I suppose in some ways it’s a very good thing that most Americans “don’t know nothin’ ’bout history,” because if we did we might be totally paralyzed by the weight of our own story. I mean the real story, not the airbrushed version in which expanding democracy and material prosperity go hand in hand under the Almighty’s watchful and solicitous providence.
Almost 50 people — many of them new to PCU — came to join us on our first Reflection Hike, part of our Eighth Day environmental justice project. The diversity of the group was the best part! People came from Orange County and Long Beach; from West Hills and Claremont; from Echo Park and Covina; from Lake Avenue Church and All Saints Pasadena; from Fuller Seminary and the Episcopal Urban Intern Program. Our youngest hiker was only fifteen months old, and our eldest was over seventy.
In many ways, the hike was about gratitude and community as much as about being in the great and glorious world. I have seldom felt so blessed in sharing a place of great spiritual meaning to me with such a wonderful group of people. At every stream crossing — and there were at least five — people held out hands, stood on rocks, guided others across the water until all were safely over. After traveling through the cold, shaded canyon, we came out into the cup of light at the head of the falls, ate together, prayed together, laughed together, and planned for the future.
At the very top we took turns scrambling over the slippery rocks to look down into that bright, vertiginous fall (everyone will remember my extreme anxiety that no one should fall off the cliff, since this would bode badly for future hikes), and then gathered for the prayer. Juan showed us how to offer tobacco in the tradition of the indigenous peoples, and each of us took part. We each took a moment, in our own language, to offer a prayer of thanks to God — for our community; for the mountains; for the fresh air and clear water; for our ancestors and predecessors who had lived in and preserved this place for us. Reverend David Farley from Echo Park guided us along the path with a tin whistle, and PCU Board Member Reverend David Larson led a spontaneous prayer. Juana Torres of the Sierra Club led us in a Spanish and English prayer and response.
Visit our full slideshow to see more great pictures — and if you came on our hike, feel free to us more pictures to add to the collection.
We’re already planning future hikes in Orange County and in the Santa Monica Mountains — contact Jennifer at if you want to help organize them!
Many of you are familiar with CAIR—the Council on American Islamic Relations—and know it to be an entirely reputable civil rights organization. We work closely with CAIR in Southern California, where it forms a bulwark of the interfaith world committed to peace and justice.
CAIR urgently needs our help as it seeks to undo a mistake made in haste by Senator Barbara Boxer. Not long ago, Sen. Boxer’s office gave an award of recognition to CAIR’s very able representative in Sacramento, Basim Elkarra. This award triggered an immediate outburst of sniper fire from extreme Islamophobes Joe Kaufman and Steve Emerson so that—in a panic response—Sen. Boxer hastily rescinded the award. Senator Boxer needs to say forthrightly that she can find no evidence to the effect that CAIR endorses terrorism or offers support and comfort to groups engaged in terrorism. Ranking FBI officials have said on many occasions that CAIR is an important partner in working against terrorism and the hatreds that fuel terrorism; Sen. Boxer should find it possible to say something similar with no difficulty.
As you may already know, the Governor of California proposes to cut children entirely from cash assistance if their parents don’t work enough hours while on welfare and if their parents have successfully finished the 5-year welfare period but cannot earn enough on their own. The law today permits children to remain covered even if their parents are not.
In an effort to let your voice be heard in Sacramento, we are providing a statement to the Governor that you may sign insisting that no moral good can ever come from cutting many children on welfare from all funding.
PLEASE take a moment to sign onto this statement, a joint effort by PCU and California Church IMPACT. Please provide us with your name, address, and faith connection (optional). Just send that information to: . PCU is collecting and organizing your information to add to the list that will accompany this declaration that is being sent to the Governor. Please sign on by January 19. Read the rest of this entry »
From pastordan, DailyKos. Rev. Daniel Schultz is a UCC pastor in rural Wisconsin.
I invite you to pray with me tonight in opposition to the escalation of the war in Iraq, not for prayer’s utility but for the pure, blessed contrariness of announcing that we will not go along with a moral abomination. Read the rest of this entry »
