the earth as integral to the Holy Spirit (idea in Leah Schade book; the “blasphemy of the Holy Spirit”)
“If you had to invent a threat grand enough, and global enough, to plausibly conjure into being a system of true international cooperation, climate change would be it—the threat everywhere, and overwhelming, and total. And yet now, just as the need for that kind of cooperation is paramount, indeed necessary for anything like the world we know to survive, we Continue Reading
So I am wondering about what may be ahead for the UMC** in terms of the need to focus more of our energies on the Ecological Crisis as a theological crisis and call to responsibility; a close kin and perhaps central tenet of what God is doing amongst us as our moral failings as humanity now threaten, in a most Continue Reading
The following gem* stuck out for me in one of my friend and teacher’s extraordinary stories he has shared: ““During one visit to our apartment, Herman is excited to tell me about one of his discoveries. He was translating an Ethiopian Targum (Hebrew O.T. text translation into an ancient indigenous language) when he noted something important. The ancient scribe had Continue Reading
“Your world is going to be shattered by a changing Earth, but there can be great joy in the arts of shared survival. As Derek Walcott still tells us in 2069, “Break a vase, and the love that reassembles the fragments is stronger than that love which took its symmetry for granted when it was whole.” You have a chance Continue Reading
“we have to be willing to give up, surrender, let go completely the notion that the work we do and the communities we build can salvage a “way of life” built around massive exploitation of the planet to support a global industrial economic growth model that has led us to this point. That’s over. Our work now is not a Continue Reading
Re: this previously highlighted quote: “imagine what the cultural expression of climate change denial and avoidance does to compound the depression, anxiety, and grief! ” — Margaret Swedish in New Creation News https://buff.ly/2QGWyZx (re: the grief such as that written about in https://www.nbcnews.com/health/mental-health/climate-grief-growing-emotional-toll-climate-change-n946751 Imagine what the church’s silence on this, even in so-called “Progressive” denominations and church communities, does to Continue Reading
I probably linked to this a couple weeks ago (Christmas week), but can’t remember. But just in case, here it is again: https://www.nbcnews.com/…/climate-grief-growing-emotional-t… HT to Margaret Swedish for the reminder in her post this morning ) ‘Climate grief’: The growing emotional toll of climate change Extreme weather and dire climate reports are intensifying the mental health effects of global warming: depression and resignation about Continue Reading
“…our restoration/reorientation through worship has tended to leave out an important, indeed crucial, relationship. We are reoriented to God, self, and the human community, but often we have experienced that reorientation without a self-conscious reorientation of our relationship with the rest of creation, which is the matrix in which we live and move and have our being. We are a Continue Reading
This (the quote in the previous post) represents not any “rethinking” of Biblical theology, but a RECOVERY of what has been lost in our industrial/technological civilization, and, unfortunately submerged in Christian theology’s importing of civilizational values (aka in Scripture as “the world”).
“Worship is a symbiotic relationship between God and the worshipping community. God is giving and acting, and worshippers are responding in faith. Although the word ‘worship’ implies that it is predominantly about what we do, worship is really preeminently about what God is doing. God is actively present in all of God’s Trinitarian fullness—forgiving, offering God?s self in the proclamation Continue Reading
Why a Season of Creation? There are many reasons! Here [ is the 6th of ] seven of them: Sixth, because this season enables us to celebrate the many ways in which Christ is connected with creation. From the mystery of the incarnation to the mystery of a cosmic Christ who reconciles all things in heaven and Earth, we celebrate Continue Reading
Why a Season of Creation? There are many reasons! Here [ is the 5th of ] seven of them: Fifth, because a fresh focus on the wonders and wounds of creation will help us in positive ways to love creation and so care for creation as our personal vocation and our congregational ministry. Worshiping with this new awareness may well Continue Reading
From my Facebook Memories, 2 years ago: It is just flat out gnosticism to suggest that there is ANYTHING that is off the table in the church that concerns the well-being of people, communities, or nations, or the earth. NOTHING. Gnosticism claims that we can keep our soul and body separate; that salvation is a “purely spiritual” matter (that phrase Continue Reading
Many conservatives might identify ecological crisis writing as “The Sky is Falling” writing, since it knows what the science is telling us about what we’ve known, when we’ve known it, and what our responses have been. But one might as well call the Bible a “Sky is Falling” book, since it begins with an affirmation (“it is good”) that is Continue Reading
For those interested in the science, history, and politics (and ultimately, the theology) of the Ecological Crisis in this country, there is a major feature run by the New York Times Magazine this week: https://www.nytimes.com/…/…/climate-change-losing-earth.html This is a major “Doctrinal” issue for the church, in that this issue, and the outrageous denial and political battle it has precipitated, has blinded Continue Reading