Why you should attend a PEC conference

Why I Attend PEC Conferences
by Jim Dunning

PEC member Jim Dunning has attended PEC conferences since 1996 and tells his story about why he goes and why you should too! The early bird registration discount ends on July 9 for this year's conference.

Jim Dunning (2nd from right) attending the 2013 PEC
conference at Ferncliff Camp and Conference Center.

I recently registered for the upcoming PEC Conference to be held at Stony Point, New York. This will be my 10^thconference. I have found over the years that they are a great inspiration and a big help as I engage with the environmental issues of our time within my church and in my community.

I attended my first conference in 1996 at Ghost Ranch. My pastor and I were discussing my recent career switch. I was wondering if my new position as an environmental engineer for a Native American Tribe was doing something important and if so, to whom and for whom? Was this new career and new job a part of my faith walk?

The conference purpose was to study a position paper that was to be presented to the General Assembly being held in Albuquerque. I spent four days hearing and studying what the Eco-Justice Task Force had written for this presentation. To me, this was one of those mountain top experiences that had a significant effect on my thinking of my role as a Christian. This experience helped me understand my career change and was the impetus to my becoming involved with the Presbyterians for Earth Care program.
           
In the conferences that followed there was always a new topic, a fantastic speaker, a new way of relating the environment to my faith and to my church community. There were new friends and connections made. There were new trails to walk, off-site trips, and new songs to sing during devotions. There was also the after worship evening discussions. One in particular involved a group sitting on the front porch of the lodge at Silver Bay, NY and discussing the future of churches with Rick Ufford-Chase, then Moderator of the General Assembly.
          
 Each conference provided me with new energy and a new connection to our earth and to my faith.

 If you can't attend this year's conference for some reason, PEC will offer another conference in 2021. Conferences are held every other year in odd-numbered years.

A Climate Chaos Manifesto for Educators

William P. Brown and colleagues, Mark Douglas and Stan Saunders, at Columbia Theological Seminary, wrote this one-page “manifesto.” It is meant to galvanize theological educators across denominations to explore, with the greatest of urgency, best pedagogical practices in the face of climate chaos. It is just a beginning. 

William Brown will be the Keynote Speaker at PEC's 2019 Conference, Aug 6-9, at Stony Point Center in New York. 
  

Climate Chaos: A Pedagogical Manifesto 

The two latest climate reports, “Fourth National Climate Assessment”[1]and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Special Report on “Global Warming of 1.5°C,”[2]are the most dire reports yet to be produced by expert scientists. Within the next ten to fifteen years, the human race will largely determine its own survival, and that of countless other species, in “our common home.”  We are at a crossroads, and radical changes in current energy policies, capitalist economies, and collective and individual lifestyles are required to prepare for and mitigate an ecological collapse never experienced in all of human (and hominid) history.

Given such urgency, theological education has no choice except to address the mounting crisis of climate chaos caused by global warming.  We acknowledge that none of us and none of our disciplines will go untouched by the physical and conceptual changes wrought by anthropogenic climate change. In such a time as this, ignoring climate change in our teaching, writing, and research is tantamount to theological and pedagogical malpractice.  As faculty colleagues joined together in the common causes of sustainability and the flourishing of life on a rapidly changing planet, we (re)commit ourselves to do the following both within and beyond our classrooms:

1. To teach across our respective disciplines with an acute and abiding awareness of the mounting anthropogenic damage done to our common home;  

2. To embrace the disciplines of grief, rather than despair, over the incalculable loss of life and livelihood among all species in the face of climate chaos and habitat destruction;

3. To attend to the voices of those on the margins, including environmental refugees, who suffer disproportionately from drought, pollution, flooding, and rising sea waters caused by fossil-fuel based industries and exploitative land use; 

4. To be conversant with the best of science on climate change and on other anthropogenic crises, from deforestation to ocean acidification;

5. To embrace the disciplines of hope, rather than blithe optimism, as the odds against human survival continue to mount;

6. To teach in ways that lead to action and activism, working to advocate for environmentally-focused policies, challenge exploitative ones, and reshape cultural norms and individual lifestyles. 

We renew our commitment to teach integratively in the face of impending ecological collapse and yet in hope for the ultimate renewal of creation (Revelation 21:5).  

---

[1]https://nca2018.globalchange.gov/

[2]http://www.ipcc.ch/report/sr15/

Dramatic Youth Reading for Congregational Use

ONE VOICE at Earth Sabbath 

Earth Sabbath is a celebration that was designed for environmental activists to step aside from their sometimes-disheartening work and renew their spiritual connection to the Earth. Many faith communities offer this practice in an outdoor setting, including the Church of Reconciliation in Chapel Hill, NC. At their recent annual Earth Sabbath at New Hope Camp & Conference Center in Chapel Hill four youth members of the church presented a dramatic reading based on the words of young climate change activist, Greta Thunberg; the piece was written and directed by Allison Davidson. Here is her introduction for the dramatic reading script which follows:

“Most people know Greta Thunberg is a high school student in Sweden, who skipped school and went on strike in front of Sweden's parliament to protest political inaction on Climate Change. This started the worldwide school strike movement. Her speech at the 2018 UN Climate Change COP24 Conference in Katowice Poland brought her message, “Imagine what we could do together if we really wanted to,” international attention.

This is admirable in itself but what many do not know is that Greta is on the autism spectrum and is challenged by a condition known as 'selective mutism'. Those who contend with this disorder can speak cogently with those they know and trust (family, teachers) but often become too cognitively distressed to verbalize in other circumstances. She wrote her initial message on a piece of wood. Her message to others is ’If I can speak out, anyone can.’ ”

Watch the video here: Part 1 and Part 2

 Readers (left to right)
 Albert Carlson
 Stella Bowers
 Symone Burt
       and Evan Carlson (right)

 Photos by Jordan Haywood

 

ONE VOICE:
A Dramatic Reading
Based on the Words of Greta Thunberg
by
Allison Davidson

Reader #1: Climate change is real.

Reader #2: Environmental devastation is happening now.

Reader #3: Climate change threatens the future.

Reader #4: Everyone’s future, and it’s only getting worse.

Reader #1: I may not have been the first to say it.

Reader #2: But it bears repeating:

Reader #3: Our collective home – our house

Reader #4: Is falling apart.

Reader #1: I am 16 now.

Reader #3: I first learned about climate change when I was 8. They showed a film at school.

Reader #4: I couldn’t stop crying.

Reader #2: I couldn’t believe adults didn’t do anything: they didn’t take the issue seriously.

Reader #1: I became depressed.

Reader #3: I kept thinking about it.

Reader #4: I wondered “Am I even going to have a future?”

Reader #2: I figured if adults wouldn’t do anything, maybe I could do something to help.

Reader #1: I used to think, “I’m too young.”

Reader #4: I’m too small.

Reader #3: I don’t matter. I’m only one.

Reader #2: But I changed my mind – and that is when I started the school strike movement “Freedom Fridays”.

Reader #1: I painted a sign on a piece of wood.

Reader #3: I sat alone outside Sweden’s Parliament from 8:30 AM to 3:30 PM.

Reader #2: And then….the next day….people joined me. I was never the only one again.

Reader #4: Now hundreds of thousands of students all over the world have gone on strike.

Reader #1: I have addressed more than one parliament.

Reader #2: As well as the United Nations.

Reader #4: Spoken to world leaders.

Reader #3: And I don’t care that I’m working for free.

Reader #1: I especially don’t care that people attack me on social media and in person.

Reader #3: In fact, I expected it when I started!

Reader #2: I told myself, “If this is going to become big, there is going to be a lot of HATE. It’s a positive sign. Our voices are now seen as a threat. That means something has changed in the debate…”

Reader #4: And we are making a difference.

Reader#1: Our house is falling apart.

Reader #2: And our elected officials need to act accordingly.

Reader #3: Some say, “People need hope.”

Reader #4: “Your message isn’t very hopeful.”

Reader #1: Erosion of fertile topsoil.

Reader #3: Deforestation of old-growth trees.

Reader #2: Acidification of our oceans.

Reader #4: Up to 200 species becoming extinct every day? I don’t want you to feel hopeful!

4 Voices Together: I WANT YOU TO FEEL PANIC!”

Reader #1: We must do what we can.

Reader #2: Demand political action.

Reader #3: Don’t stop.

Reader #4: It starts with one.

Reader #1: Only one.

Reader #2: You aren’t too young.

Reader #3: You aren’t too old.

Reader #4: You aren’t too small.

Reader #1: Or too insignificant.

Reader #2: It

Reader #1: Starts

Reader #3: With

Reader #4: One

4 Voices Together: One. Voice.

Seedlings are planted for PEC's 2019 Conference

Planting Seeds of Strength,
Durability and Hope

On the farm at Stony Point Center, the seedlings are in the ground. PEC is looking forward to the delicious food they will produce right around the time that we gather there for our 2019 National Conference, “Peace for the Earth: from the Bible to the Front Lines," August 6-9.Even as the news about climate change may have us despairing, signs of resilient life are all around us. 

Our time in August will plant seeds of strength, durability, and hope as we – together – face life in a harsher climate. An incredible group of workshops is planned to equip you, as people of faith, with the spiritual and organizational tools to effect real change for the good of this planet and all who dwell on it. Take a look at the full listing of workshops in the conference program. 

Our dynamic plenary worship leaders will include Rev. Dr. William Brown of Columbia Theological Seminary, Rev. Dr. Jill Crainshaw of Wake Forest School of Divinity, and Sacred Jazz musician, Minister Warren B. Cooper. A plenary session on Wednesday night led by Dr. Susan Clayton of the College of Wooster will explore the psychological impacts of climate change and challenge us to create strong communities of care, especially where severe weather threatens. There will be ample opportunity for you to engage with one another, to connect and imagine together about eco-justice where you live. We especially look forward to conversations at Thursday evening’s Global Warming Café, hosted by Phoebe Morad of Lutherans Restoring Creation.

Conference participants can sign up for early morning hands-in-dirt time on the Stony Point Center farm or kayak and canoe paddling in one of the beautiful lakes of Harriman State Park. Thursday afternoon activities and free time will offer more time to get out into this incredible part of God’s creation.

Did we convince you yet that you need to be present with us in August? We would love to have you! Please register now to reserve your spot at this August’s gathering at stonypoincenter.org/presbyearthcare. We will stay in touch with you in the next couple of months with updates about conference activities and highlights to look forward to during our time together. 

Spring blessings, 

PEC Conference Planning Team

Easter Sunday Devotional by Rev. Kerri Allen

Easter Sunday Reflection

Very early in the morning on the first day of the week, the women went to the tomb, bringing the fragrant spices they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in, they didn’t find the body of the Lord Jesus. They didn’t know what to make of this. Suddenly, two men were standing beside them in gleaming bright clothing. The women were frightened and bowed their faces toward the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He isn’t here, but has been raised. Remember what he told you while he was still in Galilee, that the Human One must be handed over to sinners, be crucified, and on the third day rise again.” Then they remembered his words. When they returned from the tomb, they reported all these things to the eleven and all the others. It was Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them who told these things to the apostles. Their words struck the apostles as nonsense, and they didn’t believe the women. But Peter ran to the tomb. When he bent over to look inside, he saw only the linen cloth. Then he returned home, wondering what had happened. Luke 24: 1-12 (CEB) 

In this Easter Luke passage, women closest to Jesus proclaim Jesus’ resurrection.  But before they go out to evangelize this good news, they experienced a lot of emotions.  I imagine they were already experiencing grief, loss, and anger that Jesus was “handed over to the sinners” and crucified.  They probably didn’t have much time to process these overwhelming emotions before going to the empty tomb.  At first, they were frightened and then they couldn’t contain this good news.

I sense some parallels to the present day.  This is not much different from contemporary conversations on environmental injustice, particularly on climate change.  It is frightening, angering, and overwhelming.  As I am writing this during the frigid winter of 2019, there have already been close to 30 deaths in the city of Chicago because of the record cold, with the elderly and children among those most vulnerable.  According to the NAACP, race is the most significant indicator when it comes to the placement of toxic facilities.  Even in the midst of lost lives and urgency to respond, there are too many who believe that environmental injustice is nonsense. If only they would bend over and look inside.

But we can’t control who is willing to look.  Instead, we must be like the women on Easter morning.  Like Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary we must remember Jesus words and proclaim them.  Jesus warned that if his disciples remained quiet, the stones would cry out.  And we see the earth crying out in extreme weather patterns throughout the world.  Yet, Jesus proclaimed that sin does not have the last word.

As Easter people, we must proclaim the same and reject environmental injustice. We must declare that just as the sun rises over Lake Michigan, just as we arise on Easter morning to the hope that all of creation might be restored to God, we will rise and proclaim God’s justice, environmental justice, will have the last word.

Prayer:

Eternal and ever present Holy One,

One of complexity and covenant,

God of hope and hospitality,

Source of love and life,

on this day that dawns fresh beginnings, 

birth us anew.

Ignite in us a new passion, 

one that dawns fresh beginnings,

one that emboldens us to resist the temptation complicity.

And when illusions and falsehoods become acceptable norms,

birth us with the audacity to speak truth in love for all that is right.

Amen.

Rev. Kerri N. Allen is a Reformed and womanist theologian, PhD student, and hospital chaplain in Chicago. Originally from St. Paul, MN when Kerri is not buried in a book or writing a paper, she enjoys hiking, travel, watching sports, cooking or spending time with one of her many nieces or nephews.

Good Friday Devotional by Rev. Bill Brown

Reflection for Good Friday

When Jesus had received the wine, he said, “It is finished.”  

Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.   John 19:30

Such were, according to John, the last words of Jesus on the cross. As I pondered these words for this reflection, I fully intended to recount the myriad disasters we are inflicting on our common home, the wounds of the world’s crucifixion. The list is all too familiar, and it can only elicit a bitter cry of despair. But in John’s Gospel, there was no such cry from the crucified Christ, no cry of abandonment as in Mark. Instead, Jesus’ last breath in John conveys a sense of completion. How so?  

The clue comes from the fact that Jesus’ last words (one word in Greek) point back to the beginning of creation, specifically the pronouncement that the “heavens and the earth were finished” (Genesis 2:1). As John alluded to the beginning of creation in the very first verse of his Gospel (“In the beginning . . .”), so John now alludes to creation’s completion with Jesus’ last breath on the cross. Herein lies a mystery: Christ’s incarnation and death somehow encapsulate the story of creation, from the beginning to the Sabbath (Gen 1:1-2:3). Christ’s ministry, in other words, is for all creation (see John 3:16). The Word made flesh for the world made of flesh. 

Yes, it is important to recognize the wounds of the world through the wounds of the crucified Christ. But John adds a new wrinkle: when all is “finished,” whether God’s creation in Genesis or Jesus’ ministry in John, what comes next is Sabbath. More than in any other Gospel, John’s Jesus is a “sabbath breaker,” the one who promotes life by upending convention. And so the church, as the sign of the new creation, must step up as resistant, sabbath-practicing people for the sake of creation’s liberation. I never expected to find hope, let alone a call to action, on the cross, but John has shown me the way. What we have been given by God in Christ is “finished,” that is, deemed sufficient for us to move forward as God’s sabbath-practicing, earth-honoring people.  

Prayer: God of life, God in Christ, wake us up from our slumber of denial. Grant us the eyes to see more fully the wounds of the world that we have inflicted. But do not lead us into despair. Grant us the hope of redemption and healing for all the world, and in such hope may we act accordingly to break the cycle of exploitation and extraction, of greed and aggression. May we move forward in sabbath wonder, grounded in your vision of shalom for all the world.  

William P. Brown is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church USA, author, biblical theologian, and the William Marcellus McPheeters Professor of Old Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary.

Maundy Thursday Devotional by Amantha Barbee

Which Stones are Crying 
Because of Our Silence? 

Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, ‘Teacher, order your disciples to stop.’ He answered, ‘I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.’  Luke 19:39-40

“Order your disciples to stop.” We are called to be disciples of Jesus Christ yet, society has asked us to stop. Society has asked us not to love as Christ loves us. Society has asked us not to welcome the stranger. Society has asked us not to feed the hungry or clothe the naked. Society has asked us to be selfish and self-centered, especially when it comes to land and environment. What makes us money is what we will worship. We have been ordered to stop and unfortunately many of us who call ourselves Christians have adhered to the requests of the Pharisees.

We claim Jesus as Lord. We honor and worship him weekly. We jump with haste to the answer, “Christian” when we are asked our religion. Yet, we sit in silence when black and brown lives are mistreated at the bank, the store, while driving, or living in areas where leaky pipelines taint the water. The rocks are sobbing in a manner that to be sure, pleases not the God we serve but acts as an absolute albatross to truth. Our silence is so loud that perhaps we can’t even hear the rocks crying out. 

As we journey through this Lenten season, will we once again allow Jesus to wash our feet as he did for the disciples in that upper room, humbling himself, for naught? Can we in good faith allow this innocent man to pull off his robe and wash our sinful, forgetful, ungrateful, silent feet? Listen to the rocks. They are crying. They are hurting. They have meaning and they matter. The rocks are the children, the oppressed, the poor, the uneducated, those drinking tainted water or living near nuclear waste. Listen!

Prayer: Holy Lord, we pray to you along our Lenten journey to free us from societal holds and worship you. Give us the courage to be disciples even when society tells us to stop. May we never stop. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Rev. Amantha Barbee is the senior pastor of Oakhurst Presbyterian Church (USA) in Decatur, GA. Her passion for social justice exudes from everything she does. She has recently moved from Charlotte, NC where she led a multifaith group of clergy to fight for justice in the streets, city hall, police stations and around the city.

Palm Sunday Devotional by Alton Pollard

“If These Were Silent”

Psalm 118: 1-2, 19-29

Luke 19: 28-40

The most holy week in the life of our faith has begun. On this Sunday, we commemorate the life of Jesus, an all-inclusive ministry that led him back to Jerusalem and to this Passion moment. In a few short hours and days, a change will come over this city, the people, himself. Triumphal entry becomes martyrdom. Celebration gives way to condemnation. Coronation turns to crucifixion. It begins with the jubilant crowd, spreading their cloaks along the ground, taking palms from the trees, throwing flowers in front of his feet, signing praises to God with a loud voice, “hosanna,” “alleluia,” and “blessed is the king.”

Jesus does not ride in a chariot, mount a war horse or wield the armaments of war but comes subversively, on a young donkey. Thirty-three years earlier, the infant Jesus had travelled by donkey too, under the dark cover of night with Mary and Joseph, out of Jerusalem, and into the safety of Egypt. Time and again, there have been many who find in the person and presence of the Nazarene, in his passion for justice and opposition to injustice, a profound threat and challenge to the status quo. Down throughout the ages principalities and powers – Herodians, rulers, empires, governments, corporations, industries, economies, militaries, militias, professionals, religious leaders and more – have been faint with praise while fiercely condemning Jesus. Now as then, many who would seek to know him are scattered, disinherited and at a loss. If we who profess to believe are silent, in our complicity, the very stones will cry out…  

Prayer: We are grateful for this season of Love when life has the last word, all fear retreats and hope is realized within us yet again.  Grace after grace, blessing after blessing, may the fragmentation of our days be made verdant, just and whole, and filled with the newness and goodness of life everywhere.  You are the hunger of our hearts, O God.

The Rev. Dr. Alton B. Pollard III is Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary’s tenth president. A scholar, author, consultant and speaker on the subject of African American and U.S. religion and culture, Pollard was previously dean of the School of Divinity and professor of religion and culture at Howard University in Washington, D.C.

Artwork by Jessica Jacks

A Lenten Prayer for Creation by Rev. Hallie Hottle Holy God, God who spins the planets, and sings the stars to shine, God of all we praise you and pray to you, for all of creation glistens with your glory. We praise you, even for these days covered in ice that caution us to move more slowly, and for temperatures, too cold to maintain the busy-ness that keeps us from looking up towards you. Even in the midst of winter, God, there is so much that summons us to marvel, so open our eyes and fill our hearts, that we might see you in what surrounds us, and remember to offer our praise. Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer. God of all creation, we praise you and we pray to you, for all creation glistens with your glory, and all creation groans at our indifference. For your children continue to fear poisoned water in Flint, and the scorched earth of Syria continues to summon war. Our cities are quaking as seas are rising, while we continue to debate about a reality we have the privilege to not yet endure. God, how you must despise our worship of convenience that floats as plastic islands in your oceans, and how offended must you be? As we erase the colors of your great barrier reef, before our children get to see. God, all creation groans under the weight of our indifference, and we need so badly for you to help us hear it. So help us lament, Holy God, help us to mourn like you do, for what we’ve done to your earth. Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer. God of all creation, we strive to see your glory, we need to hear the groaning, but to be honest, God, all of it is hard, for our hearts are as broken as this earth. We’re so easily overwhelmed by what we should do, frozen by the enormity of all that is wrong, distracted by our own things, big things, that consume our being. We’ve misappropriated our hope, shrinking it, to what we can “see,” delegating it to those profit on you creation’s peril, forgetting, that you are the God of all creation, that it was you who breathed us into being, you who created us, and calls us to create like you. So God, if you could do, what only you can do if you could take what is broken, our hearts, our priorities, this earth, and hold us, change us, love us into something new. If you could just do what you do God, and create again, breathe life into our dusty souls again... Use our broken hearts and our willing but weary hands and call beauty out of what is broken, make us to be creators of healing and wholeness, for we want, to want with you, to work with you, for a better day. Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer. So God of all creation, We lift our voices to you, as your one body, committed to being creators of your goodness, as we pray the prayer you taught us for this and every day....Our Father... Hallie Hottle is Pastor of Young Adults at Village Church in Prairie Village, KS.

Fifth Sunday of Lent by Sue Rheem

Imagination:  Lift up your eyes on high

“Lift up your eyes on high and see:  Who created these?  He who brings out their host and numbers them, calling them all by name; because he is great in strength, mighty in power, not one is missing.” Isaiah 40:26 (NRSV)  

We live in turbulent times. The news headlines about the dire warnings of climate change appearing almost daily are hard to ignore.  Unknowingly, I have hunkered down to shield myself from the myriad of bad news, looking down at the gray sidewalk as I go about my day.   But recently, I happened to look up as I waited for the traffic light to turn green and witnessed a spectacular cloud formation against a bright blue sky.  The Psalmist’s words came to mind, “The heavens are telling the glory of God – and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.” (Psalm 19:1)   

In Isaiah’s time, yet another turbulent time in human story, he told the people of God to look up to the heavens so they may see God in all God’s glory.  He called on them to lift their eyes on high because they had lost their ability to see God beyond their imagining.  Instead, they made false gods and relied on their own experiences to guide them through the difficult times.  Isaiah’s call is a good reminder for us to feed our own imagination for God that goes beyond our natural tendency to rely on our own understanding and false gods, whatever that may be for each of us.  To seek a God great in strength and mighty in power, who knows all by name, and where all creation praise God – from sun, moon and the shining stars, the waters of the earth, the mountains and the hills, the trees and the animals – is to rely on the everlasting God to guide us through our difficult time of climate change.  

When you go outside in these remaining days of Lent, take a moment to lift up your eyes on high and really see nature’s inherent beauty that God has made, and let your imagination turn to God. 

Prayer:  Gracious God, you have loved your creation into being.  Make us faithful and patient as we lift our eyes on high to draw from the beauty of your creation and to work for a new creation that it may be destined for the glory and service of Jesus Christ.  Amen

Sue Rheem is the Mission Specialist at the Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations, Presbyterian Mission Agency.  She has a Master of Divinity degree from Union Theological Seminary in the City of New York.   She serves on the Justice Ministries Committee of the New York City Presbytery and is a member of the Astoria Presbyterian Church.