One of my key strategies as a church planter is to show up. And time and time again this strategy has yielded holy and profound opportunities beyond my expectations.
This week’s example begins with a rallying cry from our area supervising pastor, District Superintendent Rev. Erin Martin. At our fall pastors’ meeting she shared that one of her goals for this year was for us to show up for climate justice. A couple of folks talked about the ways they were working for climate justice and encouraged us all to be part of the movement. It was inspiring and I’m glad I showed up to the meeting to learn about the vision and work of my peers and leadership.
The very next month at the neighborhood association meeting I met Rep. Karin Power, who is an environmental lawyer by day and lawmaking badass, also by day. She spoke at the meeting about what she would be working on in the upcoming legislative session, which included a cap and invest bill that would reduce carbon emissions and invest in cleaner solutions in sectors such as transportation, energy production, and industrial facilities. I handed her my card at the end of the meeting and told her that we as Portland area United Methodist clergy had a vision to work for climate justice. I asked her to let me know if she had any ideas for faith based folks to help in the legislative process. I’m glad I was at the meeting to learn more about her work and to make a connection with her.
In December Rep. Power and I met for coffee to talk over some specifics of how the faith communities could respond through things such as letters, lobby days, and education offerings to our parishioners. She talked about Measure 101 and how our state needed to fix health care for children and folks on the margins before we could begin to tackle issues like cap and invest. I’m glad I got up early and went to meet her to learn more about the ways social justice issues are interconnected and our lawmakers triage these issues.
Today Rep. Power called me and asked me to come speak tomorrow to a group of folks working on the legislation for cap and invest. I’ll be talking about why climate justice matters to people of faith. From showing up to be inspired, showing up to connect, showing up to learn, and now showing up to speak, God has lead me down a path to be able to be a voice on this issue at an important time.
My schedule gets busy, and it’s easy to let the doing of all the stuff of church life get in the way of showing up in the community. Yet every single time I do God reveals a new way I can serve as a witness, as a vessel of love, or as the hands and feet of Jesus. So I’m going to do my best to keep showing up, to keep stepping outside of my comfort zone and making myself available to what God is doing here and now in this place.
-Eilidh
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