Dear friends,

You’re invited to be part of our

EcoFaith Monthly Meeting
Sat. September 8th
St Ignatius Catholic Church
3400 SE 43rd Ave, Portland
Xavier room, two buildings north of the church
(in the gym/cafeteria building)
9:15 a.m: Gather in person and via Zoom link
9:30 – 11 a.m. Meeting
11:00 – 11:30 a.m.: Optional – Make one-minute video testimonials for EcoFaith fundraising  PCEF
contact phone: (541) 295-0255

As usual, we’ll do Practices 1 and 2 (accessing spiritual power and developing relationships), and then spend most of our time on Practice 5 (taking action, in this case learning to speak effectively for Portland Clean Energy Fund  PCEF) at our forums and house parties). Meeting agenda here  (may require Basecamp access).

On a separate but related topic, Scott S. and I got to witness faith in action last Thursday when 20 faith leaders deliberately got arrested  at the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) building in Portland.

These calm, luminous-faced clergy took on handcuffs and criminal records for refugees and immigrants they will probably never meet. Complete strangers to them, from a secular perspective.

But that perspective is what Jesus turned on its head when he asked people not to worship him, but to follow him. He asked us to lift up the oppressed. He called us to love the so-called others, not just our family and friends who look like us, and smell good, and love us back, and make us safe in the world.

Each time we lift up the oppressed, we brush a stroke of color onto the yet-pale canvas of the beloved community.

Similarly, if PCEF passes (and I think it will, at the cost of hundreds more hours of door-knocking, phone-banking and pledge-taking by us and many other volunteers),you and I may or may not ever meet the people that PCEF benefits.

Well, Portland being Portland, we might meet them. But we work without expecting that. PCEF will let low-income people get green jobs training . . .  start earning the PCEF-required $21.60/hour instead of minimum wage. . . . . gain tree canopies in treeless neighborhoods that will yield protection from scorching, six-digit summer days . . .  weatherize homes, including apartments that the Energy Trust will not help, so that energy bills shrink and housing becomes more affordable.

And as PCEF reduces emissions and helps to repair our climate, it’s the climate of future generations we’re working for. They are people we’ll never meet, but stand with regardless, like the refugees and immigrants for whom the 20 faith leaders got arrested. In these ways (and lots of others) we can follow Jesus rather than just worship him. We can paint brush-strokes, together, onto the yet-pale canvas of the beloved community.

See you this Saturday at St. Ignatius or via Zoom, gathering at 9:15 so we can start at 9:30 sharp.

Alison Wiley, EcoFaith PCEF Co-Chair and member of Tabor Heights United Methodist Church

 


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