Permaculture 1 Addendum

The Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann writes,

God aches at the disunity in the world... it would be useful for church folks to make a list of the agents of separation in their community and parish and then to address those agents - through budget and through programming - to see how the church might serve God's will for unity in a world of fragmentation. Where are the crunches in your life? We know about some standard ones of old-young, rich-poor, Black-white, conservative-liberal, male-female. In the church sometimes it is people-leadership, or even parish-diocese. We won't run out of agenda to address. All of that which seems so natural to us - it is against the purpose of God; and it is not the wave of the future. (Living Toward a Vision,47)

In response to "Permaculture 3" Andrea wrote, "One of the things our culture struggles with is the desire to hide, to pass by community and not be known." I wonder if she has been reading Brueggemann. This seems to me to be saying the same thing. So, how do we "hide"? How do we choose to "pass by community and not be known"? Why do we make these choices? Are these appropriate choices for Christians?

Brueggeman's idea that we address through "budget and through programming" "the agents of separation" in our community, seems to me an utterly fascinating idea. But I fear I have no clue what it might mean. What could it possibly look like for a church to attempt to address the prevailing culture of fragmentation and to nurture community and connection through its budget and programming?

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Permaculture 1

Thursday evening Heather and I attended a presentation on permaculture at Uvic. Permaculture is defined as

A system of assembling conceptual, material, and strategic components in a pattern which functions to benefit life in all its forms. It seeks to provide sustainable and secure places for humans and all other living things on this earth.

In a gathering of sixty people, Heather and I were the oldest by twenty years. The topic was obviously of interest to young adults. As I sat listening to this discussion of how humans might interact in more healthy and life-giving ways with our environment, my mind wandered off, as it sometimes does, to the topic of church, where the population is less dominated by twenty-somethings.

At one point in his presentation, the speaker said, “Permaculture is about connections; to be a functioning system, there has to be connection.” Is there a hunger for human connection of which the church may have lost sight?

We live in a culture that is characterized by isolation. Increasingly, the demands of work, the attractions of home entertainment, and the pressures to perform in the world make it difficult for people to find meaningful ways to connect.

In the church of my childhood, connection formed around bazaars, rummage sales, and spring teas. This activity based, fund-raising connection no longer provides a compelling vision for most people under the age of sixty.

Within the often hectic realities of peoples’ lives, the church must find ways to facilitate Christ-centered connection. What might it look like for the church to be a place in which people are given an opportunity to connect with one another around a common desire to grow in their ability to love God and their neighbour?
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