I hafta say, I’m a reluctant marcher. I’m not sure what it is beside shyness. And actually it’s way easier for me if I’m one of the speakers. What’s crystal clear though, in this stage of my life, marching is something I can’t not do. I haven’t yet found the other marchers in our new community, so Debbie and I headed for Salem to join the Salem to Paris march. We saw Coyote turning his tricks and thought of our world community and the roles of predator and prey, giver and taker, user and used on a global scale.
I never know when the revelations will come, only that they always do. We found a cafe and a late breakfast in downtown Salem. I noticed the young man at the table next had the words “Imago Dei” tattooed on the inside of his left tricep. I suspect a sign of the Mystery doing it’s good work in Paris will be the same message etched on the hearts of every one there. So we found the other marchers and joined the march, thinking to the multitudes around this Planet doing the same through these days.
As always the energy was electric. Just seeing the people is the big thing. In another time, protestors may have been an exceptional group. But when it comes to Climate Justice, the marchers are looking more and more like all of us. All kinds of people from all classes, cultures, personalities and generations. And people of faith, all kinds of faith traditions are always among us. You can always count on the Unitarian Universalists to show up with their sign.
As usual there were all kinds of signs and the messages are clear. Signs bold and simple, frank and colorful, saying in our own unique ways that it is time to live differently and to tell the powers we won’t stop till we reach the New Economy, with or without them.
I’m always glad to sing the song which has become one of the anthems of this movement and we did on Sunday. If any of you out there don’t know it, it’s time you learned and taught your neighbors. Whenever you are feeling that our actions are too little too late and what’s the use? Google “Sing for the Climate: Do It Now!” and you can listen and watch people of all ages and tongues around the world singing the same song in their own way for a universal message. What really touched me as much as anything were the generations moving, singing, standing and holding signs together: mothers and fathers, daughters and sons, grandparents and grandchildren. You gotta love it!
It really was a pretty amazing week. We began in gratitude, crafting the same turkeys of pinwheels and candy corn we used to make with our mothers. We gathered, made the gravy and sat together sharing the stories of our lives amid candied yams, stuffing and gluten free pie. And really it doesn’t get much better than this.
But for those of us engaged in the struggle for our sacred Planet, Thanksgiving was much more than stuffing ourselves and falling asleep during football. At best it really does remind us, in case we forgot, why we do this. And why we will never quit. Meet the newest member of our small clan of Earthfamily.
Thanksgiving came and went and now, for the people of our particular faith story, Advent begins just as the Planet convenes in Paris to decide our fate at these, the latest of Earth’s Climate Talks. It’s the time of year when we are usually decorating our home with the stuff of Christmas, especially our collection of Nativities from cultures around the world. But this year we are building that Net Zero home, renting another and about 2 weeks from moving into the next rental. Needless to say, the Nativities are in storage.
On the way to the march in Salem we found this simple scene in a shop on Court Street. The Magi, the Wise from the nations of the world gather in Paris this week in a place of violence amid a world of violence and injustice. We truly hope and pray that, when they have completed the time of witness they will return to their separate countries with truly Good News. And that the Good News will bring true joy to the World and will be for the Common Good…for all the people!
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