Sacred Acts

A couple of weeks ago, we shared a book review from the Presbyterian Eco-blog for a book called Sacred Acts.  We are in the midst of reading that collection of essays right now, and it is very powerful.  Each chapter is by a different author, and all of the writers make you dig deep to figure out how you will address the issues that face God's Green Earth.  The themes often come to the conclusion that we cannot sit idly by and wait for someone else to act.  We must take action ourselves, no matter how small, to create a change in attitudes, beliefs, and understandings before it is too late. We wanted to share a couple of short quotes from Sacred Acts with the hopes that you too will be interested enough to pick this book up and challenge yourself.

     "How can we quickly, effectively, and affordably reduce the effect we are having on our planet?  How can we restructure our economy, our infrastructure and our society so that it can adapt to coming change?
     We can teach ourselves, our children and our communities to be good stewards of the bounty God has given us and in doing so to care for the welfare of our less fortunate brothers and sisters around the world.
     We can prepare for what we can't avoid by conserving the resources we have and making wise decisions to reduce our vulnerability to climate-related change in the face of an uncertain future. 
     We can limit our own impact on the planet by making responsible choices that improve our quality of life at the same time as they help others.  Often we feel that doing something about climate change involves pulling the plug on everything-- our televisions, our showers, our air conditioning, even our cars.  That's not true.  It's about starting with what we have and making it known that we want more options."
      Katherine Hayhoe, Director of the Climate Science Center at Texas Tech University

     "If we are to live better in this world we need to appreciate that where we are is the garden, or farm, of God.  If we want to address problems such as climate change, soil erosion, deforestation, desertification, species extinction, the pollution of our waters and the abuse of animals-- all problems that spring from the same distorted vision and understanding-- then we need to recover a strong sense of God's presence as the Gardener and Farmer of the world.  Without this understanding, our temptation will be to think that God has left the world and does not deeply care about what happens in or to it.
     "When we take seriously the image of God as the eternal Gardener or Farmer we also discover that God has always been and continues to be present to the world as the source of its nurture and life.  God still holds the soil of our lives in her hands, still waters the furrows of our crops and still breathes the breath of life upon all of us.  That we are here today, able to grow and enjoy good food, is the confirmation of that.  Though we may do much to assault the Earth, God has not ever stopped being a gracious and hospitable host to the world."
     Norman Wirzba, Research Professor of Theology, Ecology, and rural life at Duke Divinity School