moving mountains

a couple of weeks ago we hosted a friend here in lexington by the name of john johnson. he came to teach us about forestry issues and how to participate in the protection of some of the most stunning wilderness on the planet. john is from this community in tennessee. over several years we have been enjoying a community-conversation with some the folk from svi. we have experienced the most wonderful cross-pollination of ideas relating to activism, environmentalism, spirituality, and theology. those of us who have had the chance to engage in longer conversations have been profoundly nourished and seriously challenged to become more involved in the environmental movement as a duty/discipline of the christian way. as well as being challenged to be more involved in protecting god's good creation, we have been ambassadors of the good news that cherishes ALL of life - let us just say many of our friends involved in activism are surprised when they meet jesus-followers who don't think we can just trash the planet because "it's all gonna burn." the 'funny' thing is, such a creation-treasuring approach might actually be more like an old-school, orthodox perspective. this is nothing new! - if you are interested in a more rigorous account of how the people of god have approached environmental issues down through the ages, let me know. Joey, our resident practicing, enviro-theologian has put together a paper summarizing such matters.

SO ANYWAY....
here's a chance for our theology of "it's not all gonna burn" to come alive.
during the third week of june the 'mountain justice summer' team will focus on bringing the action to lexington. this is a 'heads-up' to keep some time open that week (11th-17th). more details will be posted as we get them.

in the mean time....
* take time to check out the 'campaign' web site at www.mountainjusticesummer.org

* also, there was a stunning article in the april issue of Harpers Magazine by a local writer/professor (not available on line, but we do have a couple of community copies for anyone wanting to read it).

* for a shorter read, check out this article from the Herald-Leader.

some of us are finding this an incredibly important issue as it brings together human rights, environmental justice, economic issues, and all of this right in our own backyard. it is a shame to say that we are often more animated by issues across the world than we are by injustice in our own neighborhood.