Growing pains....sustainability

Growth
The process of personal growth and change is interesting. You are disturbed, sometimes repeatedly, by new thoughts, ideas and concepts. Gradually if you begin to think about these, you become aware that changes need to happen in your lifestyle, world view or belief system. If you are courageous and true to yourself, you make those changes. This process has happened to me again and again in the journey of life. Long may it continue. May I never grow old and stop being changed. I must admit that laziness sometimes means that there is a delay in jumping out of well worn ruts, and sometimes I very easily slip back into them. It is easier to do what everyone else does. Sometimes busyness or distractions mean that I don't give attention to the nudges that "life" or "the Spirit" or whoever gives me. Sometimes I make the choice to ignore the disturbing nudges because I know that the implications may be too hard if I stopped and paid attention.

Sustainability
This topic has been nudging me lately. In the 1970s I read a book by John V Taylor called "Enough is enough". It all made sense. The world we live in cannot sustain the western lifestyle that we've developed. The poor in the world pay for it. The lifestyle is not healthy for us. The earth and its life forms are suffering because of it. We should be leading a happy revolution to make changes. I loved the book and read others and this thinking caused us as a family to explore simpler lifestyles. Busyness tended to squeeze this emphasis out of my life, but in recent times the movement of "God" has challenged my slipping back into old ruts. Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" reminded me that, even if his maths may be wrong, we humans are burying our heads in the sand if we don't make changes to our western lifestyle. More recently I have had contact with Dr Maureen Howard, who runs sustainability classes for the local city council. Her delightful formal and informal challenges have "nudged" me again about this whole area. Even my summer reading raised the issue and challenged the churches to be doing something about it. In an email from Maureen she very briefly gave her ethical base for her stance. It got me thinking about mine. Here is what I came up with.

The picture above is of trampers crossing a river together. You grasp a log or stick that joins you together, so that if one stumbles, the others support them. Joined together you can make the journey safely. I have experienced this on some of my tramps. I believe the picture is a good illustration of the journey of life. Whether we like it or not we are joined together. We are also joined to this universe, the earth and its life forms...( so in the picture the earth can be one character in the group of trampers.) Our journey impacts for good or bad on others. But we are to travel on the journey of life aware of, in sympathy with and supporting each others' journey. (including the earth) There is also in the picture and in the experience the elation of the journey. "We made it together!" So with us, the responsible lifestyle, living aware of the needs of others and the earth, is not a doom and gloom, duty bound way, but a journey full of "togetherness experiences" and joyful expressions of connection. You keep discovering new ways of living out this essential solidarity and there is something deep, "spiritual" and fulfilling in these experiences. They feel like you have touched the very essence of life. Superficial living is a lifestyle that ignores or refuses to recognise the "log" joining us together. Real living is recognising the "log" and finding ways to strengthen and give expression to the essential solidarity it represents. Here is my "ethical" or "spiritual" base for sustainability or life's journey itself. I am essentially joined to others and the earth. My task in life is to find ways to live that out.

I am trying now to work out what that means for giving expression to sustainability in my lifestyle and in the life of my down town church.

Disappointments and questions.
I was one of those who initiated the local Habitat for Humanity affiliate in Dunedin. I loved the concept of "no profit, no interest" and the use of volunteer labour. Since 1995 I have spent countless Saturdays working on thirteen Habitat houses and enjoyed heaps of significant experiences. It was one way of giving profound and practical expression to the essential solidarity I have with people mentioned above. Over the years the bean counters in the higher levels of the organisation have changed the pricing policies for the families we partner with. It is no longer "no profit and no interest". From my perspective they have under cut the very the "spirit" of the organisation. Because of this and my frustrations in trying to change things, I stepped down from being a director, and have just volunteered on site. My wife remained a director and when she returned from a meeting last night I got her to tell me the price being charged for the latest house. It has disturbed me all over again. I am struggling with the question, "Do I want to be identified with this organisation any more?" I feel it has taken the value out of my volunteer hours and the "Jesus-like" heart out of the work. I think I have built my last Habitat house and that is sad. I will have to find other ways to give expression to that essential solidarity.

Sometimes it would be easier to just drift.