Janet, a conference attendee, posted the comment below several weeks ago. This is a great springboard for dialogue – we invite your ideas and feedback about sacred activism in everyday life:
So, the theme/title of the ISL annual conference was sacred activism. I’d like to hear from participants (as opposed to presenters) about the roles they play in sacred activism. How do people in the trenches carry out what we learned about sacred activism, and what does it look like in the 8-5 work day (or whatever configuration you’d like to go with)? Is it more than working at a soup kitchen once a month, for example. I felt totally inspired and challenged by what I heard, but I want practical ways to be a sacred activist while working and caring for a family. How do you do sacred activism?
July 29, 2009 at 7:19 pm |
David Korten said that we are moving into the Age of Spirit. That fed me and I continue to reflect on that. Spirit doesn’t know color or locale. Spirit responds to compassion, kindness and touch. Spirit allows a vessel to hold pain, darkness and confusion and to find a way through.
I have begun to pray in dance and that is new for me. Movement and inclusiveness – being mindful of the earth, the air, other souls that look to connect and dignify our commonality in spirit and social justice and kinship strengths my day to day alignment with Spirit.
I have better responses to my republican family members when we talk about this economy and Wall St. It is clear that profit and not people is the bottom line and that. I knew that. But to be so clear that this should not be so and doesn’t make for a sustainable model for a healthy people is a big wave of meaning for me.
Joan Chittester reminded us to include the youth in our lives. I have made more of an effort to do that. It has been such a mutually agreeable experience.
And in reading Brian McLaren’s The Secret Message of Jesus, I am thrilled to feel the power and present day relevance of Jesus.
This particular retreat was one of the best ones that I have ever attended.
August 6, 2009 at 2:01 am |
I agree that the ISL conference/retreat was one of the best I’ve ever attended, but if all we did was go and have a good feeling experience, then did it accomplish what it intended? I think what Diane talks about is right on the mark. She has become aware that her talk with family can take on servant leadership. I’m about to being another school year with high school seniors, and I sponsor a the Key Club. It’s a SERVICE organization. Are there any of you out there who are teachers and who bring tenets of servant leadership to your classroom and clubs? I think we’re going to work with a Brain Tumor Awareness organization that is a grass roots project in our community. I don’t know what the students may end up doing, but if we only mow grass and feed the pets of those who are suffering I think they may be a lot. I want to begin to infuse servant leadership throughout my environment. I do think it’s possible.
October 1, 2009 at 7:35 pm |
Having just become a mother, I’m finding my world has grown much smaller (mostly me, husband, and baby), but at the same time, my sphere of influence is expanding in very real ways. I’ve become much more conscious of what my family and I eat, and so I’m now a member of the local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) organization. Using the power of the consumer dollar, I’m supporting local economies and farming, as well as encouraging organic, sustainable agriculture and commerce. We talked a lot at the retreat about concrete ways to build the economy we dream of–to me, this is a rock solid step in the right direction. I’m posting an excellent book by Barbara Kingsolver about eating locally and organically called “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life”: http://www.animalvegetablemiracle.com/
Also, here is a link to the Charlotte-area CSA: http://knowyourfarms.com/j/
October 10, 2009 at 12:25 am |
Thanks for the information on the Kingsolver book. I, too, joined a CSA this summer run by, believe it or not, the daughter of our congressman! She was raising money to attend college, and all her produce was organic. I didn’t purchase enough to can/freeze very much, so I’m having to supplement now that she’s off to college. I hope she will operate again next growing season. My brother is a hunter, taking only what he needs for his family and mine, so our table is often set with game that he manages to take. I am trying very hard to be nutritionally conscious, but I’ve found that eating healthily is not only complicated (reading labels, thinking about percentages of ingredients, and knowing what to look for in products) but it’s also expensive. Good luck with growing your sphere of influence. I think you’re right that we have to take small steps locally to be effective globally.