Dear Westwood Family,

We’re celebrating the Season of Creation in the Sanctuary this month, a relatively new liturgical season shaped by ecumenical leaders across Christian traditions who share a commitment and sense of urgency about caring for our ecological interconnections and planetary well-being. This year, the theme of “Living Water” invites us to give attention not only to environmental crises we face, but to resilience, healing and the power of ecological hope.

When I think about the magnitude of the ecological challenges we face–including climate change and all of its consequences on human communities and ecosystems, it’s hard to hold hope. But then, when I think about the human communities and ecosystems that have nurtured and shaped me into the person I am, I cannot not hold hope.

I come from stubborn people. Tonight, as a part of the Social Justice Movie Club, we’re showing a documentary that tells some of the story of my Nebraska family, including my stubborn farmer Grandpa, Don Vetter, who chose to farm organically way before it was cool. (I thought it would be a fun event to add to my 50th birthday celebrations this week, and am grateful to share this film now.) Grandpa has been gone for a decade now, so rewatching “Dreaming of a Vetter World” makes me a little teary-eyed. But hearing him narrate his 1953 decision to stop farming with chemicals is also galvanizing. As he tells it, the moment happened when he was on his tractor cultivating corn, where there was plenty of time to contemplate all the consequences of chemicals on the health of the soil. It was simple for him: “I made up my mind that I wasn’t going to do this anymore.”

For him, that one decision would become a major turning point–one which would have a downstream impact on a whole lot of other people and places, too. Today, I’m struck with the simplicity of that small, significant decision.

In a time when things seem overwhelming, when so many things feel wrong with the world, when it’s easy to be anxious with how many things I wish could be different, I’m finding those simple words to be useful inspiration. What if, rather than waiting until I see the whole strategy for how to fix systems, I just made up my mind on one more thing? What if I take just one next step: deciding not to do one harmful thing to myself, or a neighbor, or our planet? What if I choose to resist something evil, or stand up for something good, or honor the sacredness of something that’s been degraded, or treasure someone who’s been dehumanized?

I know that making proactive choices can be such an empowering thing. Who knows what they might lead to.

grace and peace,
Pastor Molly

You’re welcome to join us for a free screening of “Dreaming of a Vetter World” tonight in the Loft. We’ll serve popcorn starting at 6:30, and the film will start at 7, with a Q&A to follow. Filmmaker Bonnie Hawthorne will be there, too.