Annual Gathering Food for Thought and Prayer

May, 2013 tied (with 1998, 2005) as the hottest May on record.

A weekend ago I was at the annual gathering of United Methodists in our region. Methodists, following John Wesley, have long argued that there can be no personal holiness without social holiness, and no social holiness without personal holiness. As there are as many ideas to what social holiness entails as there are people, this leads into some debates about what we are to do to have a social just and compassionate society. In essence, what does the Kingdom of God look like? How does the Kingdom/Kin-dom call us to act in this time and this place?

One of the realities of Global Climate Change is that those who are contributing to the Green House gasses the least are those who are effected the most. Take for example the Republic of Kiritati. Kiritati has a population (2011) of 100,000 and consists of 32 atolls and 1 raised coral island, dispersed over 1,351,00 square miles of Pacific Ocean. Other than the one island (Banaba) the rest of Kiritati rise only 1 or 2 meters above the ocean. In 1999, two uninhabited atolls (Tebua Tarawa and Abanuea) disappeared underwater.* I don't think it takes much imagination to see what the results will be in 50 years or so.

I attended a luncheon hosted by Creation Care 365. While eating lunch we heard from four different groups about what these groups were doing. Then we broke up into four small groups to discuss the issues. The small group I attended used a roll play (each group of two representing a different "interest group") as a way of looking at divesting from oil companies as a response to climate change. I hadn't even thought of this as a possible response and found the entire process interesting. Afterwards, it did leave me wondering how many of us talking about divesting from oil companies are only talking about doing so from a financial stand point. In the meantime, we would not change our life-styles (i.e. driving or other oil use) at all. Hmm. Then there is the reality that once one has left the table (divested) there is no way to carry on a conversation with the share-holders via face-to-face or share-holder resolutions. Obviously I'm still thinking through this issue, but still think reducing one's carbon foot-print via life-style has a great impact regardless of one's stock choices.

I also had a conversation with a colleague of mine regarding if we humans will "wake-up" in time to change our behavior and tend to the Garden. Both of us were commenting that the Garden can continue without the human caretakers, but that the human caretakers cannot live without the Garden. With the leaps that are happening in personal choices to live a simpler with a smaller carbon-foot-print, will we suddenly see that 75% of the human population awake one more morning and make a change? That truly would be the work of the Spirit.

All in all, lots of food for thought and prayer.

Where are you finding your thoughts growing, being challenged and leading you to prayer? Where are you finding support to make changes to your life-style


*See the Wikipedia article.

Water Water Everywhere, How Much to Drink?

Last week, our hand water pump went out. As the hand pump was bronze it really surprised me that it truly broke. I cannot repair it with what we have on board - although I could take it in and get the broken piece brazed again. But I must admit that secretly I was doing a little bit of the "happy dance." Do you know how hard it is to wash your hands when you need one of them to pump the pump? And now I had a good excuse to replace the hand pump with a foot pump. We love foot pumps! We've loved them in the past, and now with this change, we are loving it again. With a bit of practice, you can even pump a partial pump of water, when you don't need the full pump.

We did find one other slight difference - it entails measuring. With the hand pump four squirts of water equaled a cup of water. With the foot pump, two pumps equals a cup of water. For those readers who don't use pumps, yes, you can measure water without using a measuring cup by counting pumps!

All of this is to say that we on boats - even when we aren't using the potato powered methods and relay on electric pumps - manage to monitor our water quite carefully. Consequently, it was a no brainer to then see the bill board sign alongside the highway:

Use Water Wisely
Between June 1 and September 15

Then I ran across this tid-bit of information regarding one gal's water bill ($16,000). Yikes! What hit me was her instance that she only used 150 gallons a day! Only?! That's about 4,500 gallons a month! Wowzers! The five of us on board don't even use150 gallons in a week! But wait a minute, how much are you using?

It just goes to point out that resource management aboard is a little different than that on land.

Water is one of the world's resources that is to be enjoyed, and yet so important to keep clean! It's also one of those resources that we need to be willing to share with one another. Something to think about.

Blessed Be

Joel

The World Infused with the Divine

Even in the midst of a troubled world in need of our help and witness, do we take the time to see with eyes of wonder, awe, and mystery the Glory of God in the world around us? It sends to me that this is just as important a witness. Having this sense is what keeps us going.
May it be so with you.
Blessed Be,
Joel

We are all wanderers full of wonder and dreams

We are all wanderers on this earth.
Our hearts are full of wonder,
and our souls are deep with dreams.
                         ~ Romani saying

When I ran across this quote, I thought it rather appropriate for us boaters and the preparations that are occurring.
For those of us who are soon heading out for our summer cruises - may we continue to find our hearts full of wonder.
For those of us who are awaiting the end of school, or for our summer vacation to start - may we continue to find our souls deep with dreams.

Blessed Be,

Joel

*quote found in Oksana Marafioti. American Gypsy. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 2012.