“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?” Isaiah 58:6,7 NIV
Last Friday March 15th “From the South Pacific to the edge of the Arctic Circle, angry students in more than 100 countries walked out of classes to protest what they see as the failures by their governments,” The Associated Press reported.
This school strike included students from Lancaster County. It is unjust and tragic that my generation is leaving behind an ever-worsening climate that already signals untold suffering for the generation growing up today. Their protest is legitimate and timely.
16 year old Swedish leader of this movement, Greta Thunberg, states this clearly: “There (is) a crisis in front of us that we have to live with, that we will have to live with for all our lives, our children, our grandchildren and all future generations. We are on strike because we do want a future.”
As our local newspaper wrote in an editorial: “Listen to and support students speaking out on climate change” https://lancasteronline.com/opinion/editorials/listen-to-and-support-students-speaking-out-on-climate-change/article_f1117ea0-49c2-11e9-9bb5-b7114dbe7e13.html
The Lancaster Online editorial concludes with: “Students and children cannot write the laws needed to slow or reverse climate change. But they can urge — and keep urging — our leaders to prioritize and pass such legislation.
They’re doing their part.
We should join and support them.
Every Friday, if need be.”
We will talk about how we can support them this Friday at our noon Lenten gathering.
Is it not to share your food with the hungry?
Heifer International works to help keep people from becoming ‘climate migrants’ through their Eco-Village project.
Those of us participating in the Friday noon Lenten gatherings have decided our weekly offerings will support this incredible program. We have raised $80 so far and have 5 more Fridays to go. You are welcome to attend each Friday noon @ The Parrot Gallery of Community Mennonite Church, 328 W. Orange St, Lancaster,PA. You can also contribute to our Eco-Village support fund by contacting me.
The Eco-Village Project partners with communities “to combat climbing temperatures and to give families the tools they need to survive and thrive in the face of a changing world.” This includes finding sustainable sources of water in drought-stricken zones and implementing new approaches to growing food.
faithandclimate 