I was sorry to miss the last class, though i did write my vision of where Reedwood would be in 2050 and shared it with Cherice. Here's what I said:

Reedwood 2050

 

At our Wednesday evening class, Cherice asked us to imagine Reedwood of 2050. During the discussion that followed our small groups, Dea Cox asked if the ecological crisis was going to force us to change our understanding of the role of our church. I do not recall his exact words but I think that was the import of his question. My memory is that Cherice answered, “Yes.”

 

I would like to share my initial vision for that new role.

 

I see Reedwood of 2050 as the embodiment of the gospel for the 21st century and beyond—the current sanctuary and educational wings being used fully, daily with a combination of worship, community service, education and celebration. It would primarily be a resource for the surrounding community. Banks of solar panels on the roof would power the building. The rainwater would be stored in ground level cisterns and pumped up to a water tank by a windmill. The terrain surrounding the building, which is now primarily parking lot, with the decreased use of automobiles, would be transformed into small house living spaces and garden spaces where the residents could grow their own food. The landscaping, layout and design would be provided by BAM Architects, Auryn White, June’s grandson and Mildred and Brian White, June’s daughter and son-in-law. The houses would be powered by the solar panels and they would get their water from the rain water collection system. The water would also be used for growing the residents’ food.

 

The residents of these small houses would be people who, for whatever reason, find themselves in need of a permanent and stable living situation. They would be a part of the church community and participate in worship and educational opportunities provided in the building. There would be daily morning worship and singing as well as the traditional Sunday worship. Sundays would be a day of rest. 

 

The main building would provide office space for local Quaker Voluntary Service and for several non-profits, which provide services for the most vulnerable people in our larger community. Part of the educational experience would involve training in watershed care—watershed discipleship and focus on our very own Crystal Spring watershed. The program would involve participation of the George Fox Seminary and Reed College and Portland city government and Eco Trust. There will be other training in sustainable agriculture, growing healthy, organic produce in the local gardens and in conjunction with OSU, Reed College, PSU, George Fox would offer degrees in watershed discipleship and organic sustainable agriculture. There would be healthy eating, foodservice and culinary training provided in the kitchen. There would be opportunities to participate in spiritual practice—in meditation or silent worship, in Bible study—to encourage us all to live our faith, daily, in every way. There would be evening concerts, singing, fellowship—a place for the larger Reed Neighborhood residents to come together and enjoy the music and socialize, and thereby form an ever-larger community of faith. 

 

In this way Reedwood will become the Penndel Hill of watershed discipleship and set a replicable standard of how each church can to do this in their own local watershed—to whatever degree they are able. And in this way we will be working toward living in harmony with God’s creation, creating conscious communities and realizing the Kingdom of God on this earth.

 

It is doable. It requires faith, a lack of fear, dedication to a vision and lots of hard work.

I have just returned from my annual Redwood Men's Center Conference. This is the 18th consecutive conference I have attended. I consider it to be my spiritual home. It has been the source all my spiritual growth in the last two decades. At one point during the weekend, I shared Cherice's "Hope" slide that she had shared with us in our class and it was very well received and provided a point of reference throughout the weekend and I was asked to share it with the whole group on our  email listserv, our Yahoo Group, after the conference. During our discussion of this process of growth, Barry Spector suggested that "forgiveness" needed to be added to it. Here's how I shared it with our group:


We must begin by accepting reality, then we must grieve, and commit to turning around (repent). We need to forgive, ourselves and others. Then we must begin to imagine what it looks like to turn around and begin to plan how we might realize our imaginings. Then we need to take a step and another with someone else, with another person or with a group of people. Then we need to celebrate with each other and take another step. Throughout all this we need to practice trust and gratitude. 

I am hopeful that we might be able to employ this process at Reedwood but the problem we have to solve, is how do we arrive at a common definition of the reality of Reedwood? That is not something we have been able to do to this point.

I am loving the readings this week. This prophetic vision seems ideally suited for Reedwood . . . but I fear that it may be a hard sell? We'll see.

Great 

I have just finished making a California Redwood Little Library that we have mounted on our street corner. We will be able to share books free with each other now in our community. This summer we will do a street party for a "Grand Opening" for our little library. I have also joined the Board of Directors for the Reed College Neighborhood Association, thinking about the future and what part Reedwood Friends Church might be able to play in the community as cars become fewer and as neighborhoods become more important--perhaps a community garden or perhaps some low income housing or perhaps building a swale to catch the water from our parking lot.

 

I'm getting outside most days, which isn't so hard with the beautiful weather we've been having! Sometimes I manage to have a meal without processed foods, but sometimes I don't. This also brings up the question of what counts as "processed," so that makes me think more about what I'm eating and how it's been made. It's a good practice and has been helping me develop more awareness of what I'm putting in my body.

I understand your connection to the land around Newberg. You are raising the fourth generation of Oregonians. But I am newly arrived (three years) and I live in Portland in the Reed College Neighborhood. So I do not feel a super deep generational connection to the area. I do observe the beauty . . . as I have observed the beauty of the earth at every place I have lived . . . West Virginia, North Carolina, Hawaii, California, Iowa, even Chicago, Illinois . . . but I don't know how to create community in our individualistic society. I experience the goodness of folks at Reedwood but I don't know how to connect in a deeply personal way that seems necessary to form a real community . . . which I believe is an essential ingredient to our survival. Any ideas?

We are sorry to have missed both Sunday and Wednesday's sessions. Sunday my first cousins, whom I had not seen for more than 60 years and her husband, Jane and Warren, were in town to visit us, so we had lunch with them at TOAST. Last night, our Dance for Parkinson's teacher, Virginia Dare, who is a costume maker for the Portland Opera, had given us free tickets to view the dress rehearsal of La Boheme. Virginia had made the costume for Mimi, the female lead. I am reading Surviving the Future by David Flemming which is base on the premise that our current system is unsustainable and we need to think in sustainable ways--a very radical approach to out future that address the question I posed at the first class about how do we think about a new "non-capitalist" future.

Well, I'm having a really hard time doing this. I spoke with Charisse about it and she suggested that I plan a rest challenge, which I haven't done. I tried to read the homework assignments and finally gave up because, it was not telling me anything I didn't already know about the world we live in and I simply was not interested in the scriptural basis of caring for creation. It seems like a no-brainer to me. I'm sure some people are interested but just not me. We watched a PBS show on oceans and aqua farming which was informative, as well as scary. The most reassuring part was the kelp farming which puts nothing into and takes nothing out of the environment while growing this nutritious food source. I also read an amazing interview with a man who lives with animals for years at a time and forms incredible relationships with wild turkeys, mule deer and big horn sheep and confirms the complexity of their beings which is equal to our own . . . just make me sad to be living in such a spaced out period of history.

Preparing to travel Thursday--lots to take care of, and lots of rain. Haven't gone for a walk--bummed.