{"id":20393,"date":"2019-09-30T17:22:57","date_gmt":"2019-10-01T00:22:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/?p=20393"},"modified":"2019-09-30T17:23:05","modified_gmt":"2019-10-01T00:23:05","slug":"we-must-be-partners-with-creation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/we-must-be-partners-with-creation\/","title":{"rendered":"We must be partners with creation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Rev. Paul Graves<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

As our small tour bus brought us back to Banff from a September afternoon at Lake Louise and Moraine Lake, I knew my next column must focus on the incredible wonders of nature. We were mesmerized by the amazing rock formations everyone calls the Canadian Rockies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those visual wonders have been over 60 million years in the making! Erosion over those eons has exposed the rugged silhouettes that drop our jaws in awe. I simply can\u2019t comprehend geologic time. But I do have some grasp of the time that we live in and have some responsibility for. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Millions around the world also grasp that reality in their own ways. Some are motivated by their basic human goodness, some by a dread that human and planetary survival are in the very balance. Others are moved by their spiritual traditions, whatever those traditions might be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Rev. Paul Graves<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Given the general audience of this column, I\u2019m prone to remind our readers that your own religious tradition is not alone when it comes to aspiring to a healthy creation. I call your attention to a 2016 book, \u201cVoices From Religion on Sustainable Development.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More an academic rather than commercial book, it brings together 25 authors from nine world religions and an indigenous tradition to look at environmental and other social issues. Those traditions are Baha\u2019i, Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Daoism, Hinduism, Indigenous traditions, Islam, Judaism, and the Sikh Religion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their effort seeks to engage the Sustainable Development Goals of Agenda 203, signed by 193 nations at the United Nations in September 2015. A summary of each religion\u2019s essence and its commitment to the Care for Creation can be found at www.partner-religion-development.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What I feel is important for us to remember is an affirmation from the book: \u201cThe book demonstrates that common spiritual values are at the heart of all religious and indigenous traditions \u2013 and that (living) these virtues of life can contribute to overcoming environmental destruction, poverty, forced migration, corruption, terror, discrimination and injustice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A local and very articulate comment on spiritual values and creation was published last week. The Venerable Thubten Jampa from the Buddhist Sravasti Abbey in Newport, WA, wrote clearly and hopefully about \u201cBuddhism All About Harmony With the Environment.\u201d You can read the column online here<\/a>. I encourage you to find her insights and learn from them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recent months, I\u2019ve found myself thinking about AAA. No, not that AAA. My letters stand for Awareness, Advocacy, and Action. Our trip to Banff didn\u2019t start my awareness of how we must be partners with creation. But it was certainly an outrageously beautiful and dramatic reminder! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everywhere we look, from majestic mountains or sunsets to the tiniest stamen in a flower, we need to be increasingly aware of how our world is nourished by every living organism around us. Whether we refer to \u201cGod\u2019s creation,\u201d the \u201cnatural world,\u201d or whatever, we are smack-dab in the middle of it. Let\u2019s be aware!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we are moved by that awareness<\/em>, let us be urgent to live beyond our own selfishness to advocate<\/em> for others to be aware of our societal partnership with creation. The Inland Northwest is  humming with countless persons advocating (calling) for us to pay attention to our responsibility to care for the creation around us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that call, that advocacy, must result in ongoing\u00a0action<\/em>\u00a0that shows how much we care to nourish and sustain the environment in which we live. Individual and social actions too many to list help us tenderly, passionately care for the creation we are a key part of. Be an AAA partner of creation!\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

The Rev. Paul Graves<\/strong> serves as the chair for the Council on Older Adult Ministries for the Pacific Northwest Conference of The United Methodist Church.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A recent excursion had the Rev. Paul Graves mesmerized by the amazing rock formations of the Canadian Rockies. It got him thinking about creation, religious affirmations toward its preservation, and our calling to be active partners with it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":20394,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"We must be partners with creation ","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[321,142],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-20393","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-creation-care","8":"category-older-adult-ministries"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/banff.jpg?fit=1200%2C705&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2l75j-5iV","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20393"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20393\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20397,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20393\/revisions\/20397"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pnwumc.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}