Walking the Ecological Walk as Ministry
by Peggy Land,
Ottawa (Ont.) Monthly Meeting
From The Canadian Friend, Volume 96, Number 5. December 2000.
IF EXAMPLE is the best teacher, and ministry is a form of teaching, and certainly sharing, then Quakers are well positioned to effect significant social change. Indeed they have already done so through their "ministry by example." We seem generally comfortable with the concept of "by our work we shall be known," enough to stay away from active evangelizing, often remaining very much in the back ground and away from the public spotlight. I think we pay a heavy price for this--both risking being mistaken for fundamentalists (even or perhaps because we are a largely unknown or obscure little group) and yet often perceived as being very credible (and quite a bit more numerous than we are). So we must be doing something right! But are we really, when it comes to honoring that of God in all of Creation?
To our credit, we have always walked the walk of simplicity at least to some degree, even it was quite unfashionable.
To this day we don't see many Quakers flashing big diamonds around, or driving gas-guzzling sports utility vehicles to the corner store, or living in monster homes. These signs of excess consumerism would simply be seen as "unQuakerly," no lengthy historical analysis needed, I would like to think. Ecologically minded lifestyle choices are in themselves a form of ministry, especially if it is easily observed that those who choose to live more lightly on the Earth than their neighbors seem also to have found happiness. In the National Film Board documentary "Escape from Affluenza," several of the adherents of "simple living" agree that there are only three things we need to be happy:
- Functional connection with others.
- A personal sense of connection with the natural world
- Creative outlets
I AGREE wholeheartedly with this. The film also notes that early Quakers advocated lifestyles that were low on the consumer scale, but there were difficulties in institution this as policy (as we know). Directives to wear drab clothing and to furnish their homes with plain furniture were rightly rejected, I think, as being too dogmatic. We also know that it's not easy to institute lifestyles that are radically less consumerist than the mainstream when other family members may not be on board. What we can do, however, and quite easily, is to turn our Meeting Houses into the kinds of places we wish we could all live in--energy efficient with beautiful naturalized grounds, places where that of God in all Creation is indeed honored at every turn. This is the kind of visible and practical ministry I hope we will all throw ourselves into with the fire and conviction of the very earliest Quakers, who lived out their beliefs in their very lifestyles.
To my knowledge, there are two Monthly Meetings that have already had their Meeting Houses audited for energy efficiency, Toronto and Ottawa. Watch for report of initially small but significant changes in energy conservation in both these Meeting Houses! As well, Hamilton Monthly Meeting is currently planning to re-landscape its grounds with native species and plantings which require less energy to maintain. Members of these Meetings have representatives on the Ecological Working Group, with one of its special interest groups focused on Eco-Friendly Meeting House projects. We encourage anyone else interested in effecting such walking-the-walk changes as practical ministry to join any of the special interest groups of this e-mailing working group of Canadian Yearly Meeting. These include:
- Helping plan for next year's CYM, with the theme "Renewal of Right Relation with all of Creation."
- Addressing nuclear power issues.
- Stimulating discussion on sustainability issues.
- Communication about our concerns and our work to other groups within and outside Quakerism.
WE INTEND to address all these topics from our faith perspective. If you are interested in finding out more, please e-mail either of the co-clerks, Arnold Ranneris, at w1545@victoria.tc.ca or Peggy Land at peggyland@home.com.
We regret that those who are not connected by e-mail, by choice or otherwise, will not be able to participate in the ongoing conversations in cyberspace. But we encourage those who are interested to initiate discussions and projects in their own Monthly Meetings as ecologically-minded practical ministry, and to share these concerns and joys as ministry at Meetings for Worship, as you feel led. •
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