Memorial Day - 2013

I've always had mixed emotions regarding Memorial Day (a USA holiday - read three day weekend - that used to be called "Decoration Day" - a day of remembering our fallen soldiers). As someone working towards pacifism, and non-violent resistance, I find marking the war dead troubling. Not in so much, marking those who have sacrificed their lives for their country per se, but in the ways in which such an event is often used to "rattle the sabers" rather than a time to ponder how we might live differently. If World War I was referred to as the Great War and was to be the "War that Ended All Wars" what does that say about human nature (especially in the western part of the world) and a very bloody 20th century?

So, today, I want to high-light someone who is trying to make a difference in the world. The following is about biking in Portland, OR - but think about how it could make a difference and/or be applied to boating.

Researcher [Jane Pearce] considers cargo bikes as tools for social justice.

Similarly, you might want to take a look at what the Vermont Sail Freight Project.

Blessed Be

Joel

Life As An Experiment

This past weekend my family helped friends move onto their new farm, where they are eager to put into practice all they have been reading and learning: permaculture, animal husbandry, sustainability, etc., etc.
During a trip for more furniture the topic of conversation turned to how the Nearings lived their lives as an experiment (I might also add as a positive protest for the way things could be). I've written about Scot and Helen Nearing before.
What I've been thinking about since is this question: do we live our lives as an experiment? And join reflection, I've realized this has (continues to be?) a sub-topic of conversation here. I continue to believe that what we need in the world at present is people willing to live their lives as an experiment, saying, "As this is what I believe, this is how I live my life. I'm trying to live further and further into what I stand for."
Blessed be,
Joel

Pentecost Prayer, 2013

God of wind, word, and fire, we bless your name this day
     for sending the light and strength of your Holy Spirit.
We give you thanks for all the gifts, great and small,
     that you have poured out upon your children.
Accept us with our gifts
     to be living praise and witness to your love throughout all the earth;
through Jesus Christ, who lives with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
     one God, for ever. Amen.

~ Don E. Saliers

United Methodist Book of Worship (1992) #408

Closed Circuit

"Behave so the aroma of your actions may enhance the general sweetness of the atmosphere."
~ Henry David Thoreau

"I prefer the term contraction, because a.) that is what is really going on, and b.) the economists haven't got their mendacious mitts around it yet. Contraction means there is not going to be more, only less, and it implies that a reality-based society would make some attempt to acknowledge and manage having less - possibly by doing more."    
~ James Howard Kunstler

These two quotes have been sticking with me lately. And as I've been doing some work on the old battery bank, so comes the next metaphor.

The earth is a closed system. We boaters recognize this (as boats are, too) every time we head off shore. The earth csn provide enough for all life on earth, so long as we don't use up the resources faster than they can replace themselves.

The whole system reminds me of a battery bank. Say we have 440 amp hours on our bank. We don't want to use more than half or amp hours, or we start damaging our batteries. This gives us 220 amp hours of use with no input. But we want to charge the system somehow. So, lets say we add a few solar panels and a wind-generator. Now we are self-sufficient, so long as we watch our consumption.
So long as we watch our consumption.
Watching our consumption is about managing our needs versus our wants. Out does not mean a lower quality of life, in fact, our lives can have even more quality. We can be richer in time, memories, friendships, experiences ...

Blessed Be
Joel

Malaria - A Link Everyone Should Read

This article "The Tenacious Buzz of Malaria" is slightly dated (2010), nonetheless I strongly recommend reading it as deals with the issues of malaria.

Blessed Be,

Joel

Opening Day - Yacht Club Blessing - 2013, 4 May

I have not experienced weather so beautiful for an Opening Day Blessing in years. Usually it is blowing rain!
I am profoundly aware that we yachtsmen/women stand upon the shoulders of all of those who have gone before us - especially the working fishing fleets. The first pleasure yachts were often recommissioned working craft. As such I would strongly encourage all of us to participate in the Blessing of the Fishing Fleet at 1:30 at the Blaine Memorial statue.

We are people who journey as vessels containing wellsprings of hope;
sharing, replacing, and adding new waters
     of proclamation, power, prophecy and prayer
          to the containers of our life and faith.
We pause and reflect on the movement of the tide of this journey,
     as it washes upon our shores* ...

Let us pray:
Blessed are you, Lord our God
     for you have created a wide and wonderful world in which we can travel
          - we can voyage - upon this watery world.
We ask your blessings upon us (and our vessels)
     upon our leavings and comings.
Be our ever near companion, O Holy Guide to all Travelers,
     and spread the way before us with beauty and renewal.
On our voyages may we take with us
     as part of our traveling equipment
          a heart wrapped in wonder and awe
     with which to rejoice in all that we shall meet.**

O Creator God, may the waters that covered us at our birth
once again remind us of our creation in you.
Remind us that we are vessels of the waters of hope
     and that your outpourings have power to heal
          and make whole our bruised world.
Let the living waters of creation, womb, baptism, and Spirit
     encircle us that we may remember we are yours and be thankful.*
Amen.

________
*from Elizabeth Lopez Spence. The United Methodist Book of Worship. (1992) #527 (adapted)
**Adapted from Edward Hays. "Blessing Prayer When About to Leave on a Journey." Prayers for the Domestic Church. (1979) 35.