from Calvin B. DeWitt)
WE SHOULD ENJOY, BUT MUST NOT DESTROY, CREATION'S FRUITFULNESS.
The fish of the sea and the birds of the air, as well as people, are given God's blessing of fruitfulness. In Genesis 1:20 and 22 God declares, "Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky." And then God blesses these creatures with fruitfulness;"Be fruitful and incraese in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth." God's Creation reflects God's fruitful work--God's fruitful work of giving to land and life what satisfies. As it is written in Psalm 104, "He makes springs pour water into the ravines; it flows between the mountains. They give water to all the beasts of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst. The birds of the air nest by the waters; they sing among its branches. He waters the mountains from his upper chambers; the earth is satisfied by the fruit of his work." And Psalm 23 describes how our providing God "...makes me lie down in green pastures,...leads me beside still waters,...restores my soul."
As God's fruitful work brings fruit to Creation, so too should ours. As God provides for the creatures, so should we people who were created to reflect God whose image we bear. Imaging God, we too should provide for the creatures. And, as Noah spared no time, expense, or reputation when God's creatures were threatened with extinction, neither should we. Deluges--in Noah's time of water, and in our time of floods of people--sprawl over the land, displacing God's creatures, limiting THEIR potential to obey God's command,"be fruitful and increase in number." To those who would allow a human flood across the land at the expense of all other creatures, the prophet Isaiah warns: "Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field till no space is left and you live alone in the land." (Isaiah 5:8)
Thus, while expected to enjoy Creation, while expected to partake of Creation's fruit, we may not destroy the fruitfulness upon which Creation's fullness depends. We must, with Noah, save the species whose interactions with each other, and with land and water, form the fabric of the biosphere. We should let the profound admonition of Ezekiel 34:18 reverberate and echo in our minds:
WE SHOULD ENJOY, BUT MUST NOT DESTROY, CREATION'S FRUITFULNESS.
The fish of the sea and the birds of the air, as well as people, are given God's blessing of fruitfulness. In Genesis 1:20 and 22 God declares, "Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky." And then God blesses these creatures with fruitfulness;"Be fruitful and incraese in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth." God's Creation reflects God's fruitful work--God's fruitful work of giving to land and life what satisfies. As it is written in Psalm 104, "He makes springs pour water into the ravines; it flows between the mountains. They give water to all the beasts of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst. The birds of the air nest by the waters; they sing among its branches. He waters the mountains from his upper chambers; the earth is satisfied by the fruit of his work." And Psalm 23 describes how our providing God "...makes me lie down in green pastures,...leads me beside still waters,...restores my soul."
As God's fruitful work brings fruit to Creation, so too should ours. As God provides for the creatures, so should we people who were created to reflect God whose image we bear. Imaging God, we too should provide for the creatures. And, as Noah spared no time, expense, or reputation when God's creatures were threatened with extinction, neither should we. Deluges--in Noah's time of water, and in our time of floods of people--sprawl over the land, displacing God's creatures, limiting THEIR potential to obey God's command,"be fruitful and increase in number." To those who would allow a human flood across the land at the expense of all other creatures, the prophet Isaiah warns: "Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field till no space is left and you live alone in the land." (Isaiah 5:8)
Thus, while expected to enjoy Creation, while expected to partake of Creation's fruit, we may not destroy the fruitfulness upon which Creation's fullness depends. We must, with Noah, save the species whose interactions with each other, and with land and water, form the fabric of the biosphere. We should let the profound admonition of Ezekiel 34:18 reverberate and echo in our minds:
"Is it not enough for you to feed on the green pastures?
Must you also trample them with your feet?
"Is it not enough for you to drink the pure water?
Must you also muddy it with your feet?"
Copyright Au Sable Institute of Environmental Studies.
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
2. Sabbath Principle:
WE MUST PROVIDE FOR CREATION'S SABBATH RESTS
Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 require that one day in seven be set aside as a day of rest for people and for animals. As human beings and animals are to be given their times of sabbath rest, so also is the land. Exodus 23 commands, "For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield; but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the wild beasts may eat." "You may ask, 'What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not plant or harvest our crops?"" God's answer in Leviticus 25 and 26 is:"I will send you such a blessing in the sixth year that the land will yield enough for three years," so do not worry, but practice this law so that your land will be fruitful. "If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees of the field their fruit."
Christ in the New Testament clearly teaches that the Sabbath is made for the ones served by it-not the other way around. Thus, the sabbath year is given to protect the land from relentless exploitation, to help the land rejuvenate, to help it get things together again; it is a time of rest and restoration. This sabbath is not merely a legalistic requirement; rather, it is a profound principle. Thus in some Christian farming communities, the sabbath principle is practiced by letting the land rest every second year, "because that is what the land needs." And of course, it is not therefore restricted to agriculture but applies to all Creation. The Bible warns in Leviticus 26,"...if you will not listen to me and carry out all these commands, and if you reject my decrees and abhor my laws and fail to carry out all my commands and so violate my covenant, ...Your land will be laid waste, and your cities will lie in ruins... Then the land will enjoy its sabbath years all the time it lies desolate...then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths. All the time that it lies desolate, the land will have the rest it did not have during the sabbaths you lived in it."
WE MUST PROVIDE FOR CREATION'S SABBATH RESTS
Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 require that one day in seven be set aside as a day of rest for people and for animals. As human beings and animals are to be given their times of sabbath rest, so also is the land. Exodus 23 commands, "For six years you shall sow your land and gather in its yield; but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie fallow, that the poor of your people may eat; and what they leave the wild beasts may eat." "You may ask, 'What will we eat in the seventh year if we do not plant or harvest our crops?"" God's answer in Leviticus 25 and 26 is:"I will send you such a blessing in the sixth year that the land will yield enough for three years," so do not worry, but practice this law so that your land will be fruitful. "If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees of the field their fruit."
Christ in the New Testament clearly teaches that the Sabbath is made for the ones served by it-not the other way around. Thus, the sabbath year is given to protect the land from relentless exploitation, to help the land rejuvenate, to help it get things together again; it is a time of rest and restoration. This sabbath is not merely a legalistic requirement; rather, it is a profound principle. Thus in some Christian farming communities, the sabbath principle is practiced by letting the land rest every second year, "because that is what the land needs." And of course, it is not therefore restricted to agriculture but applies to all Creation. The Bible warns in Leviticus 26,"...if you will not listen to me and carry out all these commands, and if you reject my decrees and abhor my laws and fail to carry out all my commands and so violate my covenant, ...Your land will be laid waste, and your cities will lie in ruins... Then the land will enjoy its sabbath years all the time it lies desolate...then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths. All the time that it lies desolate, the land will have the rest it did not have during the sabbaths you lived in it."
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Over the next three days, I shall share three biblical principles for environmental stewardship, written by Dr. Calvin B. DeWitt.
1. Earthkeeping Principle:
AS THE LORD KEEPS AND SUSTAINS US, SO MUST WE KEEP AND SUSTAIN OUR LORD'S CREATION.
Genesis2:15 expects Adam and Adam's decendants to serve and keep the garden. The Hebrew word upon which the translation of keep is based is the word "shamar" and "shamar" means a loving, caring, sustaining keeping. This word also is used in the Aaronic blessing, from Numbers 6:24, "The Lord bless you and keep you." When we invoke God's blessing to keep us, it is not merely that God would keep us in a kind of preserved,m inactive, uninteresting state. Instead, it is that God would keep us in all of our vitality, with all our energy and beauty. The keeping we expect of God when we invoke the Aaronic blessing is one that nurtures all of our life-staining and life-fulfilling relationships-with our family, spouse, and children, with our neighbors and our friends, with the land and creatures that sustain us, with the air and water, and with our God.
And so too with our keeping of the Garden-in our keeping of God's Creation. When Adam, Eve and we, keep the Creation, we make sure that the creatures under our care and keeping are maintained with all their proper connections-connections with members of the same species, with the many other species with which they interact, with the soil, air and water upon which they depend. The rich and full keeping that we invoke with the Aaronic blessing is the kind of rich and full keeping that we should bring to the garden of God-to God's creatures and to all of Creation. As God keeps believing people, so should God's people keep Creation.
Tomorrow: Sabbath Principle
1. Earthkeeping Principle:
AS THE LORD KEEPS AND SUSTAINS US, SO MUST WE KEEP AND SUSTAIN OUR LORD'S CREATION.
Genesis2:15 expects Adam and Adam's decendants to serve and keep the garden. The Hebrew word upon which the translation of keep is based is the word "shamar" and "shamar" means a loving, caring, sustaining keeping. This word also is used in the Aaronic blessing, from Numbers 6:24, "The Lord bless you and keep you." When we invoke God's blessing to keep us, it is not merely that God would keep us in a kind of preserved,m inactive, uninteresting state. Instead, it is that God would keep us in all of our vitality, with all our energy and beauty. The keeping we expect of God when we invoke the Aaronic blessing is one that nurtures all of our life-staining and life-fulfilling relationships-with our family, spouse, and children, with our neighbors and our friends, with the land and creatures that sustain us, with the air and water, and with our God.
And so too with our keeping of the Garden-in our keeping of God's Creation. When Adam, Eve and we, keep the Creation, we make sure that the creatures under our care and keeping are maintained with all their proper connections-connections with members of the same species, with the many other species with which they interact, with the soil, air and water upon which they depend. The rich and full keeping that we invoke with the Aaronic blessing is the kind of rich and full keeping that we should bring to the garden of God-to God's creatures and to all of Creation. As God keeps believing people, so should God's people keep Creation.
Tomorrow: Sabbath Principle
Friday, September 6, 2013
Thursday, September 5, 2013
Mountain Top Removal
The twenty-first century is moving by at a fast clip. It's so easy to be wrapped up with our daily lives, we tend to forget to think about things going on around our country.
More and more people are becoming familiar with the term, "Mountain Top Removal". But most of the country does not realize what the coal industry is doing to the Appalacian Mountains. Please watch the video and spread the word. We must be there for our brothers and sisters, who are fighting daily the horrors of the whole situation. We MUST stop this practice.
Carpe Diem
ilovemountains.org
More and more people are becoming familiar with the term, "Mountain Top Removal". But most of the country does not realize what the coal industry is doing to the Appalacian Mountains. Please watch the video and spread the word. We must be there for our brothers and sisters, who are fighting daily the horrors of the whole situation. We MUST stop this practice.
Carpe Diem
ilovemountains.org
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
Welcome to the JKPC Green Team Blog. It is my intention to educate and be educated in regards to God's Creation...our home...earth. And I might add...the only one with CHOCOLATE!!! :) Fair Trade chocolate, that is. We will learn what Fair Trade is all about. We will explore and learn about social justice and how we can take small steps as we learn how to tread softly in this Garden of Eden we call home.
So come and grow with me, as we explore all that is new, enlightening, and full of grace.
So come and grow with me, as we explore all that is new, enlightening, and full of grace.
That was then...this is now
A few years have come and gone since I last gave this blog the important attention it deserves.
Now that John Knox members can access this blog from the JK website, it's time to start communicating.
ATTENTION: Saturday September 14, 2013 is the Blessing of the Pets in the Glen on the grounds of John Knox Church, 2929 E 31 Street, Tulsa.
We have had such wonderful turnouts in the last several years.
Please mark your calendar for a time of connecting with our friends and all the pets who bring such unconditional love to our hearts.
As we begin, my hope is to share answers to your questions and to provide food for thought. Your contributions will broaden our growing together in all that stands for justice and peace.
Our monthly Fair Trade Sunday begins this month, but on the third Sunday, this month only. Come see the beautiful candles and baskets, and chocolates.
Many new items will arrive this fall.
Now that John Knox members can access this blog from the JK website, it's time to start communicating.
ATTENTION: Saturday September 14, 2013 is the Blessing of the Pets in the Glen on the grounds of John Knox Church, 2929 E 31 Street, Tulsa.
We have had such wonderful turnouts in the last several years.
Please mark your calendar for a time of connecting with our friends and all the pets who bring such unconditional love to our hearts.
As we begin, my hope is to share answers to your questions and to provide food for thought. Your contributions will broaden our growing together in all that stands for justice and peace.
Our monthly Fair Trade Sunday begins this month, but on the third Sunday, this month only. Come see the beautiful candles and baskets, and chocolates.
Many new items will arrive this fall.
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