Blogsplosion

So, haven't been on in a while.  Here are the reflections I've been writing.

(May 19-20) Weekend blog

Saturday was energy sabbath. Learned that having fun on a Sabbath is just a short walk away.  It was great to gather with others and relax and celebrate together.  Going to a wedding in the middle of the day was lovely, but this activity had a strange effect on the sabbath--I was consumed by guilt about breaking the rules.  rules rules.  Today [Sunday] at Holy Comforter we worshiped with many people who had disabilities.  It's a real parish!  Forty-some-odd years ago (if that long) they invited some folks from a nearby group home to worship with them, and, their ministry has grown since to include arts and gardening opportunities for their parishioners.  This seemed like a very cool place.

I see some hope now for a locally organized church.  I wonder how long we will be able to so generally self-select a distant congregation.  I wonder if that's even a help to our growth as  peacemakers--to only associate and worship with people like us.


May 21 (Monday)

Today was a water day.  Atlanta is a thirsty city.  It's a huge city for its water supply--the Chattahoochee.  Upper Chattahoochee Riverkeeper came to teach us about their work to protect it, and we bookended their presentation by watching Blue Gold, a movie about the increasing scarcity of this precious resource.  We are depleting our water, no doubt about it.  And Atlanta is growing like crazy--we already knew that.  I greatly valued Jason Ulseth's presentation.  He was not very dynamic, but his content was powerful--he taught us ways to catch people in the act of pollution!  One of the big problems is sedimentation due to improper practices (whether from engineer, contractor, or worker's mistake) on construction sites.  He even has an iphone app to report these problems.

Today was rather smooth.  Generally depressing, as usual, but with obvious opportunities to participate in and witness to another way of doing things.

May 22-23 (Tues-Wed)

I didn't write yesterday--I was tired after our CERC training at the CDC.  It was a fascinating time, thinking about ways the church can respond and bring people together in an emergency.  Could a network of local churches even begin to offer assistance before federal aid was set up properly?  PDA was supposedly amazingly helpful after Katrina.

Today we saw two cool places--Southface and East Lake Commons.  Southface was a wonderfully fun expo of green technologies.  I want a green roof now.  Who wouldn't want to have less heat coming off a building and a pleasant place on the roof to hang out for the building's occupants?  East Lake Commons was awesome!  It's a cohousing community with a parking lot surrounding the actual housing, which is wound through by sidewalks and gardens, but no car traffic.  67 houses (if I remember correctly) and a common house are spread throughout this area, and a farmer runs a CSA on site (called Gaia Gardens--see link on their site).  People are encouraged to attend the weekly dinner meetings at the common house and (more strongly) to volunteer 5 hours a month for the upkeep of the community.  One of my classmates was saying how exclusive it seemed.  I can see that--it is a residential community.  To be a part of it truly, you have to live there.  And it is gated.  Maybe that's what he was reacting to.  How can I find life with others through everyday meetings in passing?  Most of the people I share life with here I began to know better just through being neighbors.  How do those chance encounters, then, give us life?

May 24, Thursday

Today was pretty relaxed.  We had lots of time to talk about hope--how it's not optimism, how it impels us to act, how it awaits God's activity, not humanity's.  We've been quite depressed about the state of the world.  Though I don't know why.  The Sabbath was a lot of fun--sure many people would die if oil ran out, but life without it exists.  Water is another story... Anyway, that's what's been getting us down--because even if I stop using water for the rest of my life (which wouldn't be very long if I don't drink anything) it probably won't make any overall effect on the overconsumption of our resources.  So it's been good to have a day to discuss and process without seeing some new horrible power plant or depressing documentary.  We talked with Professor Brown, who made me again want to read his book.  There is hope in creation--the fact that God created the world and works in it and teaches us through it can give us hope that it is God who will renew it.  We watched a great video that was sobering, but not hopeless--Journey of the Universe first led us to wonder at the amazing patterns of existence, energy, matter, life, and thought and then brought us an ecological imperative.  How does symbolic consciousness, knowing itself, change itself?  How does something that selects in itself the thoughts that are good at thinking themselves, produce truth?  It is not aimed thus.  It is not even aimed at the consistency it professes (as if that were provable, reminds Gödel) or some ability to "explain," but simply at recommunicability.  Patterns which pattern themselves again get patterned repeatedly.  Poems start conversations and tickle memories.  How do eco-folk pattern their speech so it repeats itself all over the world?

May 25, Friday

Saw some cool things today!  In the highest-LEED-rated building in the northern hemisphere, we heard from Ryan Gravel at Perkins+Will.  Their building on Peachtree was not even built from scratch, but when they acquired it they saw to major overhauls, including the installation of a natural gas power plant on the roof which cuts their carbon footprint (Georgia usually uses a lot of coal).  Ryan Gravel spoke to us about the BeltLine, which is far more extensive than I ever knew--not merely a transit line or a system of parks but a whole vision for the future of Atlanta, to which developers, housing authorities, and residents all contribute.  We also heard from Katherine Moore from the Georgia Conservancy (no connection to the Nature Conservancy), which advocates for growth and planning that supports the lives of both people and the environment.  Brilliant powerpoint about congestion and suburbs and recyclable city blocks and multi-use space followed by a tour of NPU G and some of its challenges and opportunities in the realm of planning.

I wonder how we know what we are a part of.  Nobody sees the whole picture--each day with this class we have discovered something new about our city or our food sources or our air or our water.  There are always things about your choices that you cannot see.  How do we work for justice, knowing we choose blindly?

Weekend blog! May 26-28 (written Mon night)
Saturday, didn't do anything for class.  Aaah.
Sunday at St. Andrew's Pres, a few of us watched our classmate juggle fire!  Flaming torches, that is.  I took a big walk yesterday afternoon to experiment--we've been hearing how terrible and uninviting Atlanta is for pedestrians.  Results: This is true.  My feet hurt.  I walked a long way down Lawrenceville Highway and was pretty bored.  I stopped at some grungy gas stations for water and at a Publix for a snack.  All the other food options were pretty unhealthy, hard to see, or a long walk from the road.  There were sidewalks the whole way until I got nearly to Dekalb industrial. I had the most fun there, stopping in an Indian bakery and getting chivda for the first time since leaving Kenya.  There were also some other pedestrians!  But they thinned out again south of North Decatur (after Kroger).  I was happy when a friend saw me and saved me a half hour of walking.  Experimenting is hard work.
Happy anniversary, nerf nerd!
Today we had Sabbath!  Started last night and was a little less legalistic about it--not so consumed with can and can't but more about being aware and playful--games and food and relaxing time.  Read a lot of Good Omens.  Very playful take on the more traditional doomsday (as opposed to an ecological scenario).  I'll see if it's more hopeful than our class.

Camp Calvin--May 29-30

We had a time at Global Village seeing and playing at what everyday life is like for much of the world--some of us weeded and prepared food, others gathered water, and others made bricks (our "cash crop").  We ate a simple meal of beans and rice and some squash and spoke of how to not think of "development" as a track toward being like us.  People in this country are without food security, and some people in poorer countries are richer than we are.  But living as good neighbors and respecting cultural boundaries, we can begin to emphasize what is truly important.  Water, life, food, and love won the day.

Tuesday evening we discussed with Mark Douglas about sloth.  More than simple laziness, we talked of sloth as the loss of ability to desire.  This can come from both a lack of activity, a malaise, as well as the frantic business we use to hide from it and still fail to passionately engage with the world.  It's gross.  But the discussion was helpful, encouraging us not to give up but to work for the small things and pray for the big ones.

Today we went down the Chattahoochee.  We had planned to do the Flint, but it's low--it's just as well, we've been talking about the Chattahoochee the whole class.

How do we work together, supporting each other, finding time to work and play, share meals, share stories, share life, and listen to each other?  That, when it is undertaken out of self-giving love, is the Christian life, the cross-shaped nonsense by which we lose ourselves in wonder, love, and praise.

Robservations about the last couple of days

Who knew a senior thesis, a ride around Atlanta, and a talk with the famous Bill Brown would not only add to my changing mindset of how to live but also where to live and even consider a step more in when I live. What do I mean about when I live? So, how I live has been drastically changing since marriage, through child rearing, and especially in God's ever-changing call on my life in ministry. This class has added an extra element to that through progressively retooling my reality and stripping away conveniences that I once saw as reality. The where has been on my mind since learning I would graduate sooner than I expected but was changed in my understanding of city patterns and co-housing. This where has led me to search out grid aspects, location near potential churches, etc. However this when I live came up first in our conversation about a non-linear time frame and how we are infected and impacted by this era in which we live but that hope remains in the understanding that the resurrection is as much relevant in this human made era as much as it was in any other era. However, my understanding of what living is has helped me retool my understanding of when it is I actually live. Do I live through my reliance on non-sustainable false senses of happiness and times of entertainment provided my modern convenience? Or do i live my life in the "mean time:" that time between this false sense of entertainment and convenience? This when has caught me looking to the resurrection for hope and to my sense of purpose and usefulness with shoulders shrugged. These past 2 weeks have lowered a veil and opened a door and I'm slowly stepping out of it.

Robservation:Water and disease

Yesterday we found ourself regretting the bottle waters that we've bought in the last....well...life. I surely went to bed thankful for my (much shorter) shower. We also heard from a great conservationist who pointed to the wonder of our watershed and the danger or loosing it. Growth is not always good as our water supply may dry up. We then heard from a man who I thought was a youth who told us the danger of construction pollutants, erosion, and sedimentary run-off. His message was great but I failed to see how it related to us in the church.

This morning we shifted gears and realized our need to be knowledgable and present for our community. This means finding ourselves stepping up for a community amidst disaster and knowing where to turn but also allowing ourselves to be those for others. This means knowing what the heck we are talking about without spitting false truths or allowing speculation into our psyche. I loved that he (Nic Cage look alike) looked toward social media (surprised?) as a key way to reach others. The tour was a bit of a let down, truthfully. I was looking forward to more secretive access and fun insight. The big room was neat and it was awesome to see a Columbia grad chiming in on the wall about H1N1.

Robservations: resting and fish continued

Last time I blogged, I left off about fish. We played a game called fish bank which was fishy business about depleting our natural resources. The biggest lesson: realize our resources and learn to sustain them.
Then we went and learn to take care of those resources a little bit by being responsible with our own communities. Miriam emphasized our need to be the ones to start the conversation.
On Saturday, I had to break the rules for work for 2 hours and drive to cokesbury and spend money. I had this big family worship picnic planned after cooking on Friday all day. However after our trip, we planned a nap and ate lunch at home. Our nap turned into a deep sleep and 3 hrs later we scratched the picnic. We joined in with the village play time and bon fire and we walked back at dark. During our day we had no power, no cell phones, no cooking, no commerce, and an extended prayer time.
It was a great reflection of those natural gifts we have and take for granted.

The rules of a fishing game

We played a game today.  We split into three groups, each of which ran a fishing company on a stretch of coast with a healthy population of fish.  The fish multiplied at a regular rate for fish--if there was overcrowding (which we assumed at the beginning there would be), they would reproduce at a lower rate, just as if there were few fish, fewer would be born.  But if there were about 60% of the maximum number of fish, they would reproduce at the greatest rate.  We each got our little fleet of ships, with opportunities to buy more to increase our profits (umm...wrong).  By the third turn (year), we had more than enough ships to run the place dry, and two teams had merged to compete with the third.  But, even with collusion the next year, we depleted both the deep sea fisheries where there were greater profits and the coastal ones with less profitability.
Anyway, it was amazing how fast we depleted the fish.  We/I did the math wrong, so we were overfishing from the start, and once the fish catch started to decrease, the fish were already at 30% of maximum--half the optimal level.  At that point, we would have had to wait 4 years or more of no fishing (of only 10 years that the game went for) until it would have been back at 60%, producing the most fish per year.  The problem is, we weren't thinking like it was a farm, but like it was a competition.  We were scared of not making any money.  So we kept fishing.  And at the end of ten years, we just fished all the rest of them anyway.
We began with 8 ships per team, with the rule that we could only purchase half again of what we own in a turn.  It turns out if we had read the graph right, you need 22 ships for the deep sea, and 20 for the coastal region.  That's 42 ships--divided equally, that would be 14 per team.  So, that team that won the first auction did not need any more ships.  They ended up with 52 ships (which you have to pay every turn to upkeep--fishing in coastal waters is three times as expensive as leaving them in harbor, and deep sea fishing is five times expensive as harboring), which was a huge liability.  Our team only stayed afloat. (hee hee) by merging with the other team that had few ships.  Although we ended up with 49 (6 of which we got for free, but I'm pretty sure we lost money on them).  It seemed like a "buy more ships, make more money" situation.
If we had maximized early, more than $40,000 worth of cash would have flowed into the game over its course from reproducing fishies, not to mention our fleet of boats would have been worth about $6800 (divide each of those by three!).  We ended up with one company in the red and one barely over $10,000.  The coastal species of fish was extinct in the region, and the deep sea population was only at 11% of maximum--about 300 fish were left.
Anyway, super frustrating.  The principle is this--as soon as you start noticing a decline in fish population, it's too late.  You've already reduced the fish to extremely low numbers.  The only way to have fish reproducing (the only long-term capital input into your business) is to harvest only as many as the fish can replace.  Otherwise you're digging in to your "principal," as if this were a bank account supporting you.  That's probably why they called it "FishBank."  Ugh.  We were overfishing after 3 turns.

Journaler #4

[Official] JOURNAL

5/17

How to celebrate a classmate’s birthday:

Instead of having him drive the Happy Bus, let him ride on a MARTA bus and a jitney bus

Hand him a Breeze Card that provides access to trains underground and above ground

Take him on a walk through more downtown than he’s accustomed to

Show him Ted Turner’s condo and restaurant and solar-arrayed parking lot

Introduce him to really tall escalators

Buy him a burger to go with his free milkshake

Share his birthday cupcakes

Unlock the ladder that leads to the roof and climb up there with him

Assure him that if you could do his homework for him, you would

Multiple good reminders of diversity

Good start on lunchtime devotions, though there’s room for growth…

Transportation is linked to congestion and commutes and commerce, to pollution and jobs and ethnicity, to federal and state and local government, to fear and forethought and faith communities

Vote Yes on July 31 Transportation Investment Act—it’s not perfect but it’s better than nothing and perfect is not on the horizon around here

Feeling the need for debriefing.

Journaler’s Privilege: Need some advance warning system re sunscreen…

Pat Murphy, whose got major Practical Vision Mojo, welcomed us to East Decatur Station. And we welcomed Kate McGregor Mosely into our midst

The Medic has the blog up and running

Lots of high finance for the Bursar today

The Thanker’s work garnered a cupcake bonus

Finally got a photo with everybody (even our two Photographers) in it

The Journaler is getting briefer…

Do two-minute writing. Read two articles. Sign up for devotion. Say your prayers (and send those final birthday wishes)

Tomorrow is Sabbath Eve, y’all.

Robservation: Fish and rail

So... I've discovered that birthdays push one to not blog for a day Yesterday, we spent a good amount of time riding and walking looking at public transit. There is a 1 cent tax on the table that will increase opportunity around Atlanta. However, those one would expect to back such s bill are pulling out not for opposition to but lack thereof's. This raised an eyebrow or two because these groups represent the groups who will be most affected by such transit. I worry that if these groups fight and push back, what then will those in our pews fight against? That afternoon, we saw the beauty of solar panels and experienced our own role as a panel as we climbed to sit on a hot roof and soak up the rays that panels receive. I am amazed by this technology but wonder if the price will ever allow businesses and homes to use such technology. This business still seemed to use very little of the amount of energy sold. So, what are the futures of such technology? Hopefully, it is possible. More on fish later ....

Journal for 5/17

What have you learned today?

That transit folks are just as defensive as power folks about their future plans.  Power folk, "Oh, we're definitely not building another coal plant;" Transit folk (in response to this) "Oh, we can't build rail where studies haven't been done to demonstrate usership."  Oi.  And the "green" side of transit wants to build structures that use power and thus coal, hopefully reducing emissions if people actually ride the buses, where the "green" side of energy wants to cut back severely so we can move to other forms of energy without burning any more coal.  It's rather dizzying.

What are your questions?

How does the church pick sides in this debate?  I'm beginning to wonder if they shouldn't.  Still, I wonder how to be winning and loving without being unable to listen.  And, as always for the church (just talked to a friend, a third of whose presbytery is seeking dismissal), how do we foster responsible ways of being together in the midst of disagreement?  And how do we move forward in that?

Power plant tour and awkward listening

Man, the power plant is quite good at public relations. Walking in at the first, Steve made sure we understood that there was mostly steam coming from the stacks. We then were swept into a room where the same voice from several Disney films that I've watched made sure that we saw how friendly the power plant was. We were then reminded by the control room operator and our tour guide that "environmentalists" are always out get them and they began back pedaling without our attacking. I called them power apologists.
After some decent (but award winning may be a stretch) BBQ, we were blessed with a very awkward conversation between Steve and Alexis in which I felt they were both ready to go at each others' throats. Thankfully they didn't and we were given much responsibility from both. Steve said it was our responsibility to encourage the use of less kilowatt hours and to have our voice heard about alternative methods. Alexis commented that it was our responsibility to raise awareness.
Crazy stat of the day: more explosives used in Kentucky than Iraq and Afghanistan combined in 2000's

Journaler #3

Official JOURNAL

5/16

The degree to which it ain’t simple.

Akin to money, it takes energy to make energy. Burn coal to boil water to create steam to turn turbines.

Medic: Water and power are linked. (In that statement, we acknowledge that he meant “energy” when he said “power.” But we’re also talking about all those other worldly powers.)

When we burn something, we produce CO₂. How to sequester (now there’s an unsettling word) it? National Center for Carbon Capture is run by Southern Company. Hmm.

How do you store energy? Well, coal would be one way…

Hippie Meatloaf as a life-changing experience. Good to have the esteemed Dr. Bill Brown with us.

How to change people’s behavior? MADD did it. JFK did it. Can the church do it? Be part of the public process; maximize electricity the way we must also maximize water

What do pastors say to congregants? What do congregations do differently?

Our Presbytery has a lobbyist, Wendell Phillips. The church is to be engaged in life.

The bulk of energy-use growth isn’t here. The rest of the world wants the goodies we have; they can’t possibly want the problems, though.

All current technologies are bridge technologies. Bridge to…?

“Don’t tell the people they can’t have it.” Yeah, but what if they can’t?

GIPL
Help churches change behavior. Use faith language of our tradition:

Stewardship: The Earth is the Lord’s and everything in it. Love creation. Nature Deficit Disorder—go outside

Interconnectedness

God saw everthing that God had made and indeed it was very good.

For God so loved the world (not just us)

Awe The heavens are telling the glory of God (Hubble pix) Psalms

Justice: Ezekiel 34:17-19, consider the consequences of my actions on others

GIPL has over 700 “Partner Congregations.” How has that occurred?

Assume congregants do not understand climate change. There are some easy things people can do.

“We are drifting into a world of adaptation apartheid,” Desmond Tutu

We’re blowing up mountains. We’re going to have to move some mountains to address these issues.

“This work is possible.” What can we do as Christians? Talk about it. We’re so afraid of offending. But creation care is part of our calling.

Mercury regulation only since 1999—really??

Environmental Working Group report on mercury; Seychell Islands mercury study

Journaler’s Privilege:

Donning safety goggles & hardhat to enter the coal-fired plant somehow felt kind of duck-&-cover, no?

Bursar’s drawing may belong on the blog.

Photog’s photos: black-&-white plus only one color—now there’s a metaphor just looking for a meaning.

Foodie took over the driving—way to go, CM.

Worshiper’s got a plan for theology and worship. And not a moment too soon. I mean, if the only hope is eschatological, then why not drink the koolaid? Ah, so that’s why we have a Medic.

Turning off lights; unplugging appliances; shortening showers; noting alternatives to some plastics while lamenting inescapability of others; aiming for 8:20 AM at The Happy Bus That Rolls For Jesus

Two minutes for Bowen

What did you learn?

Well, I saw a brilliant PR guy today in action.  By using a lot of collective pronouns, "We aren't going to build any new coal plants ... We have installed scrubbers ... we are testing new ideas," sharing needless details about family and silly stories about mint juleps, and generally being very respectful and having a peaceful tone of voice, he was very convincing even when he didn't really answer a question.  Likable and talkative, he was not putting on airs.  He seemed to truly believe in what he was doing.  He did also emphasize the need to reduce our usage.  Georga Power's job is to meet demand, (which they won't have trouble doing until 2020) so they can do that by reducing demand, too.  But they do make mercury.  I was surprised to hear that the scrubbers get the methyl mercury completely out, so that all that escapes is elemental mercury.  I was also unimpressed by his argument of "the earth is a box"--sure, all we're doing is moving CO2 and some other elements around.  But we don't pump nerve gas, anthrax, or sewage into his backyard air, even though it might exist on this planet.

What are your questions?

How do we become winning like that gentleman?  Is it only a gift from God, or do we cultivate it in the way we talk to others?

What do those meetings of the Public Service Commission look like?  How does Southern Company listen to people there?

Robservation

So I admittedly didn't journal the first day, but here are some very random and scattered thoughts from me for the first 2 days: -To continue on a conversation I started at the end of class today: I, unfortunately, go to church with a lot of middle class white folks whose view on global warming, the green movement, etc. is that it is a political ploy drummed up by Al Gore and that it is only another something that wastes their tax dollars. Serious conversation about it is often swept aside by questions about how much money it would cost do something, etc. The youth group was able to start a community garden and has pushed recycling recently so that is progress. -I agreed with many of the thoughts raised today in class about the water treatment facility in regards to the energy being spent. There is a lot of work that goes into this plant, yes, but at what cost? Could hydro-electricity be used in some parts? -Dabney raised a lot of great points. I would have liked to spend more time discovering the causes of extinction for some of the more recent species. -At the water treatment plant, they were spraying pesticides or something directly by the water after the water had been rid of most pollutants. -There are a lot of readings to catch up with and I'm sure trying.

Journaler #2

[Official] JOURNAL

5/15

Looking for hope on a Tuesday morning

Yesterday’s coffee awaits us. Not sure that’s the best example of making good use of resources.

Be like the baboons. What happens if you cannot depend on the way the elders have done it? We can adapt quickly, if not painlessly. There are lots of ways to be a primate. Don’t get stuck thinking that the way things are is the way they have to be.

Christopher Southgate’s book re predation. Mufasa was right.

Water

Most of the planet’s surface; most of our bodies. Mostly salinated; only 2.5% is fresh, most has been frozen into ice that’s now melting into the sea. Oops. Cleansed via hydrologic cycle and via aquifer system. Over the past century, large dams have been re-allotting water. Most water used inefficiently in agriculture.

We have no designated “map navigator”…

In addition to the massive amounts of energy that none of us felt comfortable asking our guides to quantify, the plant uses gravity and microbes. Wish we could have seen the Luxury Uptake Train—I’m envisioning microbe manicures. Fascinating tour and nobody used the word, “Armageddon.” “Water Wars,” yes. Sunghee diligently photographed sewage. And us.

I hope Bursar tipped well. Driver/Encourager got applause. Postmaster very diligent with those thank-you notes! Theologian  suggested “Grace & Peace” as the sign-off for the note—way to go, Theology & Worship Meister.

No more throwing of keys. And NO darts, y’all.

Dr. Dabney Dixon (she was great)

Noah’s Ark

We Care Because…

Figure out what you believe, figure out how to articulate it, figure out how to stand and say it aloud.

“So, how do we say, ‘No.’?” Politics, economics, getting together at the closest place, Walk with God groups, church can be center for neighborhood activities, live intentionally (interplay with ritual), heartfelt ideas—what would a different way to live be? Reduce plastic and junk mail as a church activity (call the order line), as a way to build community with a different focus, have a garden: it’s engaging. CSAs—it’s a community activity, it’s fellowship

Two important groups to tap: new retirees given something real to do; Gospel Geeks for God

off-the-grid church; solar energy or solar hot water

Biodiversity: The IUCN Red List

Smaller areas have fewer species. Contiguous space more beneficial

40-50% of drugs originate as nature’s design. We don’t have the ideas; we lose the library of species.

Redundancy vs. Rivet Poppers—dueling metaphors for extinction

Hope of the whooping crane

What seems normal to us can be nefarious

N Pacific Gyre (AM and PM mentions)

The church as an ecosystem. Unity in diversity. Paul’s archipelago of island churches. Model sustainable community. Think in neighborhoods as well as congregation.

Listen to people and do what they want to do; capture the energy that’s organically within the culture. There are enough problems to go around—net energy use is a biggie but if folks can get behind sustainable food rather than recycling, or stripmining rather than climate change, so be it.

It’s not the church’s job to fix things; it’s the church’s job to bear witness.

Jesus is a problem (that is not news…)

So, what does the church have to offer that the rest of the world does not have but does need:
Different story: God is present; God is returning; the church can model how to die; practice of self-limitation for the sake of the Other (God in creating; Paul’s value). How does that exist in times of mega-churches sucking resources

Get back into small communities: love, care for each other, fellowship, basic NT stuff

People with the knowledge are trying to help us with this message—easily available online

Support good public servants.

Svante Arrhenius—simply don’t entertain the bullshit

“7^th Generation” concept is more accessible if you place audience as the middle generation.

Remember the ultimate source of our power (well, that would be God, but we’re talking coal)

Addressing emotions, hopes and fears rather than facts, which can be denied. Journaler’s Privilege: surely, this isn’t hard for the church…I mean, we don’t speak of our faith in terms of facts, do we?

visuals work—that I knew; that this portfolio of issues was especially hard for the church is something I didn’t know. Prof wants our 2-minute writing exercise for the day. Remember: no high heels tomorrow!