"The pushback against (Joe Manchin's) decision two weeks ago to blow up the deal was harsh—-clearly harsher than Manchin expected. Within hours he was trying to make the case that he hadn’t actually walked away from negotiations. His fellow Senators stopped playing nice and made it clear they had no use for him. And the president seemed to understand he had to hit back: hence his increasingly clear talk of a climate emergency.
"But most of all it was, I think, the widespread public scorn. Somehow it began to break through to Manchin that the only thing history would ever remember about him is that he blocked action on the worst crisis humans have ever faced.
"There’s no longer a real public doubt about climate change. Yes, for partisan Republicans it remains fun to pretend it’s a hoax, but after thirty years of science, fifteen years of movement building, and an ever-increasing cascade of fires, floods, heatwaves and droughts, the public mood is finally strong enough to at least begin to match the political power of the fossil fuel industry.
"But this is a win engineered by everyone who ever wrote a letter to the editor, carried a sign at a march, went to jail blocking a pipeline, voted to divest a university endowment, sent ten dollars to a climate group, made their book club read a climate book."
Amen! In that same spirit, I would like extend joyous thanks to the founding members of the Genesee Valley Presbytery Earth Care Team, who set so many blessings in motion when we started off in 2013: Marcia Summers, Jim Tappon, Elaine Johnson, Laurel Nelson, and Bonnie Lloyd, who now cheers us on from the heavenly realms.
Today, let us rejoice with everyone, everywhere who has ever preached a sermon, voiced a prayer, created a work of art, designed a flyer, baked cookies, taught a class, or sung a song in support of making possible a healthy earth. Everything we do to help matters.
There are no "little things" when we are together in this sacred work: everything multiplies.
Let us rejoice today, and let us be blessed by these words from Ruth Duck's beautiful hymn:
Sister Wisdom, come, assist us;
nurture all who seek rebirth.
Spirit-guide and close companion,
bring to light our sacred worth.
Free us to become your people,
holy friends of God and earth.
Ruth Duck's hymn lyrics are from "Come and Seek the Ways of Wisdom," 1996.