In a recent on-line retreat I was asked to select a word for this coming year. After some prayer and contemplation it did come and the word is "grounding". What this means for me in the coming months will unfold as time passes. I see "grounding" as part of the connection we have to all creation. It's that knowing we have that we were created from the earth and carry the same elements as the ground that now nourishes us. God gave to the first man the name of Adam which is taken from the word adamah meaning"soil".

The "grounding" has first come alive as of yesterday when we planted grass in one of our pastures. This meant that first the entire acre and half was plowed; followed by raking it smooth. Next the seed went down and then another raking. Driving the fifteen year old Kabota is a meditation in itself with the drone of its engine drowning out all other sounds. The air was cool and the smell of the earth wafting upward was delightful. A ten foot piece of chain link fencing had been secured to the back of the tractor weighted with some fence posts and adjusted for depth by adding concrete blocks. Smoothing out our lives often requires some heavily weighted tow. As we struggle with the load we learn and eventually things smooth themselves out. "Avoid sharp turns," I was told. I consider what it is like to avoid sharp turns in life. The past few weeks are seen my life take several sharp turns and it throws me off track so the plans don't get done and all thoughts insistently jump into the past and the future.

Since the pasture is rectangular I started on one edge following the fence line down one side, cutting up the middle, and coming down by the first cut then going up the far side of the middle track. This process took awhile to get right; if one is not focused, the track is easily taken on the wrong side of the first track or we ended up by the far fence. I finished the first raking. Since putting down the seed required even more skill it was handed off to a more accomplished tractor handler. This made the second raking a snap. All I had to do was follow the tire tracks made when there was no rake involved.

Doesn't it always seem easier to follow a track in life when someone else has gone before? However, that someone else may be off tract or we see an easier track and decided to change the path. Knowing when it it our decision and not just following another is necessary for a successful journey.

Now the pasture is planted and we are praying for rain.

The WEB

Who's My Neighbor?

We heard that in last week's Gospel reading. A scholar asked Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus said to love God with everything you have and to love your neighbor as yourself. Then Jesus tells the story of the good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). The scholar having heard the story asks, "And who is my neighbor?" Jesus replied, "The one who treated him with mercy."

This seems to be especially meaningful this week. I've written about the Front Porch Fridays where the neighbors gather every Friday night in the summer. It has become evident that one of our neighbors was not who she proclaimed to be and is now serving time in jail. Shock resonated through our group and we spend an extra ordinate about of time decompressing on my front porch. How do we respond?

It has been so apparent about how much our actions effect those around us. We suffer because of the things others do. We are not little islands that have no impact on the world but every move makes a difference to someone or something else. It's the Interconnectedness of life. It's the Web in which we weave our lives.

A "Green Bible" Study and Reflection on the Hebrew Law and Sacrifice

• I have been most fortunate to be participating in the GreenFaith Fellowship Program this past year. As part of the requirements we are to write our personal ecological theology and were each assigned a study partner. Debbie and I have been sharing a Bible study on line using the GreenBible. Here is one of my sharing on the 26th chapter of Leviticus.

  Leviticus is certainly not a "fun" book to read. Where as the Torah itself means "teaching" it is intended to be positive and joyful rather than narrow and restrictive. My study Bible refers us to Psalm 119 which praises and gives gratitude for the Law. I keep remembering that "the Law" is seen as a gift from God that guides a people into favor and salvation.
  
  But Christians don't come from that perspective because we see the Law as restrictive and gruesome. Especially troublesome are the animal sacrifices. But we miss the big picture of the awesomeness, the majesty, the power and the love of God is demonstrated in God's direct guidance of God's people. (I'm pulling all this from the Catholic Study Bible). Interesting to consider isn't it?
  
  Another thought on sacrifice: without understanding the importance of sacrifice as a means of relating to God, it is impossible for Christians to find meaning in Christ's sacrifice.

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• 

  Susan Hedge Now, I want to look at the ecological circumstances of Leviticus which is why I am here. The Trail Guide in the back of the Green Bible gives a good starting discussion. It starts with Leviticus 26:3-26. Here we see that the consequences of disobedience are pretty harsh. God is very serious about how people should live their lives, "lives of peace and connection to God". When we step away from that obedience, we step away from God.
  
  So the question is asked: Since our interdependence with the earth is jeopardized when we step away from God's commands and our connection with it and God is broken, in what ways has this warning from God become a reality?
  
  I first think of our materialistic life style. Jesus says to not worry about what we shall eat or what we shall drink but consider the lilies of the field which neither sow or reap but they have everything they need. As the people wandered in the dessert they were to trust and God would provide food and God did.
  
  Taking this to a very personal and local level. My garden is having a terrible time with the drought and the heat this summer. I take it personally that it doesn't look like my neighbors' gardens. But I planted heirloom tomatoes which don't have the disease resistance that other varieties have. And then there is the raccoon who every night takes the biggest almost red tomato for his dinner. I struggle with my earth connection and try to understand what it needs to produce. I struggle with the idea that the local raccoon needs food to eat, my food! I consider that there may be a couple of those laws that I am not following such as letting the land rest but they are very vague in my memory. However, I do have faith that God will provide my food most likely at the downtown farmers market where I will venture tomorrow.

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DirtyButts Dies

Our genetically modified hen, died a tragically when she tried to get out of her nesting box. As I mentioned before, she was a large hen designed for roasting and eating so she had a very large carriage making it difficult to walk and almost impossible to get into the nesting boxes. We had placed a nesting box low for her convenience but of late she had wanted to get into one of the high ones. Unfortunately, she missed the mark, fell and broke her neck. I wonder how often we are designing our environment so we miss the mark and may be about to break our necks.

The "Greening' of Our Parish Picnic

Why don't we have a "no trash" picnic? That didn't fly! It was the planning meeting for the annual parish picnic and about 24 people had gathered in the parish hall eager to plan what they would cook and who would volunteer for which committee. No one volunteered for the Green Committee. It wasn't what had been done before.

So we decided to do a demo. We would set up a trash recycling center and have all trash sorted. It worked! We actually sorted more than was needed but we wanted to measure all the different types of trash that was made at the event. You can see the different types in the video.

The week before a news clip was aired on the local TV.....Fort Myers Recycling to be Burned! Great, we were trying to make a point about recycling, about reducing the trash. As it turned out, the County takes all the trash collected by all the cities. It is building a new single stream recycling center to open in October where all recyclables will be sorted. Sorting won't be necessary. Meanwhile, our city of Fort Myers needed to buy it's new trucks and chose to purchase the single stream trucks, trucks that would pick up all recyclables without sorting them. It was a wise move since the other trucks would be out of date when the new recycling center opened. So between now and Oct. 1, the recyclables that have not been sorted will go to the waste to energy incinerator to be burned. At least it will make energy. We chose to haul our recyclables out to the center so they could be used again.

Here's the trash that was created by the picnic with 200 people attending:

50 Gallons of plastic bottles (recyclable)

6 glass bottles (recyclable)

12 aluminum drink cans (recyclable)

10 gallons of food scraps (we are attempting to compost)

20 gallons of paper plates (not recyclable because they were contaminated with food)

2 gallons of plastic ware (advertised as recyclable but our local system cannot recycle it)

31 drink pouches (recyclable)

1 gallon of styrofoam (not recyclable)

30 gallons of soiled paper napkins (we will try to compost with the food scraps)

1 gallon of paper and cardboard (recyclable)

25 gallons of aluminum (recyclable)

30 gallons of plastic wrap (not recyclable)

We did pretty well. Many folks brought their own reusable cups. When everything was sorted out it didn't look like we had very much.

Next year we may have a "no trash" picnic.

Thanks to everyone who worked to make our picnic "green". It was a fun time!

My "girls" and "Interiority"

These are my "girls", four laying hens and one genetically selected meat chicken. We actually got her, Dirty Butts, by mistake. We aren't about to start slaughtering chickens; we just wanted some eggs. Dirty Butts is so chestie now that she can't get up into the nest boxes to lay her egg. We put one down low just for her. Her comb flops as she waddles about the farm. She's a loner and when we aren't watching the others pick on her.

Her kind was breed by selecting the largest chested hens over a period of time so that we could have lots of white meat when we purchased a package of chicken. I don't think you can call it genetic engineering but rather genetic selection. But every time I look at her I again realize what we are doing to our food supply and the damage it is doing to animals and ultimately to ourselves. Every part of creation has an innate sense of what it is about, how it is to grow, where to get nourishment etc. When we mess with it we take away that innate sense and we are left with creatures unable to function and who struggle even harder to survive.

Benedict Speaks Out on Protecting Creation

Pope Benedict XVI had issued a powerful environmental message in his annual World Day of Peace message. "If you want to cultivate peace," he said, "Protect Creation." www.usccb.org/sdwp/international/worlddayofpeacewebsite

Winter Solstice, Abingdon, Virginia 2009

With the release of two Pastorals written by the Catholic Bishops of Appalachia, This Land is Home to Me 1975 and At Home in the Web of Life 1995, ecology became a major focus of the Catholic outreach in Appalachia. Celebrating the Winter Solstice was begun so that we might slow down and reflect on our connection with all creation. The Diocese of Richmond closed it's Appalachian Office of Justice and Peace this past July. To continue the church's mission in Appalachia a new non-profit is under development. This year's Solstice is the first event sponsored by this new ministry, The Appalachian Faith and Ecology Center. Enjoy the movie.