Trying Not To Stick My Head in the Sand

Trying Not to Stick My Head in the Sand by Steve Clemens. April 29, 2013

After walking two miles behind a “Stop Frac Sand” banner, we arrived at the Port of Winona where 18-wheel trucks were unloading their cargoes of silica frac sand on to barges in the Mississippi River to be shipped to natural gas fracking operations in Texas or other locations. A second group of friends walked over three miles to another Winona, MN site where already-mined frac sand was being washed before loaded on to the trucks that were arrive at the port. With the support of dozens of other friends, 35 of us were arrested on trespass charges as we nonviolently blocked the trucks this morning in what may have been the largest protest to date against fracking.

I traveled to Winona at the invitation of the Winona Catholic Worker, the community which was hosting the annual Midwest Catholic Worker “Faith and Resistance Retreat”. Members of this group who offer hospitality to the poor and marginalized from at least 9 nearby states gathered from Friday evening until today for a time of reflection, renewal, fellowship, and resistance. We recited a pledge to practice nonviolence before the march to the protest sites and many of us carried a letter sent to the gathering from the farmer-philosopher Wendell Berry. In it he writes:

“You have offered me the privilege of joining by letter with you and your friends in Winona in opposition to “frac sand mining,” and I am happy to accept.

I will say, first, that there is never, for any reason, a justification for doing long-term or permanent damage to the ecosphere. We did not create the world, we do not own it, and we have no right to destroy any part of it.

Second, most of our politicians and their corporate employers are measuring their work by standards of profitability and mechanical efficiency. Those standards are wrong. There is one standard that is right: the health of living creatures and the living earth.

Third, we must give our needs to eat, drink, and breathe an absolute precedence over our need for mined fuels.

I wish you well.”

Others carried a letter written by Sandra Steingraber, an upstate NY scientist and mother who is in jail for her nonviolent protest at Seneca Lake, NY. We carried a Statement of Purpose drawn up by the Catholic Workers on “Ending Fracking and Silica Sand Mining.” But mostly we carried ourselves – with our strong desires to help save our environment so it can be passed on to future generations. Our message was placing our bodies in front of the trucks to shut down the shipping of this sand used to extract more fossil fuels.

Greed, fueled by short-term profits is a major reason we are shackled with climate disruptions and the extinction of huge numbers of various species. Shared sacrifice and community are some of the tools we choose to use to claw our way back (or ahead) and this inter-generational gathering provided both challenge and hope. This weekend offered an opportunity to reflect and act with others who share a vision of a more compassionate approach to life and want to be part of a nonviolent struggle to make that an alternative path for us to pursue.

Only 35 risked arrest because each of those communities need someone who remains committed to providing hospitality for the marginalized in their home areas in case those arrested get the maximum sentence of 90 days in jail. The state “criminal trespass” charge also allows for a hefty fine as well but most Catholic Workers on principle would refuse to pay such because to do so would lessen their abilities to serve the poor.

I am not a Catholic Worker. I’m not even a Catholic but I am humbled and blessed to be welcomed into their midst. But even others are not Catholic. The relatively new “Mennonite Worker” community from Minneapolis was well represented as well as the Phillips-based “Rye House”. So those acting and living within the spirit of Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin, founders of the movement, are welcomed. Seasoned activists led the Sunday afternoon nonviolence training but it is always good to have a refresher every once in awhile and to provide a welcome format for the “rookies” to civil disobedience and nonviolent direct action.

The Winona police were very courteous to us even after our refusal to leave led to our arrest. When I mentioned my problems with carpal tunnel as I was being handcuffed, the arresting officer asked if I was OK with being ‘cuffed in front instead of the standard behind-the-back position. I am grateful for the kindness shown. Many of these police officers know of the possible health risks to themselves from breathing in these sand particles. They also know how “get rich quick” schemes brought about by outsiders wishing to profit from exploiting these local resources have created a multitude of conflicts within this southern Minnesota river town.

Getting arrested while working for nonviolent change – especially when joined with like-minded friends – is a privilege in our democracy at a time when corporate voices try to drown out citizen concerns. Polished advertising on our TVs try to convince us that there is “clean coal” or that exploiting oil and gas resources can make us “energy independent” or provide hundreds or thousands of jobs. All in the attempt to continue what has been called our “American way of life” – the over-consumption of finite resources in a world where many are desperate for adequate food and water. Many Americans want to stick their heads in the sand, pretending there is no need for a change of heart and a change of course.  My friends and I want to risk our own freedom in order to say “no!”

(Photos from Winona Daily News)

The Rest of the Story - Climate Change Arrest at the White House

The Rest of the Story: Tar Sands Action at the White House by Steve Clemens. August 30, 2011

When I first signed up to come to Washington and return to the White House, I thought to myself: wasn’t it just a year and a half ago that I told Christine that I’m getting too old to spend another night in jail? My experience protesting President Obama’s continuation of the Afghan and Iraq Wars had left me physically very sore (but spiritually content) after 28 hours in the four different DC jails we occupied after our “die in” at the White House the day before the 2010 State of the Union address.

This time it was an email from my friend, Rabbi Arthur Waskow of the Shalom Center in Philadelphia that got the juices flowing again. He sent me a letter signed by Bill McKibben, Jim Hansen, Naomi Klein, and Wendell Berry (among others) asking us to come to DC at the end of August to nonviolently pressure President Obama to declare that allowing the Trans-Canada project to build the Keystone XL pipeline linking the Alberta Tar Sands oil fields to Houston, TX refineries and Gulf Coast shipping would not be in “the national interest”. Since the proposed 1,700 mile pipeline would cross the international border, Obama can unilaterally declare it is or isn’t in our national interest without Congressional interference. Come to Washington, the letter said, and risk arrest in a two-week civil disobedience campaign. The letter especially encouraged we older folk who have made a very large carbon footprint over our lives to share some of the burden of risking arrest to change our policies.

I first tried to see if several of my friends from the Community of St. Martin might be interested and willing to travel with me and join the action. Unfortunately Jack, Dave, and Peter, although very interested and supportive, couldn’t go. Neither could Scott, my friend with a new baby – I’m sure Tara would be uneasy with him getting busted as school is about to begin and he has primary care for the new family member! It’s not the easiest thing to approach people asking them if they want to go to jail with you.

Although the organizers were telling us as well signed up that they were trying to negotiate a “fine and forfeit” arrangement with the DC authorities (as is often the case with group arrests for nonviolent protest at the White House), I knew from past experience that one needs to be prepared: “If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime”. I read Dr. Jim Hansen’s statement that if this pipeline is built, it will be like a carbon bomb being set off and it is essentially “game over” for our attempts to avoid (or at least mitigate) some of the nasty results from human-induced climate change. Here was (another) cause worth risking arrest over.

I was anxious to join the group early on in the two week planned action because I knew many of the participants had never been arrested before and felt it would to helpful to lend them some of my experience. However, before committing to the day I would risk arrest, my friend Rose Berger, an editor and writer at Sojourners, told me that they would like to plan for one of the days to be an inter-faith action day and encourage religious leaders and faith-based activists to join together for worship before arrest. That’s my style: acting with others with similar values and beliefs is always an empowering experience for me ever since my first arrest more than 36 years ago at this same seat of imperial power. The cause then was Vietnam; last January, our latest imperial wars; now, our war on the environment and the planet’s climate. I jumped at Rose’s invitation and signed up on-line for August 29^th, not knowing a hurricane would try to intervene.

As I was about to fly to DC (yes, I’m aware of the hypocrisy of taking an airplane to protest our dependence on fossil fuels – I’m working on that), I was aware of the monster Hurricane Irene was headed straight up the East Coast and the airlines informed me that I might want to reschedule my trip so I wouldn’t arrive the same day as the projection for Irene. So I flew into DC on Friday and joined the daily gathering at the White House Saturday morning as the dark storm clouds began to roll in. The Tar Sands Action coordinators had discussions with the police about the emergency conditions anticipated if the hurricane came nearby and already decided to call off any civil disobedience for Sunday in order to free up the law enforcement personnel for the hurricane.

Friday evening, those planning to risk arrest discussed the same issue and made the same choice for Saturday’s action –so we just had a public presence, sang some songs, listened to some inspiring words from Bill McKibben and then posted for group photos as the rain and wind gusts started. Many of those who had originally planned to risk arrest on Saturday or Sunday tried to rearrange their schedules in order to take action with our Monday group. On Sunday afternoon, the folk planning on participating as the inter-faith religious group met to outline the plans for a worship gathering in Lafayette Park prior to the arrival of the rest of the Tar Sands activists. Rabbis (and other Jews), Buddhists, and Christians of all stripes were there– from a large Unitarian contingent to mainline and evangelical Protestants, Roman Catholics, and at least one Anabaptist. Others represented Native American spirituality as well as other traditions. Since some folk arrived after introductions, it’s hard to include all the perspectives represented.

After the hour for inter-faith planning, more than 100 others jammed the room at the local Methodist church for the pre-arrest nonviolence training and legal team briefings. Our trainers were three energetic young people from the Ruckus Society and another woman activist. They were engaging and helpful, especially to the many for whom this would be their first arrest. At least ½ to 2/3s of the potential arrestees were planning on taking this step for the first time – some of whom appeared to be in their 60s and 70s! As in any new and potentially threatening experience, there were multitudes of questions and the lawyers and trainers did a great job of fielding them. We were asked to pose for individual photos so the Tar Sands Action team could later post “pins” on an online map to show where we all came from to be part of this action. A caravan from California arrived shortly before we began so I’m sure our group represented close to half the States and we also welcomed the couple in their 60s who had come from Alberta because they had witnessed the reality of the destructiveness of the tar sands “development” first-hand.

By 9 PM I was tired and hungry (even though they served us a modest vegan supper as we selected “arrest buddies” during the training. Since we were likely to be arrested and transported by perceived gender, we were asked to select a same-gender partner to look out for one another during the action component the following day. Since Dr. David Hilfiker and I had spent several weeks together in Baghdad as part of the Iraq Peace Team just prior to the start of the present war, we agreed to be arrest partners. (His wife was also risking arrest, both of them had never been arrested – even though David and I were threated with up to 12 years in federal prison for traveling to Iraq during the economic sanctions but fortunately were never prosecuted.)

Our trainers were explicitly clear: we were to carry as little as possible on our persons when we went up to the White House fence to risk arrest. Carry a photo ID, $100 in cash to pay the “fine and forfeit” charge if we were offered it (and we were strongly encouraged to do so to facilitate others later in the week being able to receive the same “offer” rather than going to jail overnight and face a Judge the following day), $5-10 additional cash to purchase a bus or Metro ticket once you were released, and a disposable bottle of water. Anything else could be confiscated by the police or would certainly delay the processing time – and with such large numbers, it would already take a long time without making it much longer.

We were told to remove wedding rings, watches, other jewelry including piercings, and one of the trainers recommended wearing adult diapers just in case you weren’t permitted access to a bathroom for hours on end. Put your ID and money in a zip-lock bag and put it in your pocket or bra. The Buddhist religious leader helpfully pointed out she didn’t wear one but maybe she had a pocket in the robes she wore the next day. Trainers recommended women not wear skirts as the pat-downs upon arrest were often quite aggressive. (And they were – especially for the women as we watched them as we waited for our own arrests the next morning.)

At the end of the training, Rose Berger rose to address all of us. She explained how she and several others had wanted to encourage religious faith leaders from many traditions to be part of this action and that Monday the 29^th had been designated for that day. But she told the group of us that she was very cognizant of the fact that many of us had (and have) been deeply wounded by both religious traditions and proponents. Religion has often divided us and has marginalized others. She asked us if instead we could see our presence tomorrow as a group of religious folk trying to act on the best within our traditions – a striving for compassion, justice, and inclusion, especially for the marginalized. And then she welcomed any of the group who wanted to be included in the “religious contingent” of the activities the next day. As someone who often shuns the moniker “religious” and often cringes at what is often labeled “Christian” in our culture and world, I was relieved to hear my friend’s confession and welcome.

Arriving back at my son’s apartment about 10 PM, I needed some time to decompress and then headed off to bed. I awoke, restless, as is often the case prior to an anticipated arrest, about 3 AM and since I was alone in the apartment, I put some music on my iPod and the shuffle feature must have figured out just what I needed – the song that came on was a South African freedom song that I first learned in 1983 when I was arrested for praying in the US Capitol Rotunda during a Sojourners-led Peace Pentecost witness. The words are “We shall not give up the fight, we have only started, we have only started (repeats). Never ever put to flight we are bound to win, we are bound to win (repeats) Together we’ll have victory, hand holding hand, hand holding hand (repeats).” Warm memories of singing in the DC jail with 400 others that night, followed by about 50 of us who chose to spend a week in the DC Jail rather than pay the $50 fine. We sang those South African movement songs all week to one another. It was a time of spiritual enlivening for which I remain grateful 30 years later.  

I arrived at the park early the following morning, ready to put my prayers for climate justice and environmental protection into action – what Abraham Heschel used to say was “putting legs on our prayers”. We gathered in a circle as we were led in some Jewish prayers and songs, a brief Buddhist meditation, some reflections from several Christian pastors, priests, and lay leaders, a young Muslim man who described the inspiration and encouragement he had received from the Quran to join us and then a Rabbi blew his Shofar, a ram’s horn “trumpet” as a fellow Rabbi interpreted the tradition.

Following the worship time, many others joined a circle in the park facilitated by our training team. We checked in with the legal team to confirm who was going to risk arrest that day. Bill McKibben addressed the group and reflected about the destruction happening in his home state of Vermont from the hurricane and how the intensity of the storm was likely related to climate change. Dr. Jim Hansen, the NASA scientist and climatologist, also spoke to the crowd gathered but I had a hard time hearing him over the muted bullhorn and with such a large crowd. One thing I did hear him say was how he had tears (of joy) in his eyes the evening Obama won the election because he believed the campaign statements about addressing climate and environmental issues.

After last minute instructions, we lined up in two lines to process to the White House fence and sidewalk area known as the “postcard spot” because many tourists want their photos taken there with the White House neatly framed in the background. This is the same area the US Park Police has designated as a “no protest zone” and if one remains there for any period of time and choses not to leave when approached by a police officer, one will be arrested. In a way it fosters a less controversial method for nonviolent civil disobedience because one is “guaranteed” to be arrested if one doesn’t leave and allows activists of all stripes to risk arrest if they so choose.

We were told in the training that we would be given 3 verbal warnings by the police before we were arrested and that is how it played out.

Since there were more than 140 of us, the arrest process took quite a long time, close to two hours. I took some ibuprofen for my aching back and muscles after the first warning. I knew I’d be sore after standing in one place on the sidewalk for an extended period of time. Each of the women were individually handcuffed, banded with an arrest number, and aggressively patted-down. It took a long time so some members of the to-be-arrested group stated singing. Then some of the support people on the other side of the police barricades about 30 yards away also started singing.

As more and more women were arrested and escorted away, it gradually morphed into a men’s choir or glee club. I joined in and when some of the songs lagged, I tried to teach folk a couple of the South African songs including “We Shall Not Give Up the Fight” and “It Doesn’t Matter If You Should Jail Us (we are free and kept alive by hope)” I’m not a song leader so I sang them as much for my own benefit as well as the edification of others, knowing that we stand in a long tradition of witness and protest to governments and political leaders. Indeed, as Rose Berger reminded us in our circle, this weekend was to be the dedication of the memorial built to honor Dr. Martin Luther King and Rose observed the irony of honoring someone who was frequently vilified by political leaders while alive only to be honored when he was safely in his grave. She said King’s spirit was better honored in a “living memorial” of people today committing civil disobedience, recognizing that climate change more drastically affects the poor, those for whom Martin gave his life.

As I awaited my own set of plastic flexi-cuffs (which don’t actually feel that “flexible” when one is cuffed with hands behind one’s back), I had the honor of having Dr. Hansen sitting at my feet. It was not the time or the place to have a conversation with him; I was just very grateful to have him join us. After the handcuffs and the pat-down, we were photographed with a police officer holding up our arrest number (mine was 119) and then placed into the police transport van, squeezed in 6 to a side on a narrow metal bench with very little between our knees and the aluminum dividing wall between us and the six on the other side.

Rabbi Fred from a congregation across the river in suburban Virginia was closest to the van’s front so I asked him to describe where we were headed as the van took off, headed for the police station in Anacostia in SE Washington. It was a great tour although we had to use our imaginations a lot since we further back could see very little. As we pulled up to the Park Police Headquarters building I was relieved that it had only taken about 15 minutes. Little did I know that we would wait locked in that little box for another hour and ten minutes before being let out. We used the time to get to know each other a little better.

Finally, we were let out, a couple at a time, and then asked to line up according to our arrest numbers. Once we go into the garage area of the building, our handcuffs were cut off and I felt great relief in my hands and shoulders. After another pat down, we were then processed and we confirmed that we were choosing to “pay the fine and forfeit”, paid the $100 and then waited on a ramp to be released. Dr. Hansen had been in the van ahead of us so we were released together and were greeted by a group of supporters and our training team. We were grateful for the cups of water and snacks we were offered. We checked in with the legal team and then walked the little more than 1-mile distance to the Metro station. I was exhausted when I got on the train and was glad to sit down and put my feet up after walking to my son’s apartment. I’m glad I did this and had a great group of dedicated folk to share in it.

(For updates, photos, and more details, visit www.tarsandsaction.org ) Photo credits: tarsandsaction.org, Josh Lopez and Milan Ilnyckyj.

Acting on Climate Change

Carrying the Living King Back to the White House by Steve Clemens. August 29, 2011

Rose Berger from Sojourners Magazine spoke to the hundreds of us gathered in Lafayette Park just before we processed to the fence surrounding the White House. She mentioned the irony of building a monument to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by the powerful political forces who disregarded or dismissed his message during his lifetime – we only honor him after he is safely dead. How ironic also that the dedication of the monument was postponed by the most recent example of significant climate change. Will evidence of climate change begin to also signal political change?

Rose called on us to take up the banner of the Living Spirit of Dr. King within ourselves and allow it to inspire us as we risked arrest by calling on President Obama to take a clear stand to help protect our environment and begin to make a U-turn from the climate change path we are traveling as a nation and culture. We are part of a two-week vigil and civil disobedience action calling the President to deny permission for building the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline from the environmentally devastating tar sands/oil shale development in Alberta, Canada to refineries in Texas.

Dr. James Hansen, the NASA scientist who has done yeoman’s work on the issue of climate change for years (and original proponent of the 350 parts per million threshold), joined us saying he “wanted to get arrested with the religious folk.” Certainly not all (or most?) of the 138 persons arrested for their nonviolent presence at the White House today identify themselves as “religious”. During our nonviolence training the evening before our arrests, Rose Berger admitted that many of us carry scars and deep wounds that have been inflicted on us by religious leaders over the decades and she asked the others joining the action at the White House to be patient with us as we try to model what is best in our religious traditions – compassion and care for the weak and marginalized.

The blasts from the shofar, the ram’s horn used by Jews in worship for centuries was loud and clear as we moved from a time of worship and reflection to a period of action. One of the rabbis leading us told we non-Jews that tonight marks a month-long period of reflection before the Jewish high holy days – and then those two rabbis walked across Pennsylvania Avenue with us to spend part of that reflection time in the custody of the police - nonviolently, of course.

Before we left the park, Bill McKibben, the primary organizer and instigator of this two-week presence in front of the White House told us he had just talked to his wife in Vermont, hearing her reports of the tremendous devastation from Hurricane Irene from his home state. He told us that while we are paying attention to the floods and droughts which affect those we know, these climate change related wake-up calls are happening every day around our planet. NOW is the time to act.

I don’t pretend to be an expert on climate science or environmental justice; I’ll leave that heavy lifting to McKibben, Hansen, and others. I do know we all need to pay attention and take seriously the changes in our lifestyles we will need to embrace. We can’t expect our President to take political risks unless we are willing to model changes in our own lives. [http://www.democracynow.org/2011/8/29/bill_mckibben_will_hurricane_irene_be]

But what is the connection to ML King other than the commitment to be nonviolent? As several speakers noted this weekend and today: climate change disproportionately affects the poor. No only do they have less “cushion” to ameliorate the extreme swings between hot and cold, drought and flood, they also find the recent budget cuts fall more heavily on them while at the same time the military budget continues to rise – something Dr. King spoke about frequently the year before he was martyred. I plan to visit the new memorial while here in DC while remembering to celebrate all the living memorials breaking out in nonviolent witness around our world.

[note photo credit www.tarsandsaction.org and Josh Lopez]

A Call for Christian Tree-Huggers

A Sapling at the Birth of Jesus? By Steve Clemens. Feb. 28, 2010

After spending a week of Bible Study on Jesus and Eco-justice (at the Bartimaeus Institute), I made a pilgrimage to one of America’s oldest cathedrals: the stand of giant Sequoia trees in Kings Canyon National Park, about 5 hours northeast of Los Angeles. The Park Rangers estimate the unfortunately named General Grant Tree as being between 1600 and 2000 years old with the nearby larger General Sherman Tree as likely more than 2200 years old. Growing from a sapling which sprouts from a seed the size and shape of an oat flake, these gargantuan trees are more than 40 feet in diameter at their base and often reach into the clouds at their growing altitude of 5000-7000 feet elevation. Weighing an estimated 1,300 + tons, they might serve as a substitute for the amazing mustard seed of Jesus’ parables- something that grows huge from a tiny start.

When 5 or 6 of these behemoth trees grow near each other like they do just a few hundred feet from the General Grant, they form a cathedral as every bit awe inspiring as those built in medieval Europe. Yet it took an act of Congress to make the area the second National Park in the U.S. after hearing the pleas from John Muir to halt the logging of these special trees. Many had already been chopped or sawed down before Congressional action allowed the preservation of the remaining ones to be enjoyed more than 100 years later. It is reported that it took two men 13 days to chop and saw one of these sequoias in order to topple it in the late 1800s.

It was only recently that environmentalists recognized that fire is one of the factors that help these trees grow: the heat from the flames help open the egg-sized and shaped pine cones allowing the seeds to germinate in the soil mixed with ashes. The incredibility thick bark on the Sequoia trunks help shield the trees from most of the fire’s effect although many of the ancient giants show some burn marks around the base of the trees. Some of the fallen trees have had the inside of the tree hollowed out from fire.

I wonder if these trees had not been protected before 1900 if we would bother doing it today. Our capitalism run amuck seems hell-bent on privatizing the Commons and seeking to monetize whatever we can exploit in the natural realm. Maybe naming these two trees after Civil War generals was a stroke of genius – at least our society’s warped values offer respect and deference to conquering warriors. If the trees were named after Walter Rausenbush or Eugene V. Debs, true American giants of the social justice variety, they probably would have fallen to the wood cutters’ axe in the same way as they’ve been chopped out of most U.S. history textbooks.

Our week of Bible Study echoed the phrase, “You can’t save a place you don’t love. You can’t love a place you don’t know. You can’t know a place about which you haven’t learned.” Unfortunately, the giant Sequoia trees of Kings Canyon don’t lie in my home bio-region. But they are a heritage for all of us to appreciate and enjoy. They are worth a pilgrimage if you find yourself in central California.

In the Bible Study we were reminded several times about how important trees are in the Scriptures: Abraham made his first altar under the oak at Shechem. He built another at the Oak of Mamre. We spent a lot of time exploring the role that the Cedars of Lebanon have played in both Biblical and secular history - they were coveted by many empires and rulers, especially King Solomon who used them to build his Temple. The Phoenicians used the cedar to build their ships when they dominated the Mediterranean world. The Assyrian invaders took their war chariots (our present day tanks) up to the hills of Lebanon to secure the theft of this war booty. What once was the crowning glory of Lebanon today is only a small stand of these world-renown trees after 5,000 years of assault. Isaiah the prophet claims that the trees exault with praise after the empires which clear-cut them were defeated. Finally, the last vision in Revelation is the image of the Tree of Life healing all the nations.

Generals Grant and Sherman “earned their stripes” militarily in the Manifest Destiny wars against Mexico and our own Native Americans. They were part of the imperial project which has characterized our nation since its founding. Although our politicians see us as the “last, best hope for the world” (American exceptionalism) the world of nature has experienced us as one of the more prolific destroyers. What an irony to name these sentinels of the forest after a man who burned his way through Georgia during the Civil War and another whose initials came to stand for “unconditional surrender”.

Despite the heavy snow at that elevation last night, coupled with my disappointment at being unable to see the General Sherman Tree yesterday because I didn’t have chains on the tires of my rental car, the Park Rangers were able to plow overnight which allowed me access to the other park entrance this morning. The trees were flocked with heavy snow but those branches just drooped gracefully, occasionally dropping clumps of their white, wet load on those of us worshiping at their bases.

Ched Myers, our Bible Study leader and theological animator,introduced me to his “Grandmother Oak” about 20 minutes from his home in the Ojai Valley on Friday evening. It took four of us linking hands to surround the trunk of this live oak that must be 500-600 years old. Now with these “Grandfather Sequoias”, I’ll need to appropriate the Native American practice of referring to the deity as Grandfather/mother next time I recite the Lord’s Prayer. Certainly the power and compassion of the God Jesus revealed to us is fully present in these gifts of nature. The Apostle Paul reminds us that “all creation is waiting for we humans to take off our masks of domination and co-optation” and join together to both defend, celebrate and stand with it.