In a week of bracing for Tropical Storm Fred, with another storm, Grace, right behind it; in a week of continuing concern for wildfires raging throughout the west, and earthquakes at home and abroad, (even today in western North Carolina) speakers bring ‘code red’ and hope to the Presbyterians for Earth Care Conference.
The conference preacher, Dr. Neddy Astudillo of GreenFaith, spoke from Tampa, Fla, of the increase in tropical storms and the spike in hurricane activity the past several years. Bible study leader, Dr. Jonathan Moo of Whitworth University, spoke from Spokane, saying that if the group was gathered there, it would be hard to see or even stay outside due to the unprecedented wildfires in the region. Both leaders spoke of work to be done by Presbyterians in the climate crisis, work that must be done in hope.
Dr. Moo said, “We live in a time where, increasingly, it can be hard not to despair over the state of our Earth, over the state of our world. When I think about the century of mismanagement, how we did not listen to indigenous leaders who knew how already to care for the forest to let small fires burn, even to set fires, and then you lay over that a century of mismanagement with climate change, making our summers longer and hotter and drier, the human fingerprint on the state of our world is becoming impossible to ignore.”
According to Dr. Astudillo, “Code Red points to the fact that as a church we cannot continue speaking or singing of God in one way, and acting in society in another, in a way that puts life under threat, or else our songs are only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal … Code Red means that while we are in a diverse country and denomination with diverse languages, we need to recognize that climate change disproportionately impacts black and brown communities. So we need to make sure resources are available to all so that all that is served by the church in Christ’s name is made available in a way that all members of the church can partake, so no one is left behind, no blessing is lost in translation.”
Dr. Moo shared these words in closing his portion of the conference: At a time like this, we need biblical hope, rooted in Christ … One of Christ’s guiding points was that Creation is not the backdrop to the story of God and humanity. Rather, it is part of the story … We are called to love, to care for Creation, and for our human sisters and brothers together.”
We need groups like Presbyterians for Earth Care to remind us who we truly are.
Elizabeth
The 32nd Summer Olympics came to a close in Tokyo. “We did it – together!” the president of the International Olympic committee said. “Together we faced the crisis of the pandemic. Together we fought to overcome it. Together the world’s athletes competed for glory. Together we watched them strive to deliver the performance of a lifetime. And together, their strength and resilience inspired us … This year’s competition showcased the very essence of the Olympics: a celebration of peace, of potential and of humanity.”
Some things I will always remember: the many colors of the human family and their national flags; the beauty of the human body and the wonderful things it can be called upon to do; the spirit of cooperative competition and mutual encouragement; the moving life stories of the athletes competing there- especially the one challenging us to “start your impossible”; the commercials that spoke of so much more than products to be sold; the back home celebrations we were able to enjoy; the celebration of winning and the agony of defeat; the resiliency of the athletes and the games, a year late in coming, and to an empty stadium, with the whole world watching; the beauty of the surviving trees in the Hiroshima garden that remain a powerful symbol of life after atomic blasts- symbols of hope and peace and living together in harmony. Truly we found a way to come together in real and lasting ways in Olympic games never to be forgotten!
During the weeks of the Olympics, I was reminded of the song “We Are the World” from the year 1985. It was written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie and released by the supergroup USA for Africa to help raise money for famine relief in Africa, and it was remade again in 2010 after the earthquake in Haiti.
I was teaching third grade that year, and remember the song being sung by the Elementary Chorus that spring. In many ways it became the school’s theme for that year. I can still see the faces of those little mountain children singing this song from their hearts of behalf of their much larger human family, connected in their caring and concern, to a world many of them would never see.
Remember these words:
There comes a time
When we heed a certain call
When the world must come together as one
There are people dying
Oh, and it’s time to lend a hand
To life the greatest gift of all.
We can’t go on
Pretending day by day,
That someone, somewhere soon make a change
We’re all a part of God’s great big family
And the truth, you know, love is all we need.
We are the world
We are the children
We are the ones who make a brighter day, so let’s start giving
There’s a choice we’re making
We’re saving our own lives
It’s true we’ll make a better day, just you and me.
“We are the world … we’re all a part of God’s great big family … and love is all we need.” That love must show itself in tangible ways as together we “lend a hand, to life, the greatest gift of all … We’ll make a better day – just you and me”
… and you and me and you and me and you and me … May we keep working together for that brighter day.
Elizabeth
The book I picked from the bookshelf this morning is Stitches: A Handbook on Meaning, Hope and Repair, by Anne Lamott.
“If you were raised in the 1950’s or 1960’s and grasped how scary the world could be, in Birmingham, Vietnam and the house on the corner where the daddy drank, you were diagnosed as being the overly sensitive child … What the term meant was that you noticed how unhappy your parents were. Also, you worried about global starvation, animals at the pound who didn’t get adopted, and smog. What a nut! You looked into things too deeply, and you noticed things that not many others could see, and this exasperated your parents and teachers. They said, ‘You need to have thicker skin.’ That would have been excellent, but you couldn’t go buy thicker skin at the five and dime.”
I was one such child, told again and again throughout life that I needed to have a “thicker skin” in order to deal effectively with the challenges of the moment. Somehow that just hasn’t happened for me, and I’m grateful.
Lamott goes on to say,
“As far as I can recall, none of the adults in my life ever once remembered to say, “Some people have a thick skin and you don’t. Your heart is really open and that is going to cause pain, but that is an appropriate response to this world. The cost is high, but the blessing of being compassionate is beyond your wildest dreams. However, you’re not going to feel that a lot in seventh grade. Just hang on!”
At nearly seventy three years of age, while I have yet to develop a “thicker skin,” I have become more and more comfortable in my own skin and more at peace with who and how I am.
Remember the story of the Velveteen Rabbit, by Margery Williams
“You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in your joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you’re Real, you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”
Giving thanks for moments to reflect on the wonder of life’s journey, and for those streams of mercy, never ceasing!
Elizabeth