Going Forward...

Dear Beloved Union,

Last week in our worship gathering (5/9),  78% of participants responded via our  zoom poll that you are ready to gather again in-person while 22% highlighted how important the online connection will be for you as we move into a new stage of being able to be in-person.  Thank you to those who responded and others who continue to communicate with us your questions such as “How will we BE together as we move forward into this new phase with more people vaccinated?”

Your desire for spiritual growth opportunities, for community connection through in-person and online, and for continued imagination for living justly together in our world as “imitators of God” matters to us! We are all learning together. 

Moving forward into this next phase, Union is providing BOTH online and in-person opportunities. Just as you all have provided support and ideas throughout the pandemic, we welcome your insight, wisdom, suggestions now.

Grateful to journey with you as we grow in Christ together,

James B, Renée, and Studio 3

Therefore...Living in Response to the Resurrection

Reflection Exercise

Introduction

Ephesians 5: 1-2: Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children,  and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

 With all the complexities of life that we are experiencing, what difference does the message of resurrection mean for us?

Reflection Questions

As we spend time in Ephesians during this season between Easter and Pentecost, we invite you to reflect on these questions that we offered in worship on April 18.  Following the questions, we’ve provided some thoughts based on Ephesians 3-4.

Take time and sit quietly with each question and then take time to write, draw or speak out loud your response.  You may want to do this multiple times and see what changes for you…

 The virus surges now in India and South America. Even as more people are vaccinated now in the US, controversy surges! How do we face questions about the future while seeking to walk through each day as we continue to unearth deep rooted inequity and suffering?  How does Resurrection empower us to live as imitators of God and live in love?!

 Our scripture boldly asks us to ponder why resurrection matters in our daily living. It is not pie-in-the sky wishful thinking. Resurrection changes how we live each day.

Q1: What are personal limitations and struggles that you have faced through the pandemic?

Take time.

 We have been called to live in new relationships, to let God work in and through us.  To live in and reveal the power of God’s love.  And we recognize that we all need God’s grace.

God is actively gifting us to give a taste of God’s reign to those around us. You can do this because of the Holy Spirit in you who empowers you beyond what you could do on your own.

Q2:  What insight, gifts, or strengths has God gifted you with?

Take time.

Who do we say that we are?  Sometimes we feel that we are not OK. We can be held captive in our world by lies, systems, falsehoods, and fear. At that point the cross captures that feeling and shows us that we are a new creation and we can live as transformed people.

Q3: What does it mean that Christ has rescued us from the captivity of fear and of lies about who we are?

Take time.

 The invitation is towards freedom that Christ offers.  You belong to Christ!

Q4:  What do you appreciate about the Body of Christ and your part in it?

Take time.

You are rooted and grounded in love because of Christ Jesus.

Q5:  Who is God inviting the Church to be (that includes you) in our current time and place?

Resurrection…

This is an event that is earth-shattering, heaven-extending, life-giving. An event that tells us that we do not live in a closed system; on a dead-end road with no hope for imagination of a new way.

God broke through what seemed a closed world system of violence, hierarchy, and fatalism – to SHOW God’s true character and LOVE --- God reached down to the lowest of places to lift all of creation to the highest of places.

Jesus Christ, who became ONE of us – human flesh -- and who entered the world to break down the walls of hostility and create a new humanity, is now our Risen Lord, advocating on our behalf.

Therefore…

 Jesus Christ reveals the great size of God’s love for us –resurrection power.

 Jesus Christ reveals God’s grace for all of us  -- to be united.

 We have access to God in boldness and confidence and through Christ, God’s power is working through us to do more than we can ask or even imagine!

 And, who is the “us”  through him God is working?

 In Ephesians 3, Paul boldly says --- though Christ Jesus’ death and resurrection a mystery had been made clear.

 Are you ready?  The Church is how God, who creates all things and holds all things together chooses to bring Heaven and Earth together – to reveals God’s healing wisdom and God’s healing power of LOVE that restores and brings new life.

 Now, we may say this is crazy!  We are so aware of what the church has done wrong. The ways the church has been complicit in promoting segregation…monitored morality…communicated judgement.

Perhaps we’ve allowed a small, domesticated, picture of the church take hold of us and paralyze us from living intentionally as Christ invites.

 Written from a prison cell, Paul is challenging us to let go of three wrong views that we tend to gravitate towards:

1) The church is static – never changing.  What is your static view that needs to change?

2) The church is an IT – an institution, lifeless, impersonal. What is your institutional view of the church that needs to change?

3) The church is irrelevant or out of touch with the real issues of the world. What is your irrelevant view of the church that needs to change?

 INSTEAD, Paul reveals through Christ

1) The Church is Dynamic and active for the NOW.  A movement!  A movement that reaches out to those who feel the least welcomed – and includes…extends LOVE that cannot be contained within the walls of a building or system

2) The Church is us, a living organism, in which God dwells and works to bring new creation – US --  united and linked with others throughout time and generations. Where we are the church is.

3) The Church is centered on a cross that extends GOD’s LOVE to all dimensions of this earth…. Bearers of Grace and new life… Revolutionary to bring transformation to unjust systems and power structures that oppress.

 Grand language? Yes…but lived out this is a reality that is: gritty, a rolling up your sleeves, weeping alongside another human being, sharing of your suffering, facing your weaknesses, using your tangible gifts --  kind of faith.

 We are invited into a shared faith that is lived out in the world in partnership with God.

Resurrection brings forth a new humanity to be a part of God’s reign which is done so – not through fear, or arrogance or dominance but by Love and service and sacrifice.

 Therefore, our calling is a journey shaped by humble boldness and a bold humility; a journey of gentleness, patience and love – participating in what the Spirit is doing to change the world for GOOD. And, it is a journey that acknowledges our own pain…our limitations…our struggles. Our need for a Savior

 Dear friends – we are connected to one another – by one Death, one Resurrection, One Spirit, One Faith, One hope, one Baptism, One Lord.

We are a BODY --- joined and knit together by Christ’s blood pouring through us…and by the Spirit breathing in us. We are the BODY of Christ – who needs each others strengths and struggles, gifts and hopes. We need each others uniqueness and difference to fully express the LOVE of God to the world that is stuck in hatred, violence, and despair.

 When you say YES to Jesus you say YES to being a part of Christ’s Body. You are included and needed. 

There is so much deceit and trickery in the world that seeks to pull us from our identity. When we try to live alone – think we can follow Christ without being a part of Christ’s body, we fool ourselves – we become vulnerable to the stormy weather that beats upon us.

Your uniqueness is needed alongside another’s beautiful uniqueness to reveal a new way of being together. We have witnessed this over and over through this pandemic.  Some of you are encouragers, some of you are doers, some of you are prophets, some of you are healers.

 ALL of us are invited together to be grace bearers to reveals that the hatred, the division, the discrimination, the name-calling, the despair in our WORLD is counter to the extravagant love of Christ that lifts people up and brings HOPE.

 THE Hope of our calling is to be a part of God’s Kingdom…God’s reign…together!

Together we are a part of what God is doing in our world…. Amen!

Eco-Act 21:09: checking in as we journey

This week, with May approaching, we check in on our Union Gardens project with a mixture of gratitude and anticipation. Then, we revisit two previously discussed components of our work to live more eco-friendly lives: recycling and our food consumption. First, Union Gardens ….

As the photo at left shows, radishes and arugula, sown just a few weeks ago, are growing nicely. And look carefully center-right to spot some butterhead and romaine lettuces sprouting. It won’t be long now….

At this point, just about everything can be safely sown or transplanted into outdoor gardens. For us, this means adding tomatoes, peppers, onion sets, carrots, bok choy and beans, as well as succession-planting lettuce. Our hope is that, by the end of May and early June, we will start to have some produce to share. If you have been thinking about joining the Union Gardens project, this is a great time to get started—in your back yard or a nearby pea patch, or on your deck, porch or windowsill.

Perhaps you have noticed and been encouraged by the recent wave of good environmental news. Ford, GM and Volvo, for example, have announced timelines for going all-electric. Tesla founder Elon Mush is financing a $100 million competition for the creation of solutions that remove carbon from the environment. The Environmental Protection Agency plans to allow California to resume setting its own (rigorous) vehicle emissions standards. And last week, the Biden administration joined with other world leaders to announce a focus on a clean energy future. These and similar developments are exciting in part because of the scale on which the players operate—far beyond what any individual can achieve. And with governments and corporations signaling they will do the “heavy lifting,” we have an opportunity to fine-tune the work we continue to do as individuals.

Recycling

We all dutifully follow the rules: buy-use-recycle-done. We’re environmentally responsible consumers, right? We do our part, and then pass the baton to our municipalities so they can finish the job properly. But is this approach really working? Or are we deluding ourselves? Maybe we as consumers have some opportunities to focus our efforts for better results, for example:

• avoiding products that come in plastic containers or multi-material containers (e.g., foil-lined chip bags)

• buying foods in bulk, using our own containers

• using Ridwell to dispose of plastic films

Such actions, over time, signal manufacturers that we want their help in eliminating plastics from the environment.

Food consumption

What we eat, particularly red meat, impacts the environment: raising/feeding beef, for example, accounts for perhaps 6% of greenhouse gas emissions annually. As the world’s population grows and becomes more affluent, demand for meat will increase, leading to deforestation to free up more land for grazing and feed crop production—creating more greenhouse gas emissions. How do we help avoid this problem? We don’t need to become vegans or vegetarians; we just need to eat less meat, substituting chicken, fish and plant-based proteins for a portion of our current meat consumption.

So what can we take away from our journey to this point? Governments and major corporations appear to be stepping up to fight global warming on a scale only they are capable of—encouraging news. Furthermore, much

remains that each of us can individually contribute—more good news. And seeds + earth + water + sun still yield food to enjoy—and share. Good news indeed!

Eco-Act 21:08: Earth Day everyday

Official Earth Day art by Speto, acclaimed Brazilian street artist from São Paulo.

This year’s Earth Day (April 22nd) comes on the heels of the World Meteorological Organization’s 2020 Global Climate report, showing that 2020 was one of the hottest years on record and that the planet is on the verge of climate disaster if we don’t act now. It also comes amidst growing calls for the end of racialized police violence with the conviction of Derek Chauvin in the killing of George Floyd and a relentless string of other Black and brown people killed by police — many of them being children and young adults. To reflect on racism and Creation healing, we invite you to reflect on indigenous scholar and farmer, Dr. Randy Woodley’s article: White Supremacy and the Fate of the Earth.

This year, Earth Day is being officially celebrated all over the globe by EarthDay.org on April 20-23. They have put together informative forums, campaigns, and other ways to engage and we invite you to check out some of these resources. In addition to tuning in live for their program, “Earth Day Live“ at 9 AM PST, you can watch their virtual summits at any time:

• Global Youth Summit: led by Earth Uprising, in collaboration with My Future My Voice, OneMillionOfUs and hundreds of youth climate activists.

• We Shall All Breathe: The Hip Hop Caucus and its partners will present the “We Shall Breathe” virtual summit. This digital event will examine climate and environmental justice, connecting the climate crisis to issues of pollution, poverty, police brutality, and the pandemic, all within a racial justice framework.

• Teach For the Planet: Join a group of gifted global educators and education activists to talk about the importance of climate change education and action today, for tomorrow’s change makers.

There are many more resources on their homepage including their admonition to us to celebrate Earth Day every day through their Restore Our Earth campaign, as well as history of the day (51 years in the making!) and a tool to find (mostly virtual) Earth Day events to tune into.

You can also check this Verge article for a variety of Earth Day celebrations and educational events: President Biden’s Leaders’ Summit on Climate Change (4/22-23), a virtual 5k (4/17-25), National Geographic’s Earth Day Eve Party (tonight!!), and many many more!!

On a closer-to-home scale, we encourage you to look into Earth Ministry’s broad array of events! There are some great opportunities to get involved in regional and state environmental actions. Let us know how you celebrated Earth Day, and what you’re committing to in the year ahead!

Eco-Act 21-07: the “global” in global warming

eco not ego

global climate change

Today we begin to look at how and where we as individuals fit into the work of eliminating global warming. To do this, we’ll dig just a bit into agriculture, which accounts for 19% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions annually, according to Bill Gates in How to Avoid a Climate Disaster*. As we start, we should remember three points.

1. We truly are all connected. Atmospheric warming can’t be eliminated by or for Seattle, Washington state or the US alone. We can and should take steps that help local conditions, and we can be confident that these measures contribute to the bigger solutions needed. But despite our best efforts, we will feel some negative impacts of global warming in Seattle, the Northwest, the US—and in the northern hemisphere—until climate problems are addressed globally. It should also be stated that the global majority will face more severe consequences of global warming, first.

2. Global climate solutions must pair with global equity solutions. Effective, lasting climate solutions must be robust enough to work for a growing world population (the Pew Research Center estimates it at 10.9 billion in 2100), supporting higher living standards and expanding economies that enable increasing worldwide consumption of goods and energy. We have a mandate to act, from both a climate and a social justice perspective: no (social) justice, no (climate) peace.

3. Game-changing climate solutions will require global scale. Carbon taxes, solar and wind farms, transition to “clean” steel and cement, carbon capture technologies …. These and many other initiatives will be essential to the elimination of GHG emissions. And they will require investments, technology advances and legislative actions exceeding by orders of magnitude the contributions any one of us alone can make. Does this make our individual efforts pointless? Absolutely not! Our actions can help make a direct difference. Here, for example, are three actions we as individuals could take right now that have the potential to reduce GHG emissions in the agriculture sector:

   • Waste less food. Americans throw away something like 40%** of the food they buy—twice the percentage of Europeans and some other populations. As wasted food rots in the landfill, it releases GHGs—3.3 billion tons each year. So we can help reduce global warming simply by shopping for food more carefully and making sure we use everything we buy.

   • Modify our diets. Raising livestock for food is a major source of GHG emissions in the agriculture sector. Reducing the amount of meat we eat thus makes a direct, if gradual, contribution to GHG elimination. Consider also that our reduced consumption here will help compensate for other parts of the world where improving standards of living support increased meat consumption. Can our meal planning include a few meatless (or “engineered” meat) entrées each week?

   • Get smart about fertilizing our gardens. As they are used, fertilizers can release nitrogen, which ultimately leads to GHG emissions and water pollution. Yet plants—including those in our Union Gardens—benefit from fertilizing. The challenge is to fertilize just enough. A wealth of information on this topic can be found here and elsewhere online.

Intentional acts like the three noted above produce direct benefits and confirm the value our individual roles, in this case as consumers and savvy gardeners. But they do more: they signal the food industry, agribusinesses, corporate farmers and livestock producers, and other organizations that our requirements, and thus our shopping behaviors, are changing. And to continue to enjoy success in the marketplace, these major corporations and other businesses will have to change their behaviors as well, by changing product offerings or raising smaller herds, for example, or growing food grains instead of livestock feed.

Climate change is truly global. But even so, we do fit into the work of eliminating global warming—by our actions on a personal scale, and by our influence on regional, national and global-scale players.

* How to Avoid a Climate Disaster, Bill Gates, page 55. The formal title for this category is actually “agriculture, forestry and other land use.”

** How to Avoid a Climate Disaster, page 121.

Eco-Act 21-06: Union Gardens April Check-In

Winter’s End

For those of us happy to do a bit of gardening in the wind and rain, the 2021 growing season has been underway for a while already. Actually, we’re still harvesting lettuce and kale from our “winter’s end garden,” left. But now, the overwintering plants are slowly being joined by new sprouts from the peas and salad greens we seeded a few weeks ago (note the tiny bits of green in the foreground).

The major recent activity, however, has been preparing a new garden bed and seeding it with radishes, arugula, spinach, and lettuces. With luck, we’ll be enjoying the radishes sometime in the second half of April, followed by the arugula and spinach, and then the lettuces by late May/early June.

If you’re willing to accept Sky Nursery’s “last frost date” estimate of April 15th, then a wide variety of vegetables can be safely direct-seeded outdoors at this point, as noted in our Union Gardens Calendar:

• fava beans

• peas

• spinach

• onions/scallions

• arugula

• collards

• kale

• leeks

• lettuce

• potatoes

• radishes

• turnips

• cabbage

• cauliflower

• celery

• kohlrabi

Coming Attractions

We’re anticipating rows of green to begin emerging in the “coming attractions” garden, left, within a week or two.

Might you be looking for a positive, hopeful activity—or even just sign of the warmer, sunnier weather to come? Consider planting some seeds in your garden, planter box, or a container on the windowsill!

Holy Week: Jesus’ Journey of Love

Dear Beloved Friends, 

Every year Union ends our Easter worship with U2’s Window in the Skies with the resounding chorus: Oh, can’t you see what love has done…what it’s doing to me!

We’ve walked in Lent together in this challenging time -- grieving the physical distance, hoping for a new day of being together, praying for Jesus’ peace for the world, anticipating new life, and lamenting the reality of the hate that still grips our world.  In all of this we walk in hope that Jesus is who He says – God in flesh and the image of the God who loves. We walk through Lent together with our eyes to our Savior of LOVE, who goes to the cross for the sake of all of us. The ground at the cross is level. We are all in need of Jesus’ love.

In John 13:1 we read of the extent of Jesus’ love for us.

“Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.” 

On Palm Sunday we begin Jesus’ journey of love through the cross to the good news of RESURRECTION. This is a journey of utter, self-sacrificial love!  Jesus topples authorities – not through aggression, force, manipulation, coercion but through LOVE. Jesus overcomes the hold of evil’s power through LOVE. God’s Self-giving on the cross opens a new reality for us, a peace with God that frees us to live open-handed, expansively, and unleashes the Spirit to live within and through us. Oh, can’t you see what love has done…what it’s doing to me—and us?!

We invite you to take time each day of Holy Week to ask: 

• How does Jesus love make a difference?

• How/where does Jesus invite you to love as Jesus loves?

Allow yourself to walk through this week and to pause with Jesus and to give thanks for the love that changes the world and changes your life. You are loved to the end. What can love do through you? Our world is desperate for the the love of Christ that flows through you.