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The annual Maryland Legislative Environmental Summit was held yesterday in Annapolis. Hundreds of people, really, a lot, (I’m waiting for the official count) packed into the Miller Senate Building to hear activists, elected officials, and me (!) make brief (5 minute) talks as this year’s legislative session kicks off. It was an honor to be a voice from “the faith community” speaking to such an august and passionate crowd, a group of people who work so hard on behalf of all of us. There is much to do, what with issues such as wind energy, water quality, a bag bill, and more. To keep abreast of issues, you can always check the Maryland League of Conservation Voters site. Or better yet, become one of their members and get updates sent to you.

I attach my presentation below, fyi:
We live in the midst of a 4-billion year old mystery, an on-going miracle that we call Earth.  For all we know, no such miracle exists anywhere else.  Whatever we may be skilled enough to find out there, there is likely not to be another Planet Earth, or another you, or another me, or another Bay or the parade of moonrises and sunsets, or the cascade of creatures that have filled our air and seas and land and made our world what it is today.

We are the chosen ones, blessed with being alive at this awesomely rich and perilous time. We didn’t ask for this moment, we didn’t create it, we did not earn it, and we don’t even understand it.

What we do understand, however, is that something very dangerous – even wicked – is happening out there – and we are doing our share to cause it.

But the good news is, we can do our share to stop it.

We are Earth’s most aware beneficiaries and its most powerful stewards.

We are not its masters, we are not its owners. We are its tenders. We are called upon to use it, take care of it, and give it – healthy and robust – to our children, just as our ancestors gave it to us.

Thomas Berry, the Catholic theologian – taught that each generation has a Great Work. It is a work that we do not choose, but that we are dealt by the hand of history. It is a work that drives our ultimate purpose and inspires our days, a work that all future generations will judge us by, a work that is bound to “the larger destinies of the universe.”

Our generation’s Great Work is to learn to thrive within life’s sustaining cycles. Our Great Work is to build a world that is resilient, ever new and ever fresh to each generation, that matches our desires and consumption, our use and our waste, our progress and our joys, to the untransgressible bounds of nature.

We must do this and we can do this, for we are not alone.

It is crowded in here.

It is crowded with your passion and persistence, your hard work and hopes, your wisdom and commitment.

And it is crowded with the concern and confusion, the hunger and the worry, the needs and prayers of hundreds more, thousands more, millions more who have never heard of you, but who depend upon you, and who need you to pursue this sacred work.

For all of us work on behalf of everyone who takes a breath of air, who wants a sip of clean water, who works to put food on their table, who takes refuge from the cold, seeks a good day’s work today and tomorrow, anyone who relies upon this awesome, giving world for their manifold, mundane needs.  And that is everyone.

The names we use to describe our work might be throwing people off. It seems to me that Senator Carter Conway’s and Delegate McIntosh’s committees might need to be renamed:

Perhaps something like the:  Education, Health and Environment, Economy, Jobs, Energy, Equity, Life’s Well-being, Earth Stewardship and Children of Tomorrow Committees.

The world of tomorrow will not be the world of yesterday. It will take more than science and knowledge, more than money and regulations to get us from here to there. It will take our trust, it will take our will, and it will take our faith.

We are not engaged in an us-vs-them agenda.  It is not about jobs vs the environment; enviros vs progress, government vs the people.

Our task can be stated simply:

It is about us taking care of nature so nature can take care of us.

There is a great future waiting for us; we must find the way, and we must all get there together.

That is our Great Work.
That is our sacred work.
And that is why you are here.
Thank you for what you do.

image from http://kristytallman.com

The Blanket Around Her

Joy Harjo (Native American – Creek)

maybe it is her birth
which she holds close to herself
or her death
which is just as inseparable
and the white wind
that encircles her is a part
just as the blue sky
hanging in turquoise from her neck
oh woman
remember who you are
woman
it is the whole earth

I would like to make nothing

a verb. I nothing. You nothing.

We nothing. That second person

plural is my favorite conjugation.

Imagine. Both of us not hinging together.

Where? I don’t care. The garden.

The alley. The canyon. The floor.

More nothing. Oh, it’s nothing.

Nothing is sacred, any more.

And there, on the altar of air

our minds and bodies rest. They unfold

in the hollow, the gaps. Though

when nothing happens, that’s

all I want to talk about. I thrill

at nothing. I love nothing.

Nothing’s perfect. Nothing’s easy.

The grass continues to grow.

Nothing to do. Nothing to say.

Let’s do nothing together all day.

~Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

This poem was a gift to me this morning from an eclectic spirituality listserv that I’m on. Blessings to that listserv and their shared wisdom.

a string dangles between her

legs that have walked

many miles beyond the moon,

ceased river of red.

a cord from that very womb

space that never birthed

a child this time

only gifts of art and loss.

she pulls the ripcord,

a pile of lives

spill onto the floor

grays blacks and reds run.

a puddle of terror, hatred

sorrow infused droplets

of centuries of abuse

from holy pulpit’s minions.

a powerful healer with plants

carrying sacred touch,

medicine to wounds of skin

and spirit threatened.

burned at the stake

surrounded by crosses

and silenced again,

a multitude of sisters.

the herbs still flowered

wild and hidden

in forest corners

awaiting harvest.

for the gentle touch

of feminine hands to discover

again the call to sing

healing into their haras.

to release the dammed

forces trapped by too many

moons ignored and

songs unsung.

the sisters are gathering

in ancient groves

quietly, consciously

to remember the dance.

they gather to call

on the crones and the trees

to stomp in confidence

and forgiveness.

the ripcords are emerging

to release the web

of woundedness

shed into Mother’s hope circle.

Jan, 2012

Linganore

mare

This poem has come out of my writing and reflecting on the Divine Feminine and all the powerful women who have been silenced or martyred over the centuries since the Christian legions scoured the land for any gifted healers who practiced the ancient arts of healing. And I wanted to celebrate the resurgence of women gathering together to celebrate the Goddess and the moon cycles and our inherent wisdom and compassionate power.

Random Communications from an Evolutionary Edge 

He has such a broad understanding of the dysfunction of our current political and economic system and helps us grasp the bigger picture.

This is a very recent post that Tom wrote titled:

Strategies to rein in corporate power?

Here is the first section from that post -

I actually love doing these discussions and sitting around and discussing God and the Divine with people who are true seekers and open-minded about the myriad paths to the Great Mystery. I love talking about our Godspace and how we can cultivate it to really learn how to develop our own personal phone connection. This past weekend’s discussion was a joy. And the fact that a minister attended quite serendipitously was a special treat that afternoon.

Here’s the piece:

http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/news/display.htm?StoryID=130920

ps. I have to put a plug in for Serina at the Dublin Roasters Coffeehouse in Frederick. She is the best with her flexibility and hosting a variety of events. And they make a mean mocha and hot chocolate there too.

Here is a video clip of a musician in Slovakia who was quite fun and creative after a cellphone interrupted his performance. I loved his spontaneity with the ring. A true artist…

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-16688007

…I would like to beg you dear Sir, as well as I can, to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and to try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don’t search for the answers, which could not be given to you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday far in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.

Rainer Maria Rilke, 1903
in Letters to a Young Poet

What the Dalai Lama is also alluding to is that “Western” women have access to so many resources to affect change. It’s up to us to take the initiative or to follow through more proactively on what we’ve already initiated. Yes…