Bishop Marc

Facing into Climate Change: The Possible Impossible

“President Obama promised to begin to slow the rise of the oceans (pause for mocking laughter) and heal the planet. MY promise is to help you and your family.” Mitt Romney, acceptance speech, Republican National Convention, 2012. Let us leave aside Clint Eastwood's speech at the RNC, 2012, which was anything but the ramblings of an elder in his twilight years, and concentrate on the single most troubling, misleading, false statement made in that evening; a statement made by the Republican presidential candidate himself, and said in way that was meant to bring laughs - in other words, addressing global climate change is not even worthy of direct criticism but rather only of mocking derision. Here is what is wrong with Mr. Romney's statement, in which he promises to help me and my family rather than address global climate change as our President, Mr. Obama promised to do four years ago: first, our president has done very little to fulfill that promise, and secondly, and more importantly, the best thing either candidate could do for me and my family and you and yours would be to make climate change the focus of our great resources of creativity now, this moment, and continuing for as long as it takes to minimize the catastrophe that is imminent. There is no need for me to try and convince you, or the American public in the main about the seriousness of the climate crisis. I say this because of how studiously we are ignoring the problem. Such paralysis and denial in the face of evidence supporting the reality of climate change, evidence which is abundant, even overwhelming, and which has been coming for decades, is proof not that we don't believe in the problem, but rather that we believe and are perplexed and afraid. We should wonder what is behind the social dislocations of states like Arizona and Texas. These states, as filled with great Americans as any, continue to make unaccountable social choices because, beneath these choices, relevant to us, within our species, is the terrible subconscious knowledge of being on the front line of climate change, with intolerable heat and drought setting in as the norm rather than the exception. And, rather than face the degradation of the earth where they live, these strange, out of character choices are made on the human level. The fine people of such impacted states are making odd choices because they are averting their gazes from that which makes their hearts constrict. There is no need for fear, even though the problem of climate change is unprecedented. We are a species whose capacity for inventiveness outstrips our tendencies for complacency and stubborn stolidity. We are a people who revel and take joy in meeting problems and solving them, more than we like lamenting the state of affairs. And we are a people who have a nearly unbounded capacity for compassion and love, for children, for the poor, for other species and for "this fragile earth, our island home." The brilliant scholar, Peter Kingsley, has written that for the ancient Mongolian shamans and for Tibetan Buddhists of the same time period, facing the fact that a situation was impossible was the prelude for finding a way through. As long, they believed, as we refused to call something impossible, we would go on with small, inadequate fixes for the problem. We look at the problem of climate change squarely and acknowledge that we have never faced anything like it in history, then we are ready to do the impossible. It is time to lower the levels of the oceans and heal the planet for you and your families. Marc Andrus Episcopal Bishop of California

Cascavel, Brazil, Day 2

After the remarkable coming together of landless people, indigenous farm workers (representatives of the Guarani tribe), the bishop of the diocese, local parishoners of Ascension, Cascavel, with their totally committed, dynamic rector, Carlos Gabas, on Saturday (all in the previous blog entry), it was time on Sunday to visit a landless community and a group of the Guarani.

The landless people are not like the homeless in San Francisco and across urban America, in that they have shelters — wooden shacks made with cast off planks, with earthen floors. These basic shelters are on land they do not own, or even rent from the great agricultural landowners, so they are not like tenant farmers in this country either.

There is a simple but attractive Anglican chapel in the landless community, built by Ascension led by Fr. Gabas, but it is not the first Anglican chapel on the sight.  The previous chapel was bull-dozed down by people working for the landowners. Fr. Gabas and these landless people do not give up, thankfully, and we worshiped in a rebuilt chapel.

The chapel was packed, the lunch following the Eucharist was delicious and plentiful, and it humbled me, once again, to be the recipient of so much hospitality.

After lunch, Bishop Naudal, Michael Tedrick, and the great translator who had helped me through the weekend, Marcel, left for Curitiba. And then, the seeming joke was set up (by God, it seems) — the bishop, the priest, the communist, and the software engineer all got into a car headed to visit an indigenous tribe. But the lives of these 85 Guarani is no joke, neither from the standpoint of their advanced spirituality, nor from the standpoint of people coping with rural poverty of an acute nature I had never before seen.

This group of 85 Guarani lives in a remnant of the once-vast forests. The adults are agricultural workers, like the landless people we visited in the morning. But here, in the forest home of the Guarani there is no electricity, and only minimal water. The challenge, however, is not to mistake physical deprivation as a marker for spiritual, cultural primitivism — the Guarani have maintained their language, their social system, and their religion.

Four shamans are in this small group, and one chief. While I was there they held a ritual service of great power, humor, and numinous presence. I had only mere inklings of its meaning, but I was swept up in the experience, and felt a collective kindness and  acceptance from people who could be filled with resentment for anything coming from Western culture.

Again, as with the landless people, the Anglican Church is standing with these Guarani. Bishop Naudal, Fr. Gabas, and the people of Ascension Parish are working with some young university professors to help the Guarani in Cascavel advocate for their rights. They are also seeking to create a coalition between the landless people, the Guarani, and the parish for grassroots change. This was Anglican Christianity at its most inspiring for me.

 

A Wounded Earth & A Crucified Christ

Friday, April 22, 2011  •  6 p.m.

Grace Cathedral, 1100 California Street, San Francisco

 

You are invited to a unique event of sacred expression — an interactive service of music, dance, and art exploring the rich meaning found in the conjunction of Good Friday and the observance of International Earth Day. Over the centuries, people of Christian faith have meditated on the life of Jesus and the scope of divine love — Jesus’ simple and profoundly powerful acts of including all the dispossessed at the table. Christ is understood to embrace the whole earth within self-giving love.

The service is open to all people seeking to gain spiritual strength for the great work of environmental justice and to all people of faith who feel called to explore this profound moment.

—   Bishop Marc Handley Andrus of the Episcopal Diocese of California
www.diocal.org

— Grace Cathedral
www.gracecathedral.org

 

 

 

Featuring
Omega West Dance Company  •  www.omegawest.org
Sam Jackson "Vibrant Stillness" Singing Bowls  •  www.vibrantstillness.com
The artwork of Mel Ahlborn  •  www.illuminationstudio.org

 

Episcopal USA – Anglican Church in Brazil Bilateral Meeting, Day 1

Writing from the Episcopal USA-Anglican Church in Brazil Bilateral Meeting, Day 1, Saturday April 2:

After a long flight from the House of Bishops meeting (March 25–30), through D.C., to Sao Paulo, a regional air flight to Iguassu Falls, and then a two-hour drive to Cascavel, I have to admit that I was bracing myself for what had been billed as an all day “diocesan synod meeting.”

Instead, I’ve been elated all through this warm day as extraordinary groups of landless young adults, indigenous people, and priests of the Anglican Church in Brazil have been coming together in their common commitment to Christ and to the cause of environmental justice.

The young adults were born in the camps of landless agricultural workers, and are taking part in a great education effort, wherein young people teach other young people. These young women and men attend intensive classes at a university in Cascavel for two months — all day throughout the week — and then return to the camps to teach other young people. One of the young men was wearing a red thread around his wrist. I asked what it signified. He replied, “I tied it on my wrist when I began this program, and it will stay on until I complete this work.”

A priest told a story about one of the indigenous men at the meeting: “A priest came to the community to celebrate the Eucharist. When the service was over, the indigenous people started to sing. The priest was talking to another person while they were singing. Peter came to the microphone and said, ‘Stop! We listened while you prayed. All our songs are prayers; why won´t you listen while we pray?’ ’’ Then one of the indigenous men himself stood in our meeting and said, “We are like the landless agricultural workers because our rights to the land have never been recognized.”

All of these movements, whether of the young, or the indigenous, or the environmentalists — all are based in a heart-felt love for Jesus Christ. As one young woman said, “Our faith is for the whole world because it comes from the same earth on which we all stand; it is a popular movement because we welcome everyone; and it is Christian because we follow Jesus. We never greet one another from across the room, from far off, because Jesus has brought us close and given us a life together — we always come to each other and hug.”

I promise I will always look forward to Church meetings from this time forward!