When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him? – Psalms 8:3-4
The most exciting event of my 6-year career with the Wyoming Association of Churches is to take place October 19-21 in Cheyenne, Wyoming. I urge you to attend the celebration. Join us for the marriage of Christian faiths to all faiths who seek to work together for justice. Be there to witness WAC (Wyoming Association of Churches) becoming WIN (Wyoming Interfaith Network). Witness as we become more than an ecumenical organization of like-minded churches advocating for justice and become an interfaith partnership of all whose faith calls them to do justice.
The theme of this wedding is appropriately Finding Common Ground. For more information and to register, go to https://www.wyointerfaith.org/event/finding-common-ground/?event_date=2017-10-19.
If you have a donation for the Silent Auction to take place there, contact Judy at judyeicher@gmail.com. This is our 2017 fundraising event.
Sally Palmer as leader of our Sacred Ground Team has put together the program and shares this message about our keynote speakers, Sergio Maldonado and Peter Sawtell, for the program October 20-21 on Finding Common Ground:
Centuries ago, St. Francis was asked this question: “If you knew you were going to die tomorrow, what would you do today?” He humbly answered “I would finish hoeing my garden.”
It is in this spirit that the On Sacred Ground Team offers a program born of the values we honor together. In focusing on what makes the ground sacred, we recognize that great beauty opens our sensitivity. Personal experience helps us feel a deeper connection to all. And, sacred ground invites a window for a larger vision of God.
It is in the spirit of reverence for creation, both in our corners of Wyoming and the immensity of the world; we offer two profound voices:
Sergio Maldonado, Sr., Wind River Native Advocacy Center, former Northern Arapaho tribal liaison to Governor Mead, civic leader, and educator on American Indians of the Wind River, will address Finding Common Ground—Right Where We Live. Sergio offers a voice of reconciliation and understanding of Native American values as lived out both on and off the reservation. Besides research on Wyoming’s tribal children, Sergio has completed major research on American Indians in the urban environment. His talk, based on previous work in American Indian spirituality, will focus on the web of life as experienced in Native American cultures.
Peter Sawtell, Eco-Justice Ministries, will address principles that integrate science and faith. He will focus on Recognized Truths and the Power of Hope. As a leader on justice issues and a biologist, Peter will explore urgent issues raised by the Climate March of 2017; namely, the deterioration of ecological systems, the acidification of the oceans, the proliferation of toxic chemicals and the abuse of fossil fuels. The conclusion: our power to destroy outstrips the earth’s power to restore. Second is the moral crisis which grows out of both compartmentalizing and the denial of climate change. As stated in Dante’s Inferno, “The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral crises maintain their neutrality.” Third is the recommitment to active faith. It is no longer acceptable to claim to be holy while trivializing the abuse of God’s creation. But these alarming truths are viewed in the perpetual understandings of religion: In other words, the power of hope is to reclaim our purpose in right relationship to the world which God has made.
Both speakers bring their life-time of experiences to motivating others to care for the beauty and sustainability of Creation.
If you knew you would die tomorrow, what would you do today? They would continue to act and to educate. Like St. Francis of Assisi, they would “finish hoeing their gardens.”
Join us for the wedding when WAC become WIN!
Fear not. Be bold. Do justice.
Blessings,
Chesie Lee