+ updated at 5:19pm EST on Monday, January 14, 2013
+ Unbound: An Interactive Journal of Christian Social Justice offers "Earth Walk" by David Siegenthaler. The author says the Environmental Movement is not as effective as it could be because it is not paying enough attention to core spiritual values which demand rejection of our current way of life. Excerpt: "If the main values of the U.S. society may be discerned from the persistent structural features of our country, it is questionable whether the environmental movement presents a serious challenge to an economy based upon accumulation of wealth for some, a population of laborers (often foreign, migrant, or otherwise rendered powerless) willing to accept a lot less, and an increasingly technology and luxury infatuated population of consumers. Indeed, the environmentalists themselves (ourselves!) predominantly represent privilege and wealth"
+ Unbound: An Interactive Journal of Christian Social Justice A offers "Eco Justice and the Earth Court" by John Preston, a friend of mine and an environmental activist, colleague in ministry, Progressive Christian theologian, author. In this article, he challenges the church to be prophetic and daring and reformed especially as we face the real possibility of ecological and economic and social catastrophe.
Don't miss the whole article. It is so important. But I can't resist posting his final paragraph here: "Our Creator is a God of Eco-Justice. Within the covenant between God and Israel there was a deep concern for the widow and the impoverished that reflected God’s own concern for the welfare of the “least of these.” There was also a concern for the land, which was the foundation for sustainable living. Today, for those who have the eyes to see, the plight of all creatures is tied to the welfare of the planet earth. The eco-justice story is also the earth story. It is this story that must come from a dim background, kept in place by the illusion of old narratives that are no longer viable, to the foreground of our consciousness as American Christian people. Bringing that story into the foreground of our consciousness is the prophetic task. It is also the true pastoral task in a time that struggles for meaning." | Read the article
+ We saw 4 great movies in recent days, 2 at the theater and 2 at home. And, of course, Spirituality & Practice has great reviews of LINCOLN, LES MISERABLES, THE LADY and BABETTE'S FEAST (1987 Oscar for Best Foreign Film).
+ Moved from my December 19 post which was titled incorrectly > Lester Brown is one of the most compassionate and articulate voices promoting sustainable abundance on our planet. Lester Brown’s new book Full Planet, Empty Plates takes a close look at the variables contributing to the growing crisis of food scarcity. Utne Reader offers a section from the book. Here is an excerpt: "We are entering a new era of rising food prices and spreading hunger. On the demand side of the food equation, population growth, rising affluence, and the conversion of food into fuel for cars are combining to raise consumption by record amounts. On the supply side, extreme soil erosion, growing water shortages, and the earth’s rising temperature are making it more difficult to expand production. Unless we can reverse such trends, food prices will continue to rise and hunger will continue to spread, eventually bringing down our social system. Can we reverse these trends in time? Or is food the weak link in our early 21st-century civilization, much as it was in so many of the earlier civilizations whose archeological sites we now study?" Read more
+ Unbound: An Interactive Journal of Christian Social Justice offers "Earth Walk" by David Siegenthaler. The author says the Environmental Movement is not as effective as it could be because it is not paying enough attention to core spiritual values which demand rejection of our current way of life. Excerpt: "If the main values of the U.S. society may be discerned from the persistent structural features of our country, it is questionable whether the environmental movement presents a serious challenge to an economy based upon accumulation of wealth for some, a population of laborers (often foreign, migrant, or otherwise rendered powerless) willing to accept a lot less, and an increasingly technology and luxury infatuated population of consumers. Indeed, the environmentalists themselves (ourselves!) predominantly represent privilege and wealth"
+ Unbound: An Interactive Journal of Christian Social Justice A offers "Eco Justice and the Earth Court" by John Preston, a friend of mine and an environmental activist, colleague in ministry, Progressive Christian theologian, author. In this article, he challenges the church to be prophetic and daring and reformed especially as we face the real possibility of ecological and economic and social catastrophe.
Don't miss the whole article. It is so important. But I can't resist posting his final paragraph here: "Our Creator is a God of Eco-Justice. Within the covenant between God and Israel there was a deep concern for the widow and the impoverished that reflected God’s own concern for the welfare of the “least of these.” There was also a concern for the land, which was the foundation for sustainable living. Today, for those who have the eyes to see, the plight of all creatures is tied to the welfare of the planet earth. The eco-justice story is also the earth story. It is this story that must come from a dim background, kept in place by the illusion of old narratives that are no longer viable, to the foreground of our consciousness as American Christian people. Bringing that story into the foreground of our consciousness is the prophetic task. It is also the true pastoral task in a time that struggles for meaning." | Read the article
+ We saw 4 great movies in recent days, 2 at the theater and 2 at home. And, of course, Spirituality & Practice has great reviews of LINCOLN, LES MISERABLES, THE LADY and BABETTE'S FEAST (1987 Oscar for Best Foreign Film).
+ Moved from my December 19 post which was titled incorrectly > Lester Brown is one of the most compassionate and articulate voices promoting sustainable abundance on our planet. Lester Brown’s new book Full Planet, Empty Plates takes a close look at the variables contributing to the growing crisis of food scarcity. Utne Reader offers a section from the book. Here is an excerpt: "We are entering a new era of rising food prices and spreading hunger. On the demand side of the food equation, population growth, rising affluence, and the conversion of food into fuel for cars are combining to raise consumption by record amounts. On the supply side, extreme soil erosion, growing water shortages, and the earth’s rising temperature are making it more difficult to expand production. Unless we can reverse such trends, food prices will continue to rise and hunger will continue to spread, eventually bringing down our social system. Can we reverse these trends in time? Or is food the weak link in our early 21st-century civilization, much as it was in so many of the earlier civilizations whose archeological sites we now study?" Read more
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