BeFriending Creation
NYYM regional gathering explores Earthcare in depth
There is a growing and fervent need within our communities for a deeper connection to the earth. We in the Farmington-Scipio Region of New York Yearly Meeting (NYYM) find ourselves in step with national and international movements, of Friends and non-Friends alike, looking at issues of global warming, carbon footprints, media and consumer cultures, food distribution, health and safety, etc. We come to our Earthcare work from many angles, and the more we engage with one another around these issues, the more numerous the connections we find to long-standing Quaker testimonies and practices.
The Farmington-Scipio Region's Spring Gathering in May 2008 at Long Point Camp on Seneca Lake was devoted to "Earth-Friendly Faith and Practice." The region's 2007 Fall Gathering had featured a program "Going Green at Home and in the Region," which had record-breaking attendance, with great energy and excitement generated from the four-person panel. Coincidentally, at the state level, a Minute known as the NYYM Eco-Spirituality & Action Minute [Sept.-Oct. 2007 BeFriending Creation] was being generated. It seemed only natural, when planning began for the region's Spring Gathering, that we examine together our Earthcare concerns and the NYYM Minute more deeply.
The weekend was designed to give Friends the opportunity to joyfully learn and reflect in community and in worship. The three Monthly Meetings responsible for planning the weekend each incorporated Earth-friendly practices and insights into their work. Farmington Church was responsible for the meals, providing reusable mugs instead of paper and plastic cups, encouraging Friends to eat what they take and take only what they can eat, compost buckets for food scraps, and the purchase of local produce when possible. When planning for the Youth Activities, Alfred Meeting connected with the Native American community in our geographic area and offered an intergenerational session, led by a teenage dancer of Haudenosaunee heritage. She and her family shared their experiences of social dances, such as the Smoke Dance, as well as their cultural history of treating the earth reverently.
The planning committee from Rochester Meeting decided to affirm the "experts" within each of us, so instead of having a single outside speaker for the Saturday morning plenary session, the topic was explored through the Quaker practice of worship sharing. The NYYM Eco-Spirituality & Action Minute, approved at Yearly Meeting July 2007, was read with adapted queries for this regional gathering to consider. Small groups spent the remainder of the hour sharing, and then the whole group heard reports back from each small group, resulting in a wonderful patchwork of responses, concerns, and themes. I will highlight two of the many themes:
One common theme was the realization that we need to remain open to growth and possibility as we each negotiate ways in which we can make our lives more "Earth friendly." Collectively we need to move away from the notion of right or wrong choices and use the process of discernment to find clearness and connection to this broad issue. Passions run high on many separate topics—transportation, eating locally, consumer culture, energy choices, governmental policies. We need to embrace the passion in one another, and remember to be tender when passions or choices lead us in different directions.
Another common theme was the creative tension that many of us feel between those who are on this journey with us to care for the earth and those who are on a different journey, tied more to material satisfaction and consumer culture. Some of us found ourselves and/or our families on both of these journeys. Some of us considered this in a global, governmental sense. Many comments led to philosophical and spiritual examinations of this tension. What does it mean? What can we as Quakers offer?
In the afternoon, individuals offered sessions on a wide variety of more practical topics. The sessions were titled: "Eating Locally for City Friends;" "Land Trusts;" "Preserving the 1816 Farmington Quaker Meetinghouse: A Green Project;" "Staying Grounded in Spirit: The Spiritual and Practical Aspects of Home Organic Gardening;" "Community as Green Technology;" and "Yes, In my Backyard: A Q&A Session about Lifestyle Choices." One small group gathered to write an epistle based on the morning's discussion. At the end of the weekend, the business meeting approved the epistle, and we gladly share it with these readers.
Epistle from the 2008 Farmington-Scipio Spring Gathering
"And the Lord God took the man and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and keep it."
—Genesis 2:15
Feeling the loving spirit amongst us, we gathered together with angst and concern about the state of the earth, feeling powerless in the face of vast changes, yet with the hope we can learn together, teach others and our efforts will make a difference.
The 2007 Minute from the NYYM Earth Care group was read, distributed, and considered, and while the queries seem to be fairly pointed, they failed to elicit distinct answers. They did produce discussion, but Friends seemed to not really address the queries, perhaps because the queries feel so broad and overarching.
In small groups, Friends addressed with grace and appreciation where we are in the spirit of this age in our world, celebrating our young children's responses to Earth Care, while noticing that in our culture much of young people's activity is disconnected from the natural world. We feel disturbed that the media in our culture are such powerful forces, overwhelming and exploitive, leaving us dismembered, bloated, and diminished.
Here are two of several things we learned at the program that most of us did not know:
1. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch in the Pacific Ocean, located between California and Hawai'i, is twice the size of Texas, and within ten years will be the size of the United States.
2. The permafrost is melting and is releasing gases that are changing the world at an accelerating rate.
This Spring Gathering we continued walking along the path to further deepen and raise our collective awareness, with the hope of significantly improving our stewardship skills. The feeling of excitement generated when our community gathers together to learn and show by personal example, teaches each of us. Sharing personal experience, both spiritual and practical, deepens us so that, corporately and individually, we may be better stewards of our soul and spirit, our selves, our families, our communities, and our earth. •
New from QEW! Friends and the challenge of climate change
Harmful climate change is the topic of a new pamphlet that is being enclosed as a gift to QEW supporters in the annual appeal letter being mailed out this fall.
In creating the new quad-fold, the aim of the QEW Sustainability: Faith & Action interest group was to bring a spiritual perspective to a life-and-death issue that is often entangled in arcane scientific language and self-serving statements from politicians and special interest groups.
It was also important to include in this publication what QEW supporters believe is the truth about the causes and likely effects of harmful climate change and to summarize the kinds of lifestyle, technological, educational, and political changes that must be carried out before emissions of greenhouse gases become part of a vicious spiral of ecological system collapses and new releases of greenhouse gases.
AS WE DISCERN how to meet this particular global emergency, we are discovering that care of the earth is a sacred obligation. QEW's Vision & Witness statement calls us "to live in right relationship with all Creation, recognizing that the entire world is interconnected and is a manifestation of God." To our traditional Quaker testimonies of peace, equality, simplicity and integrity we may now add Earthcare. Each of these testimonies is not a separate endeavor. Each requires the others; all call us to that which is eternal.
We are rising to a new understanding of who we are and what is our place in the community of life. It is time to take the matter of Earth-care into our hearts, with full awareness of its importance in our spiritual life. It is time to pray and discern together what each—and all—of us are called to do.
Copies of the new pamphlet can be ordered from the QEW office. •
EarthLight shines again in this 'best' and new articles collection
EarthLight—Spiritual Wisdom for an Ecological Age
Friends Bulletin, 2007. ISBN 0-9700410-2-0 $20.00 US
Although BFC's "sister" publication, EarthLight magazine, stopped publishing a couple of years ago, devoted readers cherish their back issues as sources of spiritual wisdom and encouragement in these often gloomy times.
Now, with the help of Friends Bulletin, EL's 15 years of "celebrating the living Earth and our 13-billion-year story of the universe" have been distilled into a 344-page book, along with many new articles in the same tradition of spirituality and ecology.
Articles by more than 40 leading thinkers and writers are grouped according to the seven EarthLight principles of "Conscious Evolution," "Sacred Relationship," "Collective Wisdom," "Mutual Learning," "Conscious Choice," "Inclusivity," and "Celebration."
In his inspiring introduction, "Spiritual Ecology: a Practice of the Heart," former EarthLight Editor K. Lauren de Boer writes, "More than just a theory, spiritual ecology describes a way of being in the world. It is ancient in the sense that peoples have lived it in many times and places. It is contemporary in that it integrates the discoveries of science and a new sense of our evolutionary story."
For more information please contact the Friends Bulletin editor at <friendsbulletin@aol.com> or go to <www.westernquaker.net>.
A resource from QEW!
Earthcare for Friends
A Study Guide for Individuals and Faith Communities
THIS 270-PAGE, 18-unit study guide is designed to help Friends understand:
- Specific ways that human activities have been despoiling the Earth, God's creation, and how this damage is intensified by today's materialistic culture.
- Different ways of living and thinking that can bring harmony among humans and between humans and the natural world.
- Why stewardship—living in ways that protect the health of the earth—is necessary for a vital relationship with God and with others.
- What the Bible, Christian tradition, and Quaker tradition teach about care for the Earth and its inhabitants.
- How Earthcare is a natural expression of the historic Quaker testimonies of peace, equality, justice, simplicity, and integrity.
- The remarkable convergence of modern science and faith traditions in understanding that all things are ultimately interconnected.
Earthcare for Friends provides practical adult education materials, including:
- Thought-provoking articles and practical steps that can be taken as individuals and faith communities.
- Helpful questions and queries for reflection and discussion.
- Sources of inspiration—songs, scripture, prayers, sample sermons, and responsive readings.
- Earthcare resources—books, websites, organizations, videos, etc.
- Activities to illustrate basic ecological issues and help us see where to focus our energies.
Available from the Quaker Earthcare Witness office, for $18.00 US plus $4.50 postage and handling. ($1.08 tax added for Vermont residents.)
