A Trashy Story

So this past Saturday, I apparently did not get to pick up as much trash as I wanted. Sunday afternoon I was back outside again, but this time I was closer to home. I loaded up Miles in the wagon, got two trash bags and headed down Deerfield and onto Levee Road. Levee has been bothering me for quite some time. It seems to be a prime area for litter.

So Miles and I slowly trudged our way down the road, stopping frequently to pick up trash. Miles was thankfully content to play with sticks of his choosing near the trash I was picking up!

As I was nearing the last house on Levee, a man started walking across the street to help me and talk to me. He was appreciative of my efforts and I thought it was pretty cool that I was getting to meet somebody I would have never met had it not been for that trash--surely God was working for good!

I quickly found a way to let him know I was a Christian and he shared a little bit of his story and how he's fixing to be deployed to Iraq in a few months. He will leave behind a wife and two kids. She has a Church of Christ background and he comes from a Methodist background and they are worshiping with a Baptist church in town. We lamented the amount of trash and he ended up throwing my trash bag away at his house--and I wasn't even finished! :) I told him I would probably invite his wife and kids to our VBS.

I was amazed at this spiritual encounter that occurred simply because I was out picking up trash.
Not only was I getting to care for God's green creation, I was able to reach out to his favorite creation(humanity) and build a connection and see where God takes it!

A shout out to my "green" friends!

We woke up to clouds and rain this morning and I wondered if I had made a mistake. We were treated to sunshine and warm air for a little bit and I began to feel better. And then the cold front came through bringing clouds and cold to our PICK UP OXFORD event and I felt the twinge of despair. :(

But we had a few brave folks brave the cold in our pilot event to make Oxford a little cleaner in the name of Jesus. Some of our students got encouraging honks from drivers and one lady even made an effort to say "thank you."

A heartfelt thanks to Lendy (and McKay and Sam!), Alison, Joanne, Corey, Wenlu, Matthew, Kathy, Ki Tae and Nick for your service. We covered the student center reservoir, part of Jackson and College Hill. We're looking to serve again on April 18th. Stay tuned!

Is Jesus Green? Exploring Christianity and the Environment

So tonight we talked about Christianity and Environment. Though I feel like I'm starting to form an opinion on some of these things, I feel like I'm only beginning to understand what it might mean for Christians to care about the environment. It is not new historically, but it seems new to many USA Christians. Big thanks to James Piiparinen for his resource, Given, poems by Wendell Berry. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND Surprised By Hope as well, written by N.T. Wright.

Just a few questions. Let me know what you're thinking!
1. To what extent should Christians get involved in caring for the environment?

2. What things have you done, if any, to care for the environment? (recycling, conservation, beautifying projects, etc.)

3. What do you think it means when Scripture says there will be a new heaven and a new earth? What could this possibly look like?

4. What other resources do you know of that talk about these kinds of things?

5. Do you have a fear about Christians getting involved in environmental issues?

6. What environmental issue do you think is the most important in the world right now?

peace!

Quotes for Comment

Let me know what you think of these quotes!

"If you think of this world as a place intended simply for our happiness, you find it quite intolerable: think of it as a place of training and correction and it's not so bad." C.S. Lewis

"When people begin moving beyond charity and toward justice and solidarity with the poor and oppressed, as Jesus did, they get in trouble. Once we are actually friends with folks in struggle, we start to ask why people are poor, which is never as popular as giving to charity. One of my friends has a shirt marked with the words of late Catholic bishop Dom Helder Camara: 'When I fed the hungry, they called me a saint. When I asked why people are hungry, they called me a communist.' Charity wins awards and applause, but joining the poor gets you killed. People do not get crucified for charity. People are crucified for living out a love that disrupts the social order, that calls forth a new world. People are not crucified for helping poor people. People are crucified for joining them."
Shane Claiborne, Irresistible Revolution