Our Need for Recovery

Brian McLaren on Inward/Outward has published the following on "our need for recovery":

For many people, economic recovery means getting back to where we were a few months or years ago. That means recovering our consumptive, greedy, unrestrained, undisciplined, irresponsible, and ecologically and socially unsustainable way of life. I’d like to suggest another kind of recovery, drawing from the world of addiction. When an addict gets into recovery, he doesn’t want to go back and recover the “high” he had before, or even to recover the conditions he had before he began using drugs and alcohol. Instead, he wants to move forward to a new way of life—a wiser way of life that takes into account his experience of addiction. He realizes that his addiction to drugs was a symptom of other deeper issues and diseases in his life—unresolved pain or anger, the need to anesthetize painful emotions, lack of creativity in finding ways to feel happy and alive, unaddressed relational and spiritual deficits, lack of self-awareness, and so on.

Similarly, I’d like to suggest whenever we hear the word “recovery,” we as a nation see it not as a call to get back our old addictive high, but rather as a call to face our corporate and personal addictions . . . .

(continue reading at inward/outward).

Brian McLaren is a speaker and author, most recently of Everything Must Change and Finding Our Way Again. This piece is taken from the God’s Politics blog at Sojourners.

2009 Peacemaking Conference at the Big Tent

2009 Peacemaking Conference at the Big Tent

Register now. Download a Peacemaking Conference flyer. [PDF]

Learn about the infant/toddler/pre-school, children and youth programs.

The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has long envisioned a world without nuclear weapons. Since 1946, the General Assembly, acting out of faith in Jesus Christ the Prince of Peace, has recognized that working for God's intended order and life abundant involves seeking international disarmament and arms control measures [PDF].This has involved opposition to specific weapons programs and various measures that they believed stood in the way of disarmament and peace. The General Assembly has also advocated positive steps to control, reduce, and eliminate nuclear weapons. In a Palm Sunday speech, President Obama declared that the United States will seek a world without nuclear weapons. Call your Senators and urge them to support the President's efforts.Pursue Peace for Israelis and Palestinians

Churches for Middle East Peace invites messages to President Obama thanking him for his strong support for a two-state solution and for making clear that both Israelis and Palestinians have responsibilities in the pursuit of peace. Both statements resonate with long-time positions of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). In our messages, we can encourage the President to have his administration play a role as a peacemaker.

Register now for the Churches for Middle East Peace 2009 Advocacy Conference, "Israeli-Palestinian Peace: Hope for Things Unseen" to be held June 7-9, 2009, in the Kellogg Conference Center at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C.

Peacemaking Program Notes Learn about upcoming events. Use the prayers on Spiritual Nurture for Peacemakers in personal devotions and corporate worship.Follow Swords into Plowshares, the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program blog. Contribute to the Peacemaking Offering.

KFTC Meeting, April 15, 7:00 p.m.

The Central KY chapter of Kentuckians for the Commonwealth would like to invite you to our next chapter meeting, this Thursday April 16th from 7-9pm.

This is a special meeting focused on educating us about energy issues in KY, so we wanted to extend the invite to you. Martin Richards who is KFTC's high road strategy organizer is coming to share with us what KFTC is doing to promote renewable energy and jobs in KY.

Also joining us will be Emily Gillespie who is head of KSEC (Kentucky Student Environmental Coalition) to talk with us about student activism around green initiatives.

Please join us at the Episcopal Mission house at 203 East Fourth Street (on the corner o f4th and MLK, just north of downtown Lexington). Feel free to bring a friend and a snack!

Ondine Miranda Quinn
Kentuckians for the Commonwealth
Central Kentucky Organizer
250 Plaza Dr. Suite 4Lexington, KY 40503
(859) 276-0563 (office)
(859) 368-4438 (cell)
(859) 276-0774 (fax)
ondine@kftc.org

KFTC is a 26-year-old grassroots organization that believes in the power of people, working together, to challenge injustices, right wrongs, and improve the quality of life for all Kentuckians. Visit us online at www.kftc.org!For frequent updates about KFTC's work, please visit our blog: www.kftc.org/blog.

Court Reinstates Clean Air Rule During EPA Fix

This is from truthout.com by Jesse J. Holland, The Associated Press, "Court Reinstates Clean Air Rule During EPA Fix":

In a ruling hailed by environmentalists, a federal appeals court on Tuesday reinstated one of President George W. Bush's clean air regulations while the
Environmental Protection Agency makes court-mandated changes. In July, the US Appeals Court for the District of Columbia Circuit threw out the Clean Air Interstate Rule, which required 28 mostly Eastern states to reduce smog-forming and soot-producing emissions that can travel long distances in the wind.

Kids against Hunger

Watching Lehrer's Newshour on Georgia Public Broadcasting last evening, I saw Kids against Hunger; the work featured is exceptionally provocative and proactive; take a look and see what you and I can do to join the kids.

WASHINGTON - The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday approved a last-minute rule change by the Bush administration that will allow coal companies to bury streams under the rocks leftover from mining.

Mountaintop coal mines, such as this one near Mud River, W.Va., generate large amounts of waste. "With less than two months left in power, the Bush administration is determined to cement its legacy as having the worst environmental record in history," Earthjustice said in a statement. "This is a sad day for all people who are thankful for the clear mountain streams and stately summits of the Appalachians."(By Michael Williamson -- Post). The 1983 rule prohibited dumping the fill from mountaintop removal mining within 100 feet of streams. In practice, the government hadn't been enforcing the rule. Government figures show that . . . read more

Published on Wednesday, December 3, 2008 by McClatchy Newspapers; article by Renee Schoof and Bill Estep.

Following up a newspaper announcement, I've found out that the movie Shane Claiborne and others have been working hard on called The Ordinary Radicals ill be playing at the Kentucky Theatre at 7 pm on October 16th, Thursday.

The Ordinary Radicals is set against thie modern American political and social backdrop of the next Great Awakening. Traveling across the United States on a tour to promote the book “Jesus for President”, Shane Claiborne and a rag-tag group of “ordinary radicals” interpret Biblical history and its correlation with the current state of American politics. Sharing a relevant outlook for people with all faith perspectives, director Jamie Moffett examines this growing movement.

Admission for the private showing is $7.50. I have purchased the DVD and will be sharing it with anyone who wishes to see and discuss it. More than likely I'll share with our prayer group at www.prayingdaily.blogspot.com and with my Sunday School class at First United Methodist Church and elsewhere.