Two recommendations today: a movie and a podcast. Together they issue a thoughtful, urgent and emotionally-charged call: to discipleship, repentance and a new vision of earth's holiness. The movie is vivid and arresting. The teaching is deeply rooted in sacred story and watchful Christian resistance. If you're part of a community--any community--doing ecological education or political organizing around climate change, I strongly recommend both of these. Ched Myers is a profoundly gifted teacher, and a devoted mentor to many of us seeking an engaged Christian practice in a dangerous time. See the movie first. Then devote some time to Ched's podcast. It will shake you up, maybe wake you up. And you'll be glad you took the time!
FROM "ANTHROPOCENE: THE HUMAN EPOCH": "The earth is 4.5 billion years old and its history is recorded in the rocks. Since 2009, a group of scientists has been investigating whether our 12,000 year-old geological epoch, the Holocene, has ended. After 9 years of research, the evidence shows that we have left the Holocene and entered the Anthropocene Epoch, because humans now change the earth and its systems more than all natural processes combined."
Ched Myers' podcast (from "Studies in Mark") is an hour-long study on the discipleship practice, and staying awake to the pain and hope of our time. Living and writing from the Ventura Watershed in Southern California, Ched begins this study is a very personal and raw reflection on the Thomas Fire and its terrifying consequences in the watershed he calls home. He notes that the Anthropocene Epoch is indeed upon us, and requires bold analysis and bolder spiritual and political maturity. He connects the climate crisis with the devastating economies of greed and inequity. And then he moves on to consider Jesus' call to radical awareness and hopefulness in the Gospel of Mark.
See www.bcm-net.org for more of Ched's teaching and work!
