[Dialogue] {Disarmed} Fw: Eco-Justice Notes: Beyond Denial and Despair

[RICHARD HOWIE]

Dear Janice et al,
In the spirit of your email and the quote from Walter Bruggemann, I  
continue to look forward to being part of our ICA:USA Living Legacy  
team and discerning the eventfulness for 2007.
Grace & Peace, Ellen
On Oct 29, 2006, at 9:47 PM, Janice Ulangca wrote:

> From a Presbyterian Eco-Justice source.  The key, he says, is  
> imagining that something different is possible.  Reminds me of what  
> Richard Rohr, of the Contemplation and Action center in  
> Albuquerque, said at D.C. conference on Politics and Spirituality  
> last January.  Rohr started with story of Moses, expanded into  
> kinds of slavery where liberation is needed, and said, "If you  
> cannot imagine anything different than the way things are, then you  
> are enslaved to the status quo."  Perhaps a word needed now by  
> those who care about ICA, as well as those who experience despair  
> about the U.S. and the world.
> Janice Ulangca
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Peter Sawtell
> Sent: Friday, October 27, 2006 2:40 PM
> Subject: Eco-Justice Notes: Beyond Denial and Despair
>
>
> ***	Please feel free to forward this message to others.
> ***	This article, and all back copies of Eco-Justice Notes, is  
> archived on our website.
>
>
> Beyond Denial and Despair
> Copyright © 2006 - Eco-Justice Ministries
>
>
> There is a familiar story in Matthew, Mark and Luke about a rich  
> young ruler who came to talk with Jesus. He's a perfect example of  
> what many of us are facing today.
>
> This earnest young man asks, "Tell me, Jesus, what do I have to  
> do?" The first answer from Jesus is routine: follow the law and the  
> commandments. "Aha!" says the young man. "I've done that all my life."
>
> Well, then, says Jesus, give all of your wealth to the poor.
>
> The young man despairs when he hears this new and challenging  
> instruction. He walks away, because he can't imagine -- literally  
> cannot imagine -- living without his wealth. This rich young man  
> was not able to conceive of himself as a poor young man. So he  
> despaired, and walked away from the salvation he desired.
>
>
> +     +     +     +     +
>
> An Inconvenient Truth has been shown in thousands of US  
> congregations in the last month. In that film, Al Gore explains the  
> science of global warming -- the truth of what is happening now,  
> and what is likely to happen soon. He asks us to break out of  
> ignorance and denial, and accept this frightening new reality. But  
> all of that science is background.
>
> The core of the movie is where Mr. Gore talks about climate change  
> as a moral issue. He calls us to consider the choices that we must  
> make about how to live in relation to the global community of life.  
> He's absolutely right about the need to raise these moral  
> questions. That is why it is so appropriate that the topic is being  
> addressed in churches. But raising the right moral questions  
> doesn't mean we'll do the right things.
>
> Mr. Gore also speaks about despair. He laments that so many people,  
> when brought face-to-face with the reality of global climate  
> change, move quickly from denial to despair. They ignore the  
> possibility of acting. They don't attempt personal and societal  
> changes.
>
> The story of the rich young man explains that jump into despair.  
> The Bible story opens fresh understandings about what is needed if  
> we are to address this global catastrophe.
>
> The man in the Bible story was given a moral choice, and had clear  
> instructions about a specific action that he could take to live out  
> his decisions. But he still despaired. Yes, giving people a list of  
> things to do, a set of instructions about how to act on moral  
> choices, is important. Those practical steps, though, may not be  
> enough.
>
> The things that we need to do about global warming are big and  
> difficult. Despite the upbeat list at the end of the film of steps  
> about the steps which can be taken, making significant reductions  
> in our carbon emissions will be a huge shock to our economy and to  
> our culture. We have an extensive and practical list of things that  
> will cut greenhouse gasses. For many people, though -- whether  
> leaders of business and politics, or folk on the street and in the  
> pew -- that depth of change is the cause for our despair.
>
> Like the man in the Bible, many of us cannot imagine -- literally  
> cannot imagine -- living without the comfort and wealth and  
> privilege that we get from consuming vast quantities of fossil  
> fuels. We find it almost inconceivable that another way of living  
> is possible, let alone desirable.
>
> We're not bad people. Like the rich young ruler, we want to be good  
> and responsible. We're more than happy to do the basics -- to  
> change some light bulbs, insulate the attic, nudge the thermostat  
> by a couple of degrees.
>
> But the US needs to cut its carbon emissions by 30%, or 50%, or  
> 80%, and that's very hard. We need to structure our lives and our  
> society in ways that won't look very much like what we know and  
> love. To make real and significant cuts in our carbon emissions  
> means that we have to stop being who we think we are. And because  
> we literally cannot imagine that it is possible to live  
> differently, many people despair of healing the climate.
>
> This is where I think churches are important. Our moral expertise  
> isn't needed to declare the ethical no-brainer that cooking the  
> planet is wrong. What we can and must do is take a message to our  
> members, our neighbors, and our leaders that it is possible for us  
> to live in a different way. We can proclaim the good news that it  
> really is possible to live fulfilling, satisfying, joyous lives  
> without poisoning the earth's climate.
>
> I've written before about the wonderful book, The Prophetic  
> Imagination, by Walter Brueggemann. The message of the book is that  
> the biblical prophets not only point out what is wrong in their  
> society, they also make real the possibility that things can be  
> different. It is not necessary, Brueggemann says, for the prophet  
> to spell out a detailed plan for the alternative society. Rather,  
> the prophet simply has to help people to image that different way  
> of living is even possible.
>
> We need to ask not whether it is realistic or practical or viable  
> but whether it is imaginable. We need to ask if our consciousness  
> and imagination have been so assaulted and co-opted by the royal  
> consciousness that we have been robbed of the courage or power to  
> think an alternative thought.
> If we can imagine that another way of living is even possible, then  
> we don't have to jump from denial to despair. If we can imagine  
> another way of living, we can act to make that possibility real.
> Brueggemann says, "Numb people do not discern or fear death.  
> Conversely, despairing people do not anticipate or receive  
> newness." Denial and despair. Neither one brings hope and healing.  
> It is imagination about dramatic new possibilities which can bring  
> hope, and the willingness to change.
>
> I'll write more next week about how we can engage that imagination.  
> For the next few days, though, listen to those who have seen An  
> Inconvenient Truth, and listen to your own heart. Hear where a lack  
> of imagination derails a willingness to act, and hear the creative  
> hope which opens the door to change.
>
> Shalom!
> Rev. Peter Sawtell
> Executive Director, Eco-Justice Ministries
>
>
>
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> Sawtell reads all of the responses, and tries to reply to all  
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