Community Re-Envisioned

A church parking lot full of cars on a Sunday morning: what do you see?

I issue a challenge to our church: let's get as few cars as possible at church on a Sunday morning. That is not to say that no one should come to church on a Sunday morning (a discussion for a different day). Rather, are there better ways to get there?

As I rode the new W Light Rail Line en route to church this past Sunday, I got to thinking about the concept of Sabbath. For, one of the most common benefits ascribed to personal motorized transport is time and convenience. It strikes me that the Sabbath is a wonderful opportunity to step outside that worldview, to move about at a more measured pace, to see the world anew through inconvenience, inefficiency, and *gasp* boredom.

Taking 80 minutes to get to church gave me time to think. And, I was also able to get my first smell of the season's lilacs (as I biked from Yale Station to church). That was a pleasant surprise. I probably won't get as much "done" today, and I am learning to accept the importance of that.

The automobile has its time and place, certainly. Traveling with a young family or traveling with mobility issues are well served by this technology. New cars are tending to be easier on the Earth (though there numbers continue to grow). I would be a hypocrite to say that you should never drive again (I love road trips).

Nevertheless, there are other ways to get to church that afford the opportunity of happenstance while minimizing your carbon footprint. You can:

1. Ride public transportation. Use the Trip Planner Function on the RTD website.

2. Walk. This is about as straightforward as it gets.

3. Ride your bike. The Highline Trail literally goes right past First Plymouth. Denver has a map of bike routes and bike lanes, too. Follow safe biking protocol.

4. Arrange a carpool.

5. Telecommute. At the moment, this is still hypothetical. But what if we could stream the worship service, or organize church meetings via video chat?

6. Is church just a place? How can we re-envision the covenantal missional church to sprout forth in new and diverse ways?

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Photo: Denver Post, April 2013.

Earth Is Amazing!

A brilliant and inspiring cautionary tale, you need to see Wall-E (again)!

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Movie: Stanton, Andrew, et al. WALL-E. Burbank, CA: Walt Disney Home Entertainment, 2008.

The Immersive Presence

"Nature is too thin a screen;
 the glory of the omnipresent God?
bursts through everywhere."

Do you see?

--
Text: Ralph Waldo Emerson
Picture: A Golden Sunset, June 2010.

People for Bikes

To ride a bike is to be free. Forged from the bones of the Earth and the gravity of the mind, the bicycle is synergy and harmony. Go for a ride and restore your hope.

1. The wind on your skin, the endorphins pulsing, it is easy to forget that your objective is anything otherwise. Check out the map of Denver routes to determine your commute to work.

2. Feeling like some whimsy? Check out the New Belgium Tour de Fat.

3. Go for a family ride on one of Denver's bike trails: Cherry Creek, Highline, South Platte, Sand Creek, or Clear Creek.

4. Find adventure and beauty on a foothills mountain bike ride: South Valley or Waterton Canyon (beginner), Green Mountain or North Table Mountain (intermediate), or Centennial Cone or Apex (advanced).

5. Advocate for biking policies and infrastructure. Check out People for Bikes.

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Picture: Summit Loop, Green Mountain, May 2008.

Machines

For a haunting ballad of loss in a post-modern world, check out the song Machines by Mason Jennings, from the 180 South soundtrack.

Inside

"I only went out for a walk and finally concluded to stay out till sundown, for going out, I found, was really going in."

-John Muir













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Picture: Feet Emerging from Winter, Canyonlands National Park, April 2013.

Touch

Ecological justice and spirituality can sometimes get bogged down in abstraction. Take time to feel the embrace of the natural world. We protect what we love; strengthen your connection to the Whole as everyday earth care.

1. Go barefoot and experience the grass between your toes.

2. Climb a tree.

3. Lay down in a snow bank.

4. Shut your eyes and feel the breeze blowing across your skin.

5. Pick up a rock.

6. Jump into a lake.

Earth Day Ecovangelism

In religious circles, there is "do it or else!" evangelism, and then there is "this is so cool!" evangelism. The former peddles gloom and doom, the latter shares inspiration and wonder. There is judgment. Alternatively, there is good news.

As Earth evangelists, it is easy to slip into the world of negativity. Reduce our carbon footprint before it is game over. Stop using plastic - have you seen the giant garbage patch in the Pacific! Do you really need that new car? Turn off your smartphone and pay attention to what is happening! Don't you care?

Our ecological challenges are significant and threatening, and change must happen if we hope for life to flourish long into the future here on Earth. But translating our concern into judgment and fear and deprivation is not a viable way forward. Human history makes clear that such ideologies destroy themselves, as is the way of the universe.

Alternatively, I have faith in the creative unfolding that has brought us here to this moment. And I have hope that its Light - especially when shared - holds an immense power to move us in evolutionary, affirming ways. We experience wonder, ingenuity,  whimsy, beauty, authenticity, joy,  sustenance - so amazed by the Creation Gospel, how can we keep from singing?

In 1968, at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, Senegalese environmentalist Baba Dioum put forth a wise observation:  we conserve what we love; we love what we understand; we understand what we experience.

Rather than prophesy ecological collapse, we must focus our energies on sharing the Good News that we have experienced living in vibrant relationship with the Whole Earth.

Personally, wandering the wilderness has been a source of immense peace and strength. I have received this gift through the people and resources my life has afforded. One of my joys now is to share the wilderness experience with others who have not yet had such a privilege - to share the love. I am constantly amazed, not only by the universal charisma of nature, but by the ways in which I am blessed to see the world anew through these outings. The Spirit soars in marvelous and unexpected ways!

From Earth Day forward, let the Light shine!

Why I Wake Early

Hello, sun in my face.
Hello, you who make the morning
and spread it over the fields
and into the faces of the tulips
and the nodding morning glories,
and into the windows of, even, the
miserable and the crotchety ---

best preacher that ever was,
dear star, that just happens
to be where you are in the universe
to keep us from ever-darkness,
to ease us with warm touching,
to hold us in the great hands of light ---
good morning, good morning, good morning.

Watch, now, how I start the day
in happiness, in kindness.

--
Text: Mary Oliver, "Why I Wake Early," New and Selected Poems Volume II, 2007.
Picture: Green Mountain Sunrise, April 2013.

The Cosmic Breath

More than Cheese Pizza

Generally, the higher on the food chain you eat, the more energy and resources required to produce your food. Without getting into the thorny moral and biological issues of industrial meat production, it is clear that you should listen to your mom's advice: eat your veggies! Remember, you don't need to be a vegetarian to eat like a vegetarian.

1. A vegetarian meal can be much more than cheese pizza or spaghetti without meatballs. In fact, going meatless for a  couple nights a week may very well open up a whole new world of possibility! Check out Vegetarian Times for no shortage of fun recipes.

2. Go on a date night to Watercourse Restaurant, Mellow Mushroom, or another restaurant with awesome vegetarian food.

3. Take the family to the Farmer's Market and wander around the festival-like atmosphere. While there, talk with the vendors about how your food is raised and where it is coming from.

4. Are you eating more plants, but still hankering for meat? Reduce the amount of meat in any recipe by half and use the money you save to buy organic.

5. Speaking of, it doesn't get more organic, free range, and local than wild game. Not sure if hunting is quite your thing? You can at least read some interesting accounts in The Omnivore's Dilemma or The Mindful Carnivore.

Tar Sands

The public commentary period for the Keystone XL Pipeline closes on April 22. Supporters cite job creation and cheap energy as a primary rationale for the pipeline. Detractors - such as myself - cite mounting concerns about climate change and additional oil spills (such as the Mayflower oil spill on Good Friday) as not worth the short term economic benefit. You can comment against the pipeline at 350.org.

"At a time when religions seem bent on destroying not only each other but the planet, we are proclaiming a prophetic vision of respectful peace.At a time when the center of society is unraveling we work from the margin offering an alternative path, weaving an alternate vision, strengthening the ties of human relationship and dignity."

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Video: Sierra Club, June 2012
Text: Reverend George Anastos, April 2013

Solace in a Crazy World

Deep peace of the rolling waves to you

Deep peace of the silent stars

Deep peace of the blowing air to you

Deep peace of the quiet earth

Let peace, let peace, let peace fill your soul

May peace, may peace, may peace keep you whole

--

Text: Traditional Gaelic Blessing

Picture: 3 AM, Reykavik, July 2012

Pam and Jenean

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Picture: WRV Project, O'Fallon Park, April 2013

The Frontier Spirit

Reservations aside, the mythic frontier entices with its ideal of self-sufficiency and resourcefulness,
the do it yourself spirit. In today's ease of abundance and planned obsolescence  I think it is especially appealing for the Modern Man to fix something himself, with no clear directions, and little sense of knowing what he is doing. (The same may go for the Modern Woman.)

And in a practical sense, as everyday earth care, maintenance and do-it-yourself projects can mitigate the embedded costs of purchasing a new product.

1. A needle, thread and duct tape will extend the life of most any product.
2. Go ahead and try to repair/maintain your bicycle yourself. With its simplicity of design, you are not likely to make it worse.
3. Instead of buying new, go to the thrift shop to see what sorts of treasures you may be able to restore.
4. The Sierra Club offers all sorts of fun DIY projects for repurposing your stuff.
5. Take pride in making your electronics last far beyond their "relevance." Old School is cool. Besides, on the frontier, you can't just hop online and order up an iGadget 10 to replace your iGadget 9.

Oil and Water

I am by no means an expert on the science, technology, and economics of the oil and gas industry in Colorado, but this article in the Denver Post really makes you wonder: what exactly are we doing?

Apropos to the issue of regulation is current Colorado legislation HB 1269, regarding conflict of interest within the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. The Denver Post also provides a thorough overview of all pending legislation.

Where is the voice of the religious community on the commodification of Creation? Is the Earth not more than a collection of "mineral rights" to be extracted for human consumption? Is there not a better way forward?

I think it is time to write a letter to Governor Hinckenlooper!

Mystery of the Universe

Joy of all creation

Mystery of all life

Dance with the universe

Yes to life, in strife

Trust in all existence

Celebrate life with joy

Trust in the mystery

No need to destroy

Joy in the moment 

Listen to the sounds

Dance with the cosmos

Bonding has no bounds

Winds of justice blowing

Hear the human cry

All life is equal

Justice will not die

Mystery of the universe

Sings in every heart

Essence of all being

Nothing is set apart

Life is a journey

Celebrate who we are

Center of all being 

In every cosmos star

Essence of the universe

Found in you and me

Bathe in creation’s wonder

All life is free

Care for life together

Peace and justice pry

Deep from every heart

Compassion is our cry

Empower love and justice

Loving hearts we bring

Welcome to the universe

All life does sing

Wholeness of the universe

Beauty of the earth

Care for all creation

Life has new birth

Sing with the universe

Life calls our name

Embracing creation’s journey

New life we proclaim

Splendid world of wonder

Gentle world of peace

Bonding world of justice

All violence ceased

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Text: Fletch Wideman, March 2013

Restoring Relationship

A number of FPCC folks - Pam, Bruce, Adrienne, Jenean and Troy - teamed up with 80 of our neighbors for a Wildlands Restoration Volunteers project at O'Fallon Park, a Denver Mountain Park.

O'Fallon Park is being "loved to death." As an accessible, high use recreational area along Bear Creek, footprint upon footprint have wandered its banks. The challenge is that such concentrated exploration has expedited erosion.  As a result, local plant and stream ecology is under duress.

The goal of the project was to restore the mutually sustaining relationship between human thriving and ecological flourishing -to heal the land while strengthening our human connection to it.

Practically speaking, we carried out a number of tasks, such as:  prepping and reseeding over-eroded areas; planting willows, chokecherries, and wild roses; building buck and pole fence along sensitive areas; and laying down durable surface on wet sections of trail. We tilled, dug, shoveled, hauled, wheelbarrowed, raked, tamped and - overall - got plenty of fresh air and exercise.

Getting dirty is soul-work.

There are many opportunities to get involved with Wildlands Restoration Volunteers throughout the summer. I guarantee that you will have a great time, while doing important work.

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Picture: Jenean O'Brien, April 2013.

Conservation Colorado

I happened across Conservation Colorado. I will admit my bias for a well-designed, aesthetic webpage. But beyond the surface you will find a lot of great information on current ecological issues and environmental legislation specific to Colorado.

While there is a certain appeal and strength to the classic letter sent to a legislator's office in the mail, it is hard to deny the "easy button" appeal of the Take Action tool that provides pre-written letters on current Colorado issues. You can edit the text, or simply send it off with a few swift key strokes and a press of the button.

If nothing else, such a website and its tools allow a good jumping off point for your own research and advocacy.

The Wheels on the Bus

Yes, they go 'round and 'round, and take you all through the town. They may say taking a car to work is more convenient, but can you do this when driving in rush hour?

1. Take a nap.
2. Read or write (as I am doing now).
3. Engage in some great people watching.
4. Strike up a conversation with a neighbor.
5. Knit (I have not tried this one but I have seen it done.)

Don't have (reliable) public transportation in your community? Car pool, or better yet, advocate.

Oxygen

Shoulders ready for a reprieve, we were on the homestretch of a backcountry trip in the desert. What started as intense dryness and sun became a sandstorm, then soaking rain, then driving sleet. A brief respite - before the snow - as the sun's rays alighted on the small swath of red rock that we were traversing. With the Needles behind me and hundred mile views toward the Sierra La Sals before me, something strange came to be. For the most fleeting of moments - before my mind could start thinking about what was happening - I experienced air, and in particular oxygen, as if I were underwater.

Just as you can feel the weight of water on your skin, take big gulps of it, see its dimensionality while immersed within it - for that short moment, I experienced air in exactly the same way.  I moved through oxygen so thick, so visceral, I wondered how I had never noticed it before.

Where do you experience connection to the Whole, surrounding you? Where do you find those strange, wonderful glimmers of light?

Week One Totals

For the first week of Mission 4/1 Earth, First Plymouth Congregational Church accounted for 249 earth care hours, 19 trees planted, and 17 letters written.

Come on out and log some earth care hours in Evergreen on Saturday with Wildlands Restoration Volunteers. Sign up!

Time and Moment

"Red rock. Blue sky. The arch is structured metamorphosis. Once a fin-like tower, it has been perforated by a massive cave-in, responsible now for the keyholes where wind enters and turns. What has been opened, removed, eroded away, is as compelling to me as what remains. Druid Arch - inorganic matter - rock rising from the desert floor as a creation of time."

Such rock formations emerge from Earth processes over hundreds of millions of years; yet, geologic time includes now. Creativity is synthesis, movement, transformation brought about through relationship. Can you feel the Creative Moment - within you, surrounding you?

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Text: Terry Tempest Williams, Desert Quartet, 1995.
Image: Druid Arch, Canyonlands National Park, April 2013.

The Kids Will Be Alright

Give children the opportunity to power down, and follow their lead into the wide world of imagination and creativity instead. Five everyday earth care activities for families.

1. Go ride bikes - what is more fun?!? If you need a bike, consider Craigslist, Goodwill or garage sales first.
2. Turn off the lights and play hide-and-go-seek, in the dark!
3. Create a neighborhood scavenger hunt.
4. Take your recycled materials for the week and make a work of art or engineering feat.
5. Camp out in the backyard, or in a fort in the living room.

The Journey

"Imagine experiencing Earth's beauty for the first time - its birds, fish, mountains, and waterfalls. Imagine, too, the vastness of Earth's  home, the universe, with its numerous galaxies, stars, and planets. Surrounded by such magnificence, we can ask ourselves a simple question: Can we find a way to sink deeply into these immensities? And if we can, will this enable humans to participate in the flourishing of life?"

As we begin fifty days of mindful earth care through Mission 4/1 Earth, take a moment to step outside...and breathe it all in.

--
Text: Swimme, Brian and and Mary Evelyn Tucker, Journey of the Universe, 2011.

Mission 4/1 Earth

ONE UNITED CHURCH on a shared resurrection witness for Planet Earth during 50 great days, from Easter to Pentecost: that's Mission 4/1 Earth!

United Church of Christ congregations, colleges, seminaries, camps and outdoor ministries, and health and human service agencies will join together in a shared mission campaign to:
• Collectively offer more than ONE MILLION HOURS of engaged earth care, including clean up, advocacy, education, and behavioral changes that will impact the environment.
• Collectively plant more than 100,000 TREES locally and globally in partnership with the National Arbor Day Foundation and the UCC's denominational partners around the world.
• Collectively write and send more than 100,000 ADVOCACY LETTERS on environmental concerns to elected officials and local and national newspapers.

Here on Whole Earth Ministry, we will be posting: practical suggestions for engaged Earth care, Earth meditations each Wednesday and Sunday, information to support letter writing, and reports from our congregation's activities.