Index of Rev. Grey's Columns

Walk lightly, give generously, do more of what we can do.

In February Rabbi Arthur Waskow, founder and director of the Shalom Center in Philadelphia, joined us in worship and warned of the dangers of our personal and national oil addictions. In the Forum after the service he talked about ways congregations can get involved in healing that addiction. I invite you to his website, shalomctr.org, for some insights and ideas. Then this past month, in my March 19th sermon, For All That Dwell, I invited any who wished to join me in a walking club. As of this writing, four have joined. The club now has a name, Walk Lightly, which is about walking lightly on the earth. I am concerned that we will not make the significant changes as a nation that we need to make, unless we are also willing to make personal changes.

How do you become a member of Walk Lightly? Simply agree that you will walk, if you are able, a few times a week, on journeys where you might otherwise have driven a car, perhaps to a nearby store or to visit someone who lives fairly close to you. I began doing that this week. As soon as I made the decision to walk to the pharmacy instead of driving, that spurred other ideas. So when I needed to go to the loop, I took the Metra instead of driving. If you are already walking and taking public transportation, perhaps there are other things you can add to your practices for tending the earth.

Perhaps you can buy special energy-saving light bulbs. There is an organization, Faith in Place, here in Chicago that has information about doing that. If you can't walk, or are unable to leave your home, perhaps you can be a support person for someone else who is seeking to make some personal changes for the earth, or join an organization that is committed to our earth's and our own future. Walk Lightly won't have regular meetings. But I will keep a list of those who tell me they'd like to join. And we'll invite occasional conversations about how we are doing.

I find that I have to plan better if I am going to walk or take public transportation. I have to clump errands together and leave more time for travel. But I can also read on the train. And look out the window on the bus. And hear the birds on my walk, and get into unexpected conversations. And I feel healthier, and joyful that I am doing more of what I can do. So this kind of giving of the self is also a receiving.

This month, in our Annual Canvass, Living Our Mission, I invite us all to do more of what we can do. This year our Canvass is an Every Member and Friend Canvass. Our Canvass team members, led by Ivan Lappin, are giving of their time and creativity, as they invite and encourage all of us to pledge generously, to give of our resources and ourselves to the life of this living community as we seek to be a beacon of liberal religion and live our mission in the world. Giving more means that we have to plan better. It may mean letting go of something else. Yet when we give substantially, we also grow in the satisfaction of knowing we are doing more of what we can do to strengthen and vitalize our church and its work in the world. There is joy in that kind of commitment. This giving of the self is also a receiving.

With love, in faith,

Nina