EARTHKEEPING NEWS A NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN COALITION FOR CHRISTIANITY AND ECOLOGY Volume Thirteen, Number One Winter 2004 WALL OF MANITOU EARTHKEEPING CIRCLE Printed below is the agenda of an Earthkeeping Circle led by Rev. Finley Schaef. It may inform you, but it is only one example among many possibilities. Like all EKC's, it is a work in process. --- ed. MONDAY OCTOBER 27 2003 7 PM at the Ashokan UMC on Rte 28 (next to firehouse), Rev Lucy Jones, Pastor Statement of Purpose The purpose of the Earthkeeping Circle is to open ourselves to communion with God through the world of nature, and to adjust our lifestyles in the light of our new consciousness of living in a natural community. Sharing (Around the circle) Your experience with nature since last we met; your experiences with trees. Scripture readings & discussion Genesis 2: 8-15 Our Bioregion "To be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognized need of the human soul. A human being has roots by virtue of his or her real, active, and natural participation in the life of a community, which preserves in living space certain particular treasures of the past and certain particular expectations for the future." (Simone Weil) "The world of life, of spontaneity, the world of dawn and sunset and starlight, the world of soil and sunshine, of meadow and woodland, of hickory and oak and maple and hemlock and pineland forests, of wildlife dwelling around us, of the river and its wellbeing --- all of this some of us are discovering for the first time as the community in which we live." (Thomas Berry) Defining and Naming Our Bioregion: Mohicanituk (Indian word meaning "The River that Flows in Two Directions") Reports Tonight Paper for discussion: Thomas Berry's paper "The Lower Hudson River Basin as Our Bioregional Community," Part 4 "The Forests" Essay by Fr Benjamin Teitelbaum "Trees of Life" A New Idea: Do a ritual on the Hudson River Announcement: The North American Coalition for Christianity & Ecology conference and the NACCE newsletter Earthkeeping News Date of Next Meeting: Benediction (unison): The mountains are God's majestic thoughts. The stars are God's shining thoughts. The flowers are God's fragrant thoughts. "Shalom" (song) Home     Table of Contents