Dear friends,
I’ve been a little distressed lately to read that Jesus didn’t ask us to worship him. He asked us to follow him.
The following thing is harder, and less convenient than worship, in my experience.
Jesus challenged rampant inequality, lifted up the poor, and waged a grassroots, face to face campaign of changing the power structure.
Which sounds a little like the PCEF initiative, which seeks 1% from the wealthiest part of our society to fund clean energy and job training, particularly for the poorest part of our society.
The analogy is imperfect, because PCEF is secular, while Jesus was steeped in love of God, to the point of sacrifice. We could say he took EcoFaith’s seven practices for awakening leadership to a whole new level.
Still. I find hope in that I do experience working on the PCEF campaign as a way of following Jesus, a joyful way most of the time. This is in addition to worshipping him, which I’ve embraced for most of my 57 years. Maybe because it’s easier than the following part.
Whether or not you’ve been volunteering for the PCEF initiative, please know that I and others would love to see you at these two events. EcoFaith Monthly Meeting this Sat. July 14 9:30 a.m. at 3045 NE Flanders St, the home of Chris Bekemeier, a long-time EcoFaither who recently led our signature-gathering at the Gay Pride parade and faithfully bicycled piles of petitions between offices over the last two months.
EcoFaith 2018 Retreat, November 30 – December 2, at Camp Collins. This forested camp on the Sandy River is 40 minutes east of Portland, next to Oxbow Park. Our retreat will start late Friday afternoon and conclude late Sunday morning. Let me know if you’d like to join the group planning it.
Pictured below: Portland City Hall on July 5th as the PCEF campaign turned in about 60,000 signatures that were gathered in the age-old, grassroots, face to face way ?.
Never miss a blog post or other important PCEF updates by joining the JustEnergyTransition listserve. Email Office@EcoFaithRecovery.org to sign up.