Welcome to Together in Spirit from Hamline Church! This Sunday, April 19 we will be celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day! Join us for worship Sunday at 10am.

A little bit about Hamline Church Earthkeepers: As part of Hamline Church’s social justice ministry and mission to be sanctuary for the city, the Hamline Church Earthkeepers seek to live out our sacred responsibility to God’s creation by providing meaningful opportunities for our church and community to engage with, learn from, and care for God’s creation. As Christians and as Methodists, we firmly believe that we are called to deeply love and mindfully steward all of God’s creation.

Today the Earthkeepers are sharing these poems/reflections:

“May the deep blessings of earth be with us.
May the fathomless soundings of seas surge in our soul.
May boundless stretches of the universe echo in our depths
to open us to wonder
to strengthen us for love
to humble us with gratitude
that we may find ourselves in one another
that we may lose ourselves in gladness
that we give ourselves to peace.”
-John Philip Newell, from Praying With the Earth (Eerdmans: Michigan) 44.

LOCKDOWN
Yes there is fear. Yes there is isolation.
Yes there is panic buying. Yes there is sickness.
Yes there is even death.

But, they say that in Wuhan after so many years of noise
You can hear the birds again.
They say that after just a few weeks of quiet
The sky is no longer thick with fumes
But blue and grey and clear.

They say that in the streets of Assisi
People are singing to each other
across the empty squares,
keeping their windows open
so that those who are alone
may hear the sounds of family around them.

They say that a hotel in the West of Ireland
Is offering free meals and delivery to the housebound.
Today a young woman I know is busy spreading fliers with her number
through the neighborhood so that the elders may have someone to call on.
Today Churches, Synagogues, Mosques and Temples
are preparing to welcome
and shelter the homeless, the sick, the weary.

All over the world people are slowing down and reflecting.
All over the world people are looking at their neighbors in a new way.
All over the world people are waking up to a new reality.

To how big we really are.
To how little control we really have.
To what really matters. To Love.

So we pray and we remember that
Yes there is fear. But there does not have to be hate.
Yes there is isolation. But there does not have to be loneliness.
Yes there is panic buying. But there does not have to be meanness.
Yes there is sickness. But there does not have to be disease of the soul
Yes there is even death. But there can always be a rebirth of love.
Wake to the choices you make as to how to live now.

Today, breathe.
Listen, behind the factory noises of your panic.
The birds are singing again. The sky is clearing,
Spring is coming, And we are always encompassed by Love.

Open the windows of your soul
And though you may not be able
to touch across the empty square,
Sing.
–Fr. Richard Hendrick, OFM (a friar in Ireland), March 13, 2020

Join the Virtual Earth Day March!
MNIPL is having a livestream event from 1-3pm on Wednesday, April 22 (Earth Day).  One way you can help make this Earth Day livestream powerful is to take a photo of yourself with a sign answering this question: Why do you stand for climate justice? Create your sign “For love of ____, I stand for climate justice” and include it in your photo.  You can be creative or use the  this template for your sign.  Then, email your photo to charissa@mnipl.org. If you’re on social media we encourage you to share on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter with the hashtag #MNEarthDay the week of April 20.  MNIPL will be sharing this visual mosaic on the Earth Day livestream and with candidates and decision-makers throughout the year. Here is an example from Susan Mullin: