T&J Edition 10: Volunteer with Seattle Public Schools & Other Ways to Engage

Hello Union Community,

Here are a few opportunities that you could consider devoting your time, advocacy, or money to. Thank you for continuing to actively engage in bringing God's justice to our world. 

LEARN

  • Participate TONIGHT in the Seattle Presbytery's Race & Equity "White Allies Panel Discussion" @ 7PM via Zoom. Register here

  • Join the UW School of Public Health every Tuesday from 12:30-1:20PM for the Autumn Seminar series Growing Resilience and Equity: Food Systems Amidst the Dual Pandemics of COVID-19 and Systemic Racism. If you can't attend the live seminar, they are also available on their Youtube channel. The first seminar is up there now!

ACT

  • Volunteer to Support Students Most Adversely Affected by COVID-19 through the Seattle Public Schools! SPS is looking for volunteers who could provide digital classroom assistance or digital tutoring opportunities at select schools in the district. Fill out this interest form to get connected.

  • Drivers Needed for Operation Nightwatch! Drive small groups of men without homes to nearby shelter. Hours 9-10PM on the south side of First Hill. Contact volunteer@seattlenightwatch.org to get connected. 

  • SAVE THE DATE and participate in CHOOSE 180's Evening of Choice on October 14th @ 7PM. The Evening of Choice is a time to envision the future of Transformative Justice, listen to the communities impacted by the juvenile legal system, and grow as an advocate for change. RSVP here

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Truth & Justice Studio MISSION STATEMENT :: Truth & Justice creates space to educate and mobilize people by lifting up marginalized voices as catalyst for social change. We are a community within Union Church in Seattle, WA. 

Eco-Act 024: “To every thing there is a season ….” (Ecclesiastes 3:1)

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Planting and tending a garden, and feasting on the harvest, are always satisfying activities, whether the garden is our own yard/patio/windowsill or the gardens that stock farmers’ markets and grocery store bulk food aisles. But this year gardening has offered something more profound: hope—the calming reassurance that at some deep level, the world still works: plant—nurture—say thanks—enjoy.

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Garden

+ hope

But now this wonderful season comes to what Mary Oliver, near the end of “Six Recognitions of the Lord,” called the exquisite, necessary diminishing. What might we do now, to keep hope alive? Six thoughts are humbly offered.

1. Gardening is diminished, not done. A variety of gardening books, Food Grown Right, In Your Back Yard, for example, list ways to garden into late fall/winter. Garlic will over-winter and can still be planted outdoors for spring/early summer harvesting. Other hardy plants still have a chance outside too—chard and kale, for example, particularly if you can find starts. (But hurry….) Now is also the time for a last weeding/clearing-out and amending the soil. And consider a bit of indoor winter gardening—herbs in pots, or recycled scallions.

2. Buy vegetables, beans and grains that don’t come in packages. In other words, choose foods available in supermarket organic and bulk-food aisles or, if you’re comfortable shopping there, at farmers’ markets such as Pike Place Market. Think of this as your act of solidarity with other gardeners whose crops travel a shorter distance to your table—and, ideally, use less plastic.

3. Enjoy another kind of “garden.” Make it a point to regularly walk in nature. On your walks, choose specific trees, or hedges, or garden beds, and notice their cadence as they, and we, progress into and then out of winter. Or visit a formal garden such as the Seattle Japanese Garden to enjoy gardening on an entirely different scale.

4. Reflect. If we let them, gardening and food shopping can link us in a tiny way to climate change and global food security. According to Food Forward, “Currently, we produce enough food for the global population, but not everyone has equal access to food, due to income inequality, geopolitical conflicts, and other factors. In fact, we produce (and waste) so much food that if we prevented just 25% of global food waste, which totals at 1.3 billion tons annually, we could feed all 870 million people suffering from chronic undernourishment.” How can we embody this reality in our individual actions?

5. Think, then act.

  • We can start with our own behavior: we can waste less food, which includes buying blemished produce along with the perfect specimens and buying only the quantities we need.

  • We can include beneficial foods such as oatmeal, shade-grown coffee and seaweed, in meal plans. We’ve talked before about using our purchasing power to encourage farmers and food companies to behave in more eco-friendly ways. Farmers could plant oats or barley, for example, between rows of corn and soybeans—if we incent them to do so. Who would have thought that eating more oatmeal could be an act of eco-care?! According to this same article, “green eating,” which includes eating less meat, would bring affluent nations into closer alignment with their own dietary guidelines and “greenhouse gases from food production would fall by 13 to 25 percent.”

  • We can consider garden modifications that take climate change into account. These might include introducing native plants/controlling invasive species; growing plants that support pollinators and birds; retiring gas-powered yard tools; reducing water consumption with mulch, rain barrels, drip irrigation, spot watering and limiting watering to early morning/evening; composting waste; planting trees to absorb CO2; reducing hardscapes; and creating a rain garden.

6. Dream. Recently we started to wonder … next spring, what if everyone in the Union community who gardens, or who could garden, decided to plant extra tomatoes, or lettuce, or spinach, or onions, peppers, melons, squash, potatoes, …. Could we grow enough food to make a difference for someone else? Would you participate in such a project? What other gardening dreams might we turn into reality as purposeful, hopeful acts of caring for the world and each other? We also invite you to attend our first Eco-Faith Virtual Discussion on 10/29 @ 7 pm, more info here.

Discernment. Seeing as Jesus Sees

Discernment is “faithful living and listening to God’s love and direction…(it) allows us to “see through” the appearance of things to their deeper meaning and come to know the interworkings of God’s love and our unique place in the world. Discernment helps us come to know our true identity in creation, vocation in the world, and unique place in history as an expression of divine love.” Henri Nouwen, Discernment: Signs for Daily Life

Dear Beloved Family,

In a world that categorizes, classifies, and diminishes people, Jesus shows us how to SEE people through divine love. We live in a time when we desperately need the eyes of Jesus, not only in how we see others, but in how we see ourselves.

Jason Huff, on Sunday, invited us to join him in praying daily The Prayer of the Chalice by Francis Nuttall that’s been helpful in his “living and listening to God’s love and direction.”  Here it is.

This prayer reminds us that when our own words elude us and we come to God empty and dry, the words of others can open the eyes of our heart to see God afresh and to be reminded that the Spirit of God unites us across time and space.

During these next weeks, will you join me in taking 10-15 minutes daily to ask God to change your vision and to see as Jesus sees? You may find that the prayers of others sustain you; you may want to write your own prayer of love to God. Sitting in silence may be the place of connection.

Let me know what you discover about the “interworkings of God’s love” and your unique place in our world as you take time to pause and BE with your Creator who calls you Beloved.

Here is another prayer from Henri Nouwen that I’ve found a helpful daily prayer:

“Dear God,
I am so afraid to open my clenched fists!
Who will I be when I have nothing left to hold on to?
Who will I be when I stand before you with empty hands?
Please help me to gradually open my hands
and to discover that I am not what I own,
but what you want to give me.”

Take time to pause quietly and give thanks for the good gifts that God, our Creator, Advocate and Sustainer has given to you this today.

In gratitude and hope,
Renée

Eco-Act 023: Stories from the fields

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As we round out our waste series (for now), we thought we’d highlight a food waste story from our greater region that has local implications. Earlier this summer, Alysun Deckert — studio 3 elder and UWMC nutritionist — sent us an article about a former coworker who started a nonprofit (read: movement!) to redistribute food in our region at the onset of COVID-19. By partnering with farmers in Eastern WA who had surplus produce and community members all over the state, George Ahearn and co. began moving tons of produce, dairy, meat and other foods to create more food security in this time of need.

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moving food

with community

Since its inception in late April, EastWest Food Rescue has diverted 8,000,000+ pounds of food and served 1,500,000+ meals. And it all started through serendipitous community connections. You can read more about their story and the heart behind this food movement in this UW Bothell article, or by visiting their website above. As our eco-act for this week, we challenge you to meditate on George’s words from the UW interview:

“It’s really just finding a way to connect the dots. I was amazed to see a potato give people hope and to bring tears to people on both sides — the donors and the recipients. A potato can give people purpose,” he said. “So, figure out what dots you have in your life and try to connect those and make it easier for someone.”

And isn’t that how it happens? We’ve seen the harvest and abundance of opportunity grow as we invest in relationships with those we live with, our neighbors, and community partners during this year. Acts of tending and keeping (our first vocation, according to Genesis) can be as simple as a potato — literally.

So what dots in your life can you connect around food security, waste, care for the earth, and ultimately, justice? Might there be an opportunity to cook an extra meal for a neighbor — on your street or from Compass House? Could you plant your garden this winter and coming warm season, planning to grow some excess produce to be used in Union’s various food ministries? Or maybe you might connect with EastWest Food Rescue by volunteering your time to let nothing go wasted.

Let us know what dots you connect and the ideas you might have that our community can help you grow.

Prayers of the People: October 4th, 2020

Jason Huff prayed The Prayer of the Chalice by Francis Nuttall on Sunday and encouraged people to pray it daily:

Holy One, to You I raise my whole being
– a vessel emptied of self. Accept, Lord,
this my emptiness, and so fill me with
Yourself – Your Light, Your Love, Your
Life – that these Your precious Gifts
may radiate through me and over-
flow the chalice of my heart into
the hearts of all with whom I
come in contact this day,
revealing unto them
the beauty of
Your Joy
and
Wholeness
and
the
serenity
of Your Peace
which nothing can destroy.


October Pastoral Word

Dear Beloved Family,

When James B read me this translation of Psalm 46:10,

“Step out of the traffic! Take a long, loving look at me, your High God, above politics, above everything” (The Message)

I felt stopped in my tracks! Yes, I’ve stepped out of traffic, for the most part, but do I take a long, loving look at our Creator, High God, and trust that God is with us in the everything we are facing?  Because EVERYTHING is in upheaval. This has been quite another week!

This passage does not give permission to disengage from the politics of our city and nation. We are to be citizens who take seriously our right to vote, to actively participate in our civil life and to be people who pray for justice and equity, seeking a post-colonized world.  It is a reminder to keep our focus on the One who breathed all into being and who holds all things together and who is with us from beginning to end.  The One whom we know through Jesus Christ, who looks upon us with compassion and love.

It is tempting to retreat and to question if any of our actions and decisions matter. In Eliana Maxim’s recent message on Matt 13, Jesus, the Storyteller,  she invited us to seek the spiritual truth in one another stories, often stories that are different than our own, that we might “find our place in God’s wild and remarkable story of life.” 

In the current struggles and heartaches and questions you are facing, may these weekly newsletters encourage you, dear family, that you are not insignificant, and you are not alone. Here you find stories of hope (such as a student being tutored in math) that invite us to listen, pray and ask, “how do these stories connect with my story of life?” As you read, trust that your story in this sacredly created world matters and is essential as part of a bigger story (this might be redundant and can be taken out)

Our scripture this Sunday is Matt 13:53-14:21, focusing on The Grieving Jesus Who Feeds Us. Please read the passage in preparation along with this song recently recorded by the worship band, The Road, the Rocks and the Weeds (near the bottom of page).

(This could be placed below)

In the hope of Jesus Christ,

Renée and James B

Eco-Act 022: A bit of sacrifice, with purpose, in hope

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Imagine “a social and economic order that encourages the acquisition of goods and services in ever-increasing amounts.” In this system, supplies of goods exceed demand, so tools such as planned obsolescence and advertising must be employed to create demand and sustain economic growth. What would you call this system? It’s consumerism, of course, and it’s linked to climate change. Or, as a June 2019 New Republic article title states succinctly: “Climate Change Is the Symptom. Consumer Culture Is the Disease.” And it’s a disease we need to cure if we’re serious about the health of our world.

But how can one person take on consumerism? The answer is complex—but positive, and urgent. It starts by understanding who that “one person” is in the context of economic power. According to James Dyke, writing in inews.co.uk, ”If [your household has a net annual] income of at least £30,000 [$38,700], you are one of the richest 10 percent of the global population and can row back on your consumerism. It’s those households … that are responsible for 52% of the carbon that was emitted into the atmosphere from between 1990 and 2015.”

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fight consumerism

one decision at a time

So not only can we do something, we MUST do something, because we are dealing with a global economic/ecologic imbalance, and we’re on the side with influence. The “10%” described above fuels consumerism and enjoys its benefits, driving carbon emissions. The remaining 90% of the world’s population deals with varying degrees of poverty and enjoys less or none of the consumer lifestyle. To achieve quality-of-life gains, they actually need to consume more. As new Oxfam research states, climate change is associated with growing consumption among the “have’s,” not by poor populations rising out of poverty. It’s we who must act. What to do? In posts 016 and 018 we talked about the circular economy as an earth-friendly alternative to the linear “take/make/dispose” model that contributes to climate change and threatens our world. Our contribution to “circularity” includes recycling, but vital as this act is, even consistent, disciplined recycling cannot by itself compensate for the excesses of consumerism and address climate change. So we humbly offer "5 R’s” to prompt some thought about additional actions each of us might take:

  1. Refuse/reduce: do I actually need that? Can I delay buying it, or buy less/fewer? Can I rent or borrow or barter for it? Can I take fewer/longer vacations instead of shorter/more frequent trips? Can I substitute a vegetarian meal for a meat-based meal once a day?

  2. Reuse/repurpose/reclaim: can worn-out sheets or draperies become rags, towels or rag rugs? Can I build my deck with reclaimed lumber? Am I doing everything I can to stop wasting food? Can I walk or bike more to reduce driving?

  3. Repair: can an item’s life be extended through careful repair? Do I know someone who can reweave a tattered wool blanket, for example?

  4. Recycle/return: am I doing everything I can to responsibly recycle? Can I return an item, clothing or electronics, for example, to the seller or through a city program?

  5. Relocate: okay, it’s a stretch, but it’s an “r,” and it’s meant to suggest relocating something I own to someone else via sharing or donating.

You get the idea. My small sacrifices joined with your small sacrifices, made with purpose, in hope, can moderate consumerism and make a difference.

A final thought: businesses, especially profitable ones, may not rush to change what works for them just to benefit the environment. We, as consumers, acting responsibly, intentionally, collectively, have to tell them to do so by what we purchase or decline to purchase. We can do this!