Archive for December, 2009

Snow and Simplicity

admin December 19th, 2009

I’m watching the snow fall out of my study window as I write. It’s snowing hard and blowing, and there is nearly a foot of snow on the ground and more to come. The weather people say this is the biggest December snow storm in our area since the early 1930’s, so our family Christmas events for today have been unfortunately cancelled or postponed. Good day to sit by the fire, or next to a nice warm computer!

I’ve heard many people say that they really appreciate these days when we can’t easily get out to shop or work and we are relegated to our warm homes. They say that it feels good not to be able to do those things so they can slow down and pay attention to the here and now – which is a real job for many people since this is the last weekend before Christmas when the shopping frenzy is at its most hysterical.

It’s too bad that these socked-in days pass so quickly and are so infrequent – we quickly forget the lessons they have to teach us and cut short the experiences that mean so much to our souls.

These days are important previews of what Christian simplicity can mean for us and the world, and perhaps we should point that out every time someone tells us how much they enjoyed being confined to the house. Everyday life can be much more like this than our usual “rat race” days.

Living more simply does in fact bring us many of the benefits we so enjoy on these snowy days, but they bring at least some of them every day, not just on these rare occasions.

It’s a great advertising and marketing opportunity for us:

    “Like your experience today? Well you can have many more days like this if you follow Jesus into a life of simplicity!”

These days are also great reminders for us in the simplicity choir too, that we are:

    Not participating in the Christmas shopping hysteria which can be very satisfying, and good for our families too.

    Again focusing on the really important things in our lives like our families and neighbors.

    Taking a little more time for prayer, meditation, and study.

    Thankful for a safe, warm home and perhaps a fire to sit by.

    More mindful of those who do not have safe, warm homes, and how cold and dangerous it is living on the streets – and what we can do to help!

    Appreciating the folks who have to work out there in the weather like Postal Service people, snow plow operators, utility workers, toll booth attendants.

Now I think I hear the snow shovel calling me…

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Little Things Matter

admin December 14th, 2009

A couple of weeks ago, Mike Tidwell, Executive Director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network wrote an opinion piece in the Washington Post (12/6/09, To Really Save the Planet, Stop Going Green) in which he advocated paying much less attention to the our light bulbs and more attention to changing national and worldwide policy on climate change and the environment in general – if we really want to make a difference. He suggests that much more activism on the scale of the civil rights movement would force wide scale change quicker than each of us buying CFL’s or buying local organics.

There is indeed well researched evidence that state and national policy change results in more, positive systemic outcomes than almost any other type of action we can take because it changes the behavior of entire populations very quickly (because if it’s a law, we don’t want to have to pay the fine or do the time!). This was true for civil rights as well as smoking cessation and it could well be true for the environment as well. So it would be worth our while to get more organized and push congress and the White House to do more faster, and include specific policy actions that should be taken.

There are also those bad days when I wonder if all my efforts are wasted as the rest of the world continues on in its destructive, self-serving way. Am I merely a tiny drop of fresh water in an ocean of salt water?

On the other hand… a couple of contrarian thoughts:

1. I believe we need to both push for large scale policy change and do the little personal things like buying CFL’s: one without the other isn’t likely to get us where we want to go quickly enough. It isn’t simply a matter of “think globally, act locally” although that is important. More to the point, each one of us needs to keep the issue of conservation, global warming, and non-participation in consumer culture in front of us 24/7 if we are to change our way of living, which I believe we must.

One way humans have done this throughout history is to think of each of these tiny personal, but world-saving actions as both functional and symbolic. They are symbols of our values, our commitment, and our faith – symbols that remind us each day of who we have become as Christians, and that we are sons of God who are here to care for each other and the creation we have been entrusted with.

These symbolic acts are extremely valuable for our children and grandchildren, as well as for our neighbors. Each action not only helps the physical world a little, but helps those around us think about what they are doing, or not doing, as well. We are educating our kids and shaping behavior that may last for a lifetime.

2. If we are going to up our ante on pushing policy change, we ought to start at home – by thinking of our churches as our first targets for systemic change. In our own congregations we can have direct policy change impacts more easily and more quickly than we can on Federal or State governments – while helping many people rediscover how to actually live their faith.

  • We can push to change the purchasing, recycling, investing, giving, and energy use policies and activities of our congregations.
  • We can push our pastors and Christian education programs to speak more loudly and more often on the need for all members to change their ways of living in response to the Gospel, the Law, and the Prophets.
  • We can make it an article of faith that each member take concrete steps to reduce their participation in the consumer rat race, and then hold each other’s feet to that fire in walking the talk.

Then we can call our Congressmen about the environment!

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