WE are in every UU congregation. We are the ones who complain when the congregation uses styrofoam. We are the ones who make sure that recycling or composting happens. (BTW, I love the phrase “Compost Happens.”)
At my last congregation, I was tempted to write a column “Your minister is a garbage picker.” On several occasions, while living in the rectory above the church, I actually did fish through the church trash can to pull out recyclables; I refused to throw out discarded and misplaced cans and bottles.
For a growing number of us, ecological action is part of being UU. Sometimes when we go out and about, we return home with a salvaged can or bottle. My personal favorite is removing recyclables from hiking trails. An outside observer might call it crazy, or lowly work, or perhaps consider it a random act of kindness. To me, it's a religious act. As I pick up the can or bottle, I imagine a chorus proclaiming “this one has been saved from the landfill!”
I have had several people instruct me in the Native American practice of making prayer ties, little pouches of tobacco to be left as offerings before receiving from Earth Mother. When done with proper intention, and prayer, it becomes ceremony.
Picking up cans and trash from places of beauty became my offering, my religious observance. With each can I retrieve, I include a prayer for the one who left it, as I express love to the Holy One who created us, the Web of life of which we are a part.
Before I adopted this practice, I would see litter and make myself miserable. Now I regard such events as a call to awakening and worship. Sometimes the sight of litter leads me to grieve for how we humans receive the gift of life. As I allow space for grief, I find there's also room for peaceful, even joyous action. Picking up recyclables (or trash) becomes a way to usher in the “kindom of heaven.” There is connection to the divine and a special bond with fellow eco-spirit activists. This weird and wonderful practice can heal hearts.
Have you noticed things that UUs do? If you have notice UUs performing great or small acts of faith, I'd love to hear about it. Email me @ khesed@gmail.com
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Thanks for a diferent perspective on decluttering the planet. When u really think about it, nothing is ever created nor destroyed. Things just get shifted about, with each shift 'creating' consequences for each action. That being said, intention seems to influence the consequences of each action. So, the intention to make the act of recycling a spiritual practice probably helps to lower one's blood pressure and generate a feeling of peace and tranquility, which may be much better tolerated than feelings of indignance or anger...
ReplyDeleteNamaste,
H.
Compost happens... Love that! ((I do have a compost tumbler that I tend often))
ReplyDeleteI was sent here by a friend of yours, Julian. Welcome to the blogging world. I am relatively new to blogging, also. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.
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