— Spiritual Perspectives — 
Hatching Global Action

Sister Joan Brown

Sister Joan Brown
Special to the Independent

I have been unsuccessful this spring in getting my hens to hatch a clutch of chicks. Try as I might to encourage hen nest sitting habits, the hens have been more interested in consumption habits. Of particular interest are green plant shoots and tiny earth creatures doing their spring swork of composting dead growth into soil.

As I gaze beyond the chicken coup, into the area of consumptive patterns driving CO2 emissions and global warming, we, like my hen friends continue to make choices that lead away from the hatching of greater life and caring for God’s abundant life giving creation.

As I write we await the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the UN. According to a Vatican official his address “will insist on the moral imperative that all, without exception, have a grave responsibility to protect the environment.” His visit comes upon the heels of installing solar panels on the Vatican, organizing a green youth rally in the fall, and citing collective and structural sins such as pollution as “new sins.”

The pope’s visit to the U.S. precedes by a few days, Earth Day 2008, which the National Council of Churches has as its focus this year, The Poverty of Global Climate Change. In the past few weeks the connection between poverty, global warming and stressed resources presented us with pictures of a growing world food crisis due in part, to droughts and floods which some scientists predict will only increase if we continue to live out of balance with the natural world.

In 2003 I was surprised to read this chapter in the World Watch Institute’s State of the World 2003 — “Engaging Religion in the Quest for a Sustainable World.” Why was a secular publication printing this essay? The author, Gary Gardner, stated that religious institutions and leaders bring five strong assets to building a sustainable world: the capacity to shape cosmologies (worldviews), moral authority, a large base of adherents, significant material resources and community building capacity.

A growing call emerges to people of faith to meet the challenge of global warming and create a sustainable planet. The response lies in the Pope’s messages, the greening of churches, the naming of contemporary sins, the organizing of events of hope for youth and in the points Gardner addresses in his essay.

As I gaze out across New Mexico, beyond my chicken coup this Earth Day, I see many eggs that need to be hatched this spring. These are eggs of hope for a future for our children and all species. Our moments of prayer, meditation and contemplative sitting call us into hatching hope.

I invite you to a hatching action. The New Mexico Interfaith Power and Light, an organization always open to new member churches, synagogues and faith communities throughout the state, is stepping up education and action around global warming. We are conducting a campaign of Hands Across New Mexico this year beginning with “Our Children’s Future Is In Our Hands: Stop Global Warming: Mother’s Day Gift of Hands Across New Mexico.”

We are collecting 5,000 hands outlined on paper that expresses our concern and care, and can let public policy makers know that New Mexicans are concerned about the children and the future. You can download information and offer a Hand by going to www.nm-ipl.org or www.1skynewmexico.org. Deadline is before Mother’s Day.

I hope you can help hatch this wonderful action. Perhaps it will encourage my hens.

Sister Joan Brown, osf is a Franciscan sister working in New Mexico in Ecology Ministry. She may be reached at joankansas@swcp.com.

This column is written by area residents, representing different faith communities, who share their ideas about bringing a spiritual perspective into our daily lives and community issues. For information about contributing a guest column, contact Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola at The Independent: (505) 863-6811 ext. 218 or lizreligion01@yahoo.com.