Quaker Earth Quest by Paul Hodgkin
A Moment of Grace by Clíodhna Mulhern
Indigenous World Views by Jo Cooper
Continuing Creation? by Jackie Carpenter
Dawn on Four Seas Lake by Jackie Carpenter
Personal Actions for Ecological Crisis by Sylvia Cave
Four Seas Community by Jackie Carpenter
Seeking Truth/Book Club by Wendy Pattinson
Abergavenny Green Fair by Stevie Krayer
At a recent Living Witness meeting for worship, we heard read Richard Rohr’s “Daily Meditation” on the theme of prophets in times of apocalypse. He was quoting from a book by Steven Charleston, a Choctaw elder and retired Episcopal bishop, about Native American prophets during the destruction of their civilisation by colonial settlers in the 19th Century:
“Prophets …are part of the apocalyptic process. They appear first as an early warning system… as herald of a vision of what is to come. Then, as the apocalypse becomes ever more real, they serve as teachers to instruct people about what to do to end the suffering and alter the course of destruction. Finally, they are mystics who describe the future and guide people to find it within themselves.”
We explored the theme further in a worship sharing session in January, reflecting on the nature and variety of prophetic witness. Friends spoke of ways they had been drawn to challenge the status quo or signpost a way forward. Egos may need some watching in all of this. Righteous anger has featured strongly in climate activism, including among Quakers.
The articles in this issue of EarthQuaker seem to me to continue the conversation, offering positive ways of engaging with unfolding catastrophe. Paul Hodgkin reports on his Area Meeting’s use of Quaker Earth Quest as a process for Friends to share their felt experience of crisis. Clíodhna Mulhern and Jackie Carpenter find meaning and beauty through a wider, deeper perspective, even in a time of unthinkable loss. And just as some of the prophets considered by Steven Charleston guided their people into a new ethic that blended indigenous traditions of care and relatedness with Christian ideas of personal accountability, Jo Cooper suggests that we might have much to learn from that same blend.
Changing our own lives is part of the work of ending the suffering and finding the future within ourselves. For many of us, that means from time to time making an inventory of the steps we have taken and the tensions that are unresolved. Sylvia Clare shares her inventory with us.
Another vital part of the work is building relationships and community that face into the future. Jackie Carpenter offers an opportunity to join an intentional community in Cornwall. Wendy Pattison guides us to books and podcasts that have helped her to find different perspectives and connections in her search for Truth in these times. And Stevie Krayer reports on Abergavenny's Green Fair.
Native American prophets created new dances, songs, meanings, and centres of resistance. They did not prevent the genocide but they helped to secure a future for the remnant of their people and cultures. The full shape of the current apocalypse is not yet clear. We are seeing accelerating biodiversity loss, storms, floods and wildfires, instability in human food systems, new diseases and war. Yet life will probably survive on Earth and some of it may be human. What can we offer into this uncertain future?
Laurie Michaelis
on behalf of the EarthQuaker editorial team