By Beth Morrill, clerk of the Racial, Social & Economic Justice Committee; and Steve Gates and Gail Melix, co-clerks of the Earthcare Ministry Committee
At Annual Sessions in 2020, New England Friends approved the Call to Urgent, Loving Action for The Earth and Her Inhabitants. The Call invited Friends into a year of spiritual and intellectual discernment regarding social injustice, including racism and the plight of Mother Earth, to discern actions that can address these systemic and interconnected challenges. A working group (consisting of the clerks of the Earthcare and Racial, Social, and Economic Justice committees) was convened to provide monthly meetings with the assistance and support they may need as they answered this call. The wider Quaker community enriched The Call by adding their thoughts and voices.
In the 5 months since Sessions, our working group has undertaken a number of actions. We have contacted each Quarter and offered to present a talk on the Call to Action. To this date we have presented at Northwest and Sandwich quarterly meetings. We will be meeting with Southeast Quarterly Meeting in early February. FWCC (Friends World Committee for Consultation) also invited us to present at their event in October. Members of our committees have taken a part by supporting and heralding the call in their meeting communities; Northampton Friends Meeting and Framingham Friends are two we know of. Many participants have expressed a good deal of excitement and energy about the Call and some have articulated a great desire to meet and collaborate with others.
We are writing to update Friends, but also to express interest in the social actions that your meetings are taking or considering. Can we support you in a way that would be helpful? We all bring our individual strengths and gifts to this work. Sharing our experiences and what we have learned and discerned might deepen our understanding of the road ahead. Knowing that all forms of injustice are connected, could it be possible that all actions for social justice are connected too? If you’d be willing to share with us, please write to us.
What is stirring in our hearts?
We are mindful that all of us have also been through trauma as we have been navigating this pandemic. We struggle with grief, fear, anger, and isolation. This is but a shadow of the centuries of trauma faced by People of Color and the potentially catastrophic harm to the Earth due to human actions. However, we also know that we cannot address the deep wounds of racism and climate degradation until we ensure our own house is in order. Otherwise, we risk throwing our own pain on top of years of historical injustice. The burden on People of Color and the Earth is already heavy enough. We need to stop, still our minds, reach for the Working love we carry for one another, and hold on tight.
We are in a time of wintering, a time of thought and reflection. This is not the time for fiery, quick decisions or actions. More is not always better. This is a time for deep connections, for listening to Spirit. It is a time for telling our stories and listening to the stories of others with reverence and honor. In its time, this season will end and we will be led to right, just, and spirit-led action. We trust Spirit to guide us in the urgency of this work.
The heart of this work is embodied in our faith and the practice of it, in the desire and the necessity to address suffering caused by injustice, greed. and violence. What is in the depth of our hearts and minds is a deep concern for life on earth. We envision and pray that this New Year will bring peace and love to the forefront, informing and deepening our faith and our commitment to the welfare of all life on Earth.
We still continue to find joy in this work. Each small movement begets a larger one and in this we find hope.
If you wish to reference information, including resources, for the Call to Urgent Loving Action for the Earth this can be found on this web page or by scrolling down on the home page of this website (which also includes information about the Letter of Apology to Native Americans).