The Trees Grow Light, Shabbat B'Haalotecha

A guest post by PA IPL friend Rabbi Arthur Waskow of the Shalom Center and Interfaith Action on Climate.  This reflection was originally published in the Shalom Center's e-newsletter.

Twice a year – on Shabbat Hanukkah, when the sun and moon are darkest, and on Shabbat B’Haalotecha (this year, May 24-25, in the light-filled days and nights of a full moon between spring and summer) – Jews read a Prophetic passage that focuses on Light, and – unexpectedly – on the earthy roots of Light.
We read the passage from the Prophet Zechariah that envisions the future Great Menorah, taking its sacred place in a rebuilt Holy Temple after the Babylonian Captivity. 

Zechariah, in visionary, prophetic style, goes beyond the Torah’s description of the original Menorah (literally, a Light-bearer). That Menorah was planned as part of the portable Shrine, the Mishkan, in the Wilderness.
First Zechariah describes the Menorah of the future that he sees: “All of gold, with a bowl on its top, seven lamps, and seven pipes leading to the seven lamps.” It sounds like the original bearer of the sacred Light. But then he adds a new detail: “By it are two olive trees, one on the right of the bowl and one on the left.” (4: 2-3)
And then –— in a passage the Rabbis did not include in the Haftarah reading for Shabbat Hanukkah — Zechariah explains that the two olive trees are feeding their oil directly into the Menorah (4: 11-13). No human being needs to press the olives, collect the oil, clarify and sanctify it. The trees alone can do it all. 

Now wait! This is extraordinary. What is this Light-Bearer that is so intimately interwoven with two trees? Is the Menorah the work of human hands, or itself the fruit of a tree? 

Both, and beyond. In our generation it might be called a “cyborg,” a cybernetic organism that is woven from the fruitfulness both of “adamah” (an earthy sprouting from the humus-soil) and “adam” (a human earthling). Just as earth and earthling were deeply intermingled in the biblical Creation story, so the Divine Light must interweave them once again, and again and again, every time the Light is lit in the Holy Temple. 

What stirs Zechariah to this uncanny vision? Once we listen closely to the Torah’s original description of the Menorah for the wandering desert Shrine, we may not be quite so surprised. For the Torah describes a Menorah that has branches, cups shaped like almond-blossoms, blossoms, petals, and calyxes (the tight bundles of green leaves that hold a blossom). (Exodus 25:31-40 and 37:17-24)
In short, a Tree of Light, a Green Menorah. Small wonder that Zechariah envisioned its receiving oil directly from the olive-trees! 

Since Zechariah is seen as a Prophet by Christians and Muslims as well as by Jews, his vision may invite all three Abrahamic communities to connect with the Green Menorah Covenant. 

And in the more specifically Jewish legend told by the Talmud as the origin of Hanukkah, the Light itself is a miracle. Oil that would normally have been enough only for one day’s worth of light lasts for eight days, until more oil can be consecrated. 

At the physical level, this is about conserving energy, the triumph of sustainable sources of energy over the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire that guzzled oil and other forms of material wealth. Seen this way, the Green Menorah can become the symbol of a covenant to renew the miracle of Hanukkah in our own generation: Using one day’s oil to meet eight days’ needs. By 2020, cutting oil consumption by seven-eighths 

Hanukkah also reminds us of the victory of the guerrilla band of Maccabees over the great idolatrous empire of their generation. We might easily look at our own world and think it would be overwhelmingly hard to accomplish change against the entrenched power of our own Big Oil corporations – the empires of our day. But Hanukkah reminds us:  Small groups of seemingly powerless human beings can face huge and powerful institutions – and change the world. 

But let us not stop at the economic, political, or even ecological levels of meaning. At the spiritual level, what does it mean that One day embodied Eight days? Since “Seven” is the number of fulfillment, “Eight” is the number of “Beyond.” Always “Beyond”: the Infinite. 

So the storied eight-day miracle reminds us that the Infinite is always present in the One. It reminds us that conserving oil, or coal, or our planet, is not just a political or economic or even ecological decision. It comes when we take into our hearts the knowledge that seeking more and more and more – even more and more and more Light – can become an addiction to material possessiveness, hyper-ownership.  
That addiction is a form of idolatry. 

More and more and more is not the pathway to the Infinite; indeed, it blocks the way.  If we dare to choose the One, we can achieve the Infinite.

Religion and Ethics Newsweekly

View the PBS Religion and Ethics Newsweekly episode Religion and the Environment, aired April 19, 2013 (featuring the cyclists both on their bicycles and cleaned up in the halls of Congress).

Want to see Interfaith Power & Light founder Rev. Canon Sally Bingham's extended interview?  It's online over at PBS, too, as is the extended interviews with Sarah Jawaid, and Rabbi Fred Scherlinder Dobb.

Before you head out to the wider 'net, scroll down to see the elevation change pictures from the cyclists, thanks to Dave Hunter's nifty GPS watch.   The first-day ride was a little longer than it appears -- he forgot to start the watch until the end of the community ride.

Religious Response to Global Warming

Rev. Mark Hayes of (PA IPL member congregation) Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Centre County has generously shared the sermon he preached for the National Preach-in on Global Warming.  

            Let me start by saying that this service this morning takes place in the context of a growing interfaith religious commitment to address global warming and climate change. The National Preach-in on Global Warming, in which we are participating today, is an initiative of Interfaith Power & Light, a national organization whose mission is “to be faithful stewards of Creation by responding to global warming through the promotion of energy conservation, energy efficiency, and renewable energy.”

            IPL works to educate people in the pews about the important role of people of faith in addressing this most challenging issue. They also bring the voice of the faith community into the policy-making arena, and advocate particularly for vulnerable people and communities that are the most heavily impacted by climate change. Our congregation has been involved with, and is a member of the Pennsylvania chapter of IPL, and I’m happy to say that my son, Andy, works with them as an AmeriCorps member on various educational and organizing activities. Given these ties with IPL, and the importance and urgency of the issue, I was glad to be able to participate in this week-end’s focused attention to global warming and climate change.

            This is not a new issue. Steven Rockefeller, one of the authors of the Earth Charter, said in a 1998 interview, “Our environmental problems will not be fully addressed until we come to terms with the moral and spiritual dimensions of these problems, and we will not find ourselves religiously until we fully address our environmental problems.” That is, our relationship to our environment – our ecosystem – our planet – is deeply tied up with our spirituality and our faith. It is a relationship of deep connectedness, of interdependence.

            Deeply embedded in our human consciousness is a primal awe and gratitude for the air, water, solid ground, sunlight, and nourishing life forms that sustain our species. Spiritually speaking, that is where we begin: with awe and gratitude. As Joanna Macy writes in her book, Coming Back to Life:

       We have received an inestimable gift. To be alive in this beautiful self-organizing universe – to participate in the dance of life with senses to perceive it, lungs that breathe it, organs that draw nourishment from it – is a wonder beyond words. And it is, moreover, an extraordinary privilege to be accorded a human life, to possess this self-reflexive consciousness, which brings awareness of our own actions and the ability to make choices. It lets us choose to take part in the healing of our world.

            I say all this in order to encourage us to remind ourselves continually that whatever study, discussion, debate, advocacy, or action we engage in around issues like global warming, we should remain aware of our fundamental spiritual grounding. May our awe and gratitude for our world, our awareness and experience of our interconnections with the earth and each other, continue to be primary motivations in all that we do.

            One of the challenges of addressing global warming is the complexity of interwoven factors involved.  And so I think that, in order to get a firmer handle on the situation we face, it may be useful to simplify the picture. Now, I don’t mean simplifying in the sense of taking a superficial view, but rather in the sense of distilling the situation down to some of its essentials.

            Bill McKibben, who has devoted his life to study and activism on global warming, took this approach in an article last summer called “Global Warming’s Terrifying New Math.” He presented an analysis that, in his words, “allows us to understand our precarious – our almost-but-not-quite-finally hopeless – position with three simple numbers.

            The first number: “2 degrees Celsius.” This number comes from Paragraph 1 of the 2009 Copenhagen Accord, which formally recognized “the scientific view that the increase in global temperature should be below two degrees Celsius.” This language was adopted despite the assertion by many scientists that that is much too lenient a target, which could spell long-term disaster, particularly for many island nations and much of Africa. Nevertheless, 167 countries have signed on to the accord, endorsing the two-degree target. Incidentally, the Accord is not legally binding.

            The second number is “565 Gigatons.” That’s how much carbon dioxide scientists estimate that we can pour into the atmosphere by mid-century and still have some reasonable hope of staying below two degrees.

            The third number – and this is where it starts getting scary – is “2,795 Gigatons.” That is the amount of carbon contained in the proven coal and oil and gas reserves of the fossil-fuel companies and petroleum producing countries. That is, essentially, the fossil fuel we’re currently planning to burn. McKibben concludes that

       We have five times as much oil and coal and gas on the books as climate scientists think is safe to burn. We’d have to keep 80 percent of those reserves locked away underground to avoid [a terrible] fate. Before we knew those numbers, our fate had been likely. Now, barring some massive intervention, it seems certain.

            Before I go on, I want to mention one more important number that Bill McKibben has helped make a household word with his organization 350.org. 350 parts per million is the upper limit of the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere estimated to be sustainable in the long term. The current level, incidentally, is about 394 ppm. Of course the entire situation can’t really be reduced to a single number, but monitoring this one measurement over time can give us a rough idea of how we’re doing. And it can give us a concrete goal to work toward.

            Now that I’ve underlined the gravity and the urgency of the situation, you’re probably wondering, “What can we do?”  Well, as President Obama’s science advisor, John Holdren, put it a few years ago, “We basically have three choices: mitigation, adaptation, and suffering. We’re already doing some of each and will do more of all three. The question is what the mix will be. The more mitigation we do, the less adaptation will be required, and the less suffering there will be.”

            We know there is already suffering going on. Extreme weather events triggered by global-warming-fueled climate change have wrought death and devastation. Mass extinctions have begun and will continue.

            As conditions change – as they get worse – we will adapt as best we can, because we have no other choice. It’s “adapt or die.” But as the health of our ecosystems deteriorates further, the choices for adaptation narrow as well. And so, we definitely need to focus more attention and energy on the option of mitigation. How can we make a difference?

            It’s estimated that the average U.S. household could reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent within six months by making a few simple changes in daily routines. Of course, you’re probably thinking that an individual really can’t make much of a difference. That’s right, but populations of individuals can make a difference. Both in terms of their own habits and practices, and in terms of their ability to influence public policy.

            Perhaps the most important foundational step toward saving the planet is a widespread shift in consciousness. Recycling your paper and plastic, riding your bike to work, using less air-conditioning, etc., etc., will not, in and of themselves have a great impact. But the fact that you are thinking about, and always seeking additional ways to reduce your carbon footprint, is important. It will also help prepare you for the sacrifices and adaptations that will be forced on you as conditions worsen over time.

            Of course changes in public policy have the potential for much greater impact than our individual habits. And so, let me give you just a few small things you can do in the immediate future to lend your voice in support for such changes. First, IPL has furnished us with a letter to President Obama, encouraging him to follow up on his promises to address climate change. There will be copies in the Social Room that you can sign. Another thing you can do today is attend the Social Action Committee’s meeting after the service, which will include a couple of relevant agenda items.

            Another imminent opportunity to speak out is next Sunday’s “Forward on Climate” rally in Washington, D.C., which organizers expect to be the largest climate rally ever. Buses are being organized locally, and there is some information in the Social Room.

            An important part of being an effective advocate for sustainable policy is being educated and informed on related issues, and then sharing your knowledge with others. There was an event here in State College a week ago Thursday designed to foster that kind of information exchange. It was sponsored by Grace Lutheran Church’s Green Team and Transition Town State College. About seventy people from twenty-five local faith communities and environmental organizations shared food, experiences and ideas, in the first of what will probably be an ongoing series of collaborative events. Also on the educational side, I understand a number of people are lobbying the State Theater to bring the 2012 documentary, Chasing Ice to town. If this is of interest to you, you might want to give the State Theater a call. [Editor's note: Please use the Chasing Ice request form.  The State Theater has made an initial inquiry to Chasing Ice, and needs to see that the State College community can be a strong market for the film.]

            Meanwhile, there are always opportunities to speak out. I hope you all saw Dorothy Blair’s letter to the editor in the Centre Daily Times this week advocating for a carbon tax to encourage development of carbon-neutral energy sources and broader conservation efforts. And as she closed her letter: “Why are we waiting? Give your legislators a call.”

            As far as practices in our personal lives, we can work on reducing our use of energy and our consumption of manufactured goods that become waste. We can eat and serve energy-efficient food that is locally produced and low on the food chain. We can educate ourselves about more sustainable ways to live interdependently. And you don’t have to do it alone. We have a Voluntary Simplicity group that meets regularly to encourage one another in efforts to live more simply and sustainably. They meet after the service today as well.

            There are other groups in the larger community, like Transition Town and Spring Creek Homesteading that focus on the use of local resources and the development of the skills and resilience that will be needed to adapt to a post-petroleum world.

            Those are just a few of the opportunities that are available. And I have one more thing to say about the place of religion in all this. Last fall I gave a pair of sermons about religion’s roles of “afflicting the comfortable” and “comforting the afflicted.” Well, that applies here. Our religious faith can afflict those of us who are relatively comfortable with the awareness of our responsibility to weigh our personal comfort against the needs of humanity as a whole to have a sustainable future. Our faith also calls on us to cultivate compassion so that we might bring comfort and care to those most sorely afflicted by the ravages of global warming and climate change. If the current trajectory continues, more and more of us will be needing that mutual comfort and caring, and so it is incumbent on us now to marshal the spiritual resources and strength that that will require.

            And so I repeat once more that we need to pay attention to our fundamental spiritual grounding, and continue to draw strength from our awe and gratitude for our world and our awareness and experience of our interconnections with the earth and each other.  As Bill McKibben said in a speech a couple of years ago, “We fight not just for ourselves, we fight for the beauty of this place. For cool trout streams and deep spruce woods. For chilly fog rising off the [ocean] and deep snow blanketing the mountains. We fight for all the creation that shares this planet with us. And now, more than ever, we fight together.”

So may it be.

Religious Response to Global Warming

Rev. Mark Hayes

February 10, 2013

Bike Blog 2013.5: Maryland

Editors' note: pictures will come when we get home and get them in the right format.  For now, you should be able enjoy the videos of the day posted here, and here, and here.

Day 4 (Guest blogger: Jess) It’s been like riding into springtime, each day a little warmer, a little greener.

We rolled away from our overnight stay at Christ Reformed United Church of Christ in warmth and bright sunshine to an excellent breakfast with some of our new friends in Hagerstown. Rev. Tim Leighton, pastor at another United Church of Christ in Hagerstown and an avid cyclist, rode along with us, pointing out many points of interest along the way. For me, one of the blessings of this trip has been seeing something of the rich uniqueness of places like Hagerstown that I’ve only known as name on a highway sign. There is so much beauty in our country that you’ll never see from the interstate.

After a relatively short ride through the Antietam Battlefield and the town of Sharpsburg, we made a steep descent to the C&O canal towpath for most of the day’s 57 miles of riding. The level terrain along the Potomac was a welcome change from yesterday’s hilly, wind-blasted challenge. We rode along relatively easily through the growing warmth and dappled sunshine, stopping to take in some of the stirring views of the river and some of the beautifully restored aqueducts along the canal.

There aren’t leaves on the trees yet, but wildflowers were in bloom along the trail. The most alarming moment of the day came after stopping in the small town of Brunswick for lunch at a charming local place called Sloppy Tacos. Andy had been having increasing trouble working the gears on his bike for the last two days, and he discovered that his rear gear cassette was actually coming loose – a problem we were not going to be able to solve with the few basic tools we are carrying along even if we could figure out how. We saw that there was a local bike shop – Three Points Cycle - just across the street from the taqueria, and Andy brought his bike over to see if there was anything that could be done. The owner fixed it up in 15 minutes for free.

That was the second time a great local bike shop bailed us out on this trip. In Huntingdon, Jon discovered that his chain had actually chewed through his front derailleur cage. The owner of Rothrock Outfitters in Huntingdon fixed that up in a half hour, charging only $12 for the part. These local bike shops are such a great resource - support them with your business! I’d also like to mention how thankful we are for our own great local shop in State College, Freeze-Thaw Cycles, for its generous support of PA IPL.

We ended the day’s ride by climbing up out of the Potomac valley to Poolesville, MD to the home of Joyce Breiner and Dave Yaney, some friends of PA-IPL that Jon made on last year’s ride (Hannah and I will be staying with Laurie and Brian Hundertmark; Laurie is the daughter of Barb and John Fisher – members of Grace Lutheran in State College). We had wonderful meal out on the back deck, enjoying the warm evening air, the wonderful food, the funny, passionate conversation ranging widely over our experiences and aspirations working for a greener world. Sitting there, it was easy to believe that spring had finally arrived, and that another, more just, more sustainable world is coming.

Of course it is. You can’t hold back the spring.

 Jess (and the gang)

Blessing of the Bicycles and Riders 2013

Friends (with and without bikes) gathered on Friday afternoon for a blessing and send-off of the PA-to-DC bicyclists.  Many thanks to all who participated: leaders, long-haul cyclists, in-town cyclists, and all who brought voices to raise in song, prayer and joyful cheer.

Barb Ballenger joined us in song, teaching those gathered a round based on the words of Hillel the Elder:

If I am not for myself, then who will be for me? If I am only for myself than what am I?  If not now, when?

 Pastor Steve Lynn offered the blessing:

We begin our blessing of the bicycles, the riders and their mission with a reading from scripture. 

From Ezekiel: When the living creatures moved, the wheels moved beside them; and when the living creatures rose from the earth, the wheels rose. Wherever the spirit would go, they went, and the wheels rose along with them; for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels. When they moved, the others moved; when they stopped, the others stopped; and when they rose from the earth, the wheels rose along with them; for the spirit of the living creature was in the wheels. 

Let us pray:  

Present in a world groaning under the excesses of consumption, we acknowledge the goodness of non-motorized human powered transportation and give thanks for the simple beauty of the bicycle. Lord In your Mercy, Hear our prayer. 

We ask your blessing and protection today on all who ride: Pedi cabbies, weekend bikers, athletes, homeless folks, students, children, eco-bikers, bike messengers and all who take to the streets and highways, bike paths, parks and mountains. Lord In Your Mercy, hear our prayer 

We pray for the safety of Jon, Dave, Jesse and Hannah, Ray and Andy as they ride. Please keep them safe, give them energy and enthusiasm, good judgment, grant them welcome in their rest stops, and restful sleep at night. Lord In Your Mercy, hear our prayer 

We pray for their mission, Please bless their example of riding their bikes to Washington, bless their words about caring for creation and allow their words to fall on receptive ears. Lord In Your Mercy, hear our prayers. 

And last Holy God, please bless our riders with a strong sense of your presence, joy and peace.    Amen

Please receive one more blessing: 

May the road rise to meet you, may the wind be ever at your back, may your journeying be joyous; and until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of God’s hand. Amen and Godspeed.

 and finally, Cricket added a closing:

We gathered here today to bless and send off these intrepid bicyclists as they
travel to spread the word about the enormous challenge facing us; urge others to action; join in with communities of faith as they demonstrate and explore their own strength of conviction

But in fact, they are also blessing us.
 They are, of course, blessing PA IPL by fundraising to help make it possible for us to do this work.  As importantly, they are blessing us as individuals and communities, by being visible signs of hope.
 As the rest of us walk through the next few days, let us recall your pedals with our steps.  Let us feel the strength of hope in your pedaled prayers.
 In these days we will pray for that same bright hope of healing action to awaken in each of us, in all those aware of your trip, and in the leaders you are going to visit.
 Thank you.
 Travel in hope.
Join in community.Be safe.
 Thank you.