Wake Up!

 

Wake Up! Silkscreen by Timothy Metcalf

The rumbling is becoming a roar.

If you haven’t had the opportunity to see or hear  Greta Thunberg’s passionate plea at the EU Parliament’s April 16th meeting; it is worth watching here.

Clearly, we do not know how to move from our comfortable and profit driven lifestyles. Am I willing to change the way I work and earn a living in order to make a difference?

We have the way, it is just a matter of walking the path.

Perhaps, as David Suzuki and Ian Hanington declare below; it is time for a battle.

This too is the fear; that the battle we chose will be a bloody chaotic anarchy. Is this fear what is keeping our politicians and world leaders from embracing positive and lasting change?

Battles do not have to be bloody. We have seen peaceful tipping points before.

As Greta reminds us, we can come together in compassion and love.

Lets wake up and walk together seeking healing and wholeness for our beautiful home and its inhabitants.

We’re in a battle for a liveable future and must make a declaration of war against catastrophic climate change. It’s too late to remove the carbon we’ve already put into the atmosphere, so we’ll have to live with the results for decades. But it makes no sense to continue to add to what is already at a devastating level higher than it’s been for millions of years. I used to say it’s as if we’re in a car heading toward a brick wall at 100 kilometres per hour, and everyone is arguing about where they want to sit rather than looking ahead, putting on the brakes and turning the wheel. I don’t say that anymore because we’re more like a Road Runner cartoon. Road Runner approaches the edge of a cliff, then stops suddenly or turns to avoid it. But Wile E. Coyote keeps charging straight ahead and goes over the edge. Wile E. has that moment of realization when he’s suspended in air, looks down and sees he’s gone too far, then plunges to the canyon bottom. Many of my colleagues argue it’s too late, that we’re like the coyote, already over the edge, about to fall. Is that an argument for doing nothing? I don’t think so, because we still don’t really know whether we’re the coyote or the roadrunner. And even if we fall, we might be able to avoid being crushed by the falling rock or anvil. Let’s stop all the name-calling and denial, listen to the experts, seize the challenge and make the commitment to meet the IPCC target. The economic, social and environmental consequences of whatever governments do or don’t do now will be enormous, but we have to do all we can to keep from hitting bottom. As Abraham Lincoln said, “Commitment is what transforms a promise into reality.” Written by David Suzuki with contributions from David Suzuki Foundation Senior Editor Ian Hanington

The Pensieve

“Who are the people who helped you become who you are?, Mr. Rogers asks.

Looking into the Pensieve

you begin to think see

my mom, my dad, my sister

my best friends, favorite teachers

the list

begins

To blossom

and before you can stop it

that horrendous boyfriend

the skeeming employer

the rude subway rider

reveal their selves

and gratitude wells up

as do thoughts

of who your neighbors are

and

loving your enemies

your shoulders

soften

and a tear

forms

as you hop on the train

into the neighborhood

of make believe

Ah Silent Wounded Sufferer

Silent Wounded Sufferer

Breathe – slowly – in-then-out – deep cleansing breaths

Ah Sweet Nectar

 

How? How have I …

Is it the endless excavating

Is it the see-through smoke of a trillion stacks and pipes

Is it the warm air that keeps me comfy on this cool spring morning

 

Ah Keeper of the Vineyard

 

How? How have I …

Is it the use of the names for colors to define-divide-destroy

Is it the endless bombing of distant faceless lands that are not our home

Is it my careless us of words that pierce another’s side

 

Ah Beloved Gazelle

 

How? How have I …

Is it the preoccupation of numbers and letters; DJIA NASDAQ STOXX 600

It is the lust for speed all shiny red with leather seats

Is it that I’m afraid to bring you home to my mother, my friends, myself

 

Ah Lily Gatherer

 

How? How have I …

Is it that our eyes are closed to the way You surround the homeless ones with love

Is it that our ears are shut when you call the names of those bullied beaten and forgotten

Is it that I am numb

 

Ah Heart Seal

 

How? How have I …

Ah Heart Seal

How?

Ah Heart Seal

Your love flows out watering my parched garden

 

Yet I …

Oh breath – please breath – my Beloved

I cannot live without you.

 

 

Words: Ninabeth Metcalf on Good Friday 2017

Photo Credit:  Lamentation by Matthais Grunewald, 1525

How Compassion Came to Live Among Us

Words by Ninabeth Metcalf,

Artwork: detail from Epocha by Tim Metcalf  Find Tim’s artwork here

 

Sent Out

Adam and Eve in the Garden

And he was amazed at their unbelief. Then he went about among the villages teaching. He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.”  So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent.   ~The Gospel of Mark 6:6-12

I’m in the process of moving.

I’ve been moving for the last 8 years.

At times I seem to crawl. At other times I move too quick to catch my breath.

I’m moving – physically – mentally – spiritually.

I’m packing and unpacking all that is dear and displeasing.

I’ve jammed my old lucrative career into overflowing plastic bins, sitting stationary on the studio floor. I’m indecisive whether to repack it for storage or to just let it go. Let it become a memory – a story that defines but does not limit who I am.

I am moving and I do not need the things I used to need.

I am shaking the dust off of my feet. It’s not that in the past they didn’t listen to me or like what I said –I simply was not speaking the right language. I spoke a language of me and more – of self and consumption – rather than a language of we and gifting.

This new language did not happen suddenly in a flash of insight rather it is happening on this long walk, with a community of believers that I am blessed to be part of.

Jesus called the twelve to leave things behind – extra tunics, bread, bags and money. Rely on the hospitality of community he said. Be vulnerable to others and in turn heal them!

So, I too leave things behind, hoping that they do not cause others to stumble.

I follow the path of discard – humility – self-forgetfulness

What courage they who go ahead of me must have to be sent out into service for the world.

In service to the world that we were born into on day six.

Radically reoriented.

Claiming the bond of reciprocity.

Jesus sent the twelve out two by two – in community.

We are called by God to work in community.

We are sent out in community to encourage others to turn from that which brings suffering towards the abundant life of Love.

So we find ourselves moving – moving into a world that needs less and less but gives more and more.

A flourishing withering world shimmering in diversity connected through community.

We are invited in our de-creation to re-create.

To move in our imaginations into potentials.

Our ministry together is waiting to be unpacked in a tumble of words and images.

Words upon words vying for space in our new life.

Image upon image breaking in to inspire new ways of being.

On the edge of recognition new possibilities wait.

A new day is dawning full of gratitude and care.

A new awareness of the place in which we move.

Awakening to the home I have always been in, a world of wonder and awe, basking in Love.

Lord, your summons echoes true when you but call our name. Let us turn and follow you and never be the same. In your company we’ll go where your love and footsteps show. Thus we’ll move and live and grow in you and you in us.[1]

We are moving.

Thanks be to God.

---

[1][1] Paraphrase of the last verse of “The Summons” TFWS#2130

Photo Credit:

Octateuch fol. 43v., 12th century, tempera on parchment. Topkapi Palace Museum, Istanbul, Marmara, Turkey. Minneapolis College of Art and Design.

Laudato si’ – The integral text of Pope Francis’ Encyclical on care for our common home

ENCYCLICAL LETTER

LAUDATO SI’

OF THE HOLY FATHER FRANCIS

ON CARE FOR OUR COMMON HOME

papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica-laudato-si

Press Release of the presentation of Laudato Sii

5th & 6th Day of Creation

Your Eminences, Your Excellencies, distinguished guests, distinguished representatives of the media, all who are following by radio and television and on internet, ladies and gentlemen, dear friends, First of all, I greet all of you warmly on behalf of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, which is honoured to have been called to assist the Holy Father in his teaching ministry by helping to prepare the Encyclical Letter Laudato si’.

A very cordial welcome to the presenters, who are:

– His Eminence, the Metropolitan of Pergamo, John Zizioulas, representing the Ecumenical Patriarch of the Orthodox Church, who will speak to us of the theology and spirituality with which the Encyclical opens and closes.

– Prof. John Schellnhuber, founder and director of the Postdam Institute for Climate Impact Research. He represents the natural sciences, with which the Encyclical enters into in-depth dialogue. Congratulations on his nomination as a full member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences which also contributed significantly to the Encyclical.

– Prof. Carolyn Woo, President of Catholic Relief Services and former dean of the Mendoza College of Business at Notre Dame University. She represents the economic, financial, business and commercial sectors whose responses to the major environmental challenges are so crucial.

– The teacher Valeria Martano, from Rome, has taught in the outlying areas of Rome for 20 years. She is a witness of human and environmental degradation as well as such “best practices” as are a sign of hope.

Their presence and what they say will remind us that, from the very beginning, the Encyclical Laudato si’ on care for our common home brings into dialogue all people, organizations and institutions that share this same concern. They address different perspectives, but the world situation leads us to discover that these perspectives are ever more intertwined and complementary: the riches of faith and of spiritual tradition, the seriousness of scientific research, the concrete efforts at various levels, all for an equitable and sustainable development.

“When we speak of the “environment”, what we really mean is a relationship existing between nature and the  society which lives in it. Nature cannot be regarded as something separate from ourselves or as a mere setting  in which we live. We are part of nature, included in it and thus in constant interaction with it. Getting to the  reasons why a given area is polluted requires a study of the workings of society, its economy, its behaviour
patterns, the ways it grasps reality, and so forth. Given the scale of change, it is no longer possible to find a  specific, discrete answer for each part of the problem. It is essential to seek comprehensive solutions that  consider the interactions within natural systems themselves and with social systems. We are not faced with two  separate crises, one environmental and the other social, but rather one complex crisis that is both social and
environmental. Strategies for a solution demand an integrated approach to combating poverty, restoring dignity  to the underprivileged, and at the same time protecting nature”.

~ Pope Francis

The individual presentations are contained in the attached pdf. Scroll down the pdf for English translations.

Enjoy!

Holy See bulletin on 6.18.2015 about the encyclical Laudato Sii

God’s Gift of the Earth

Pope Francis and the Environment: Why His New Climate Encyclical Matters

5th & 6th Day of Creation

 Yale will sponsor a panel on the Papal Encyclical on Wednesday April 8 at 5:30pm entitled “Pope Francis and the Environment: Why His New Climate Encyclical Matters.” Participants include John Grim, Peter Crane, Mary Evelyn Tucker, Margaret Farley, Dekila Chungyalpa, Doug Kysar, and Greg Sterling. This event will be broadcast via livestream. It is sponsored by Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale Divinity School, and the Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale. For more, visit: https://environment.yale.edu/news/article/pope-francis-and-the-environment-why-his-new-climate-encyclical-matters

Photo Credit: fol. 1 v of the Morgan Crusader Bible (aka. Shah Abbas Bible; Maciejowki Old Testament) Pierpont Morgan Library New York

Compassion in Action: Buddhism and the Environment

Yale will host an important event on Tuesday April 7 at 4pm. His Holiness the 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, will give the Chubb Fellowship Lecture on “Compassion in Action: Buddhism and the Environment.” Afterwards Andrew Quintman and Mary Evelyn Tucker will interview him. This event is free and open to the public. It will be live streamed. For more, visit: http://chubbfellowship.org/. The event will also be live streamed on the Karmapa’s official webcast page at http://kagyuoffice.org/webcast/