Pairs in Paris
By Ron Faust of Kansas City, MO, USA
The earth, lovingly created as an environment for life to flourish, shudders in distress because creation’s natural and living systems are becoming exhausted from carrying the burden of human greed and conflict. Humankind must awaken from its illusion of independence and unrestrained consumption without lasting consequences. —Doctrine and Covenants 163:4b
In Your Shoes
Pairs of shoes line up endlessly
at the Climate Conference in Paris*
Phantom protestors of the missing
in a theatre of the absurd
where no one is seen or heard
but where anyone and everyone
might step vicariously into those shoes
and proclaim, “I want to breathe.”
Choked by polluters
shoved aside by Security
just doing their job because the job
is more important than protecting
Earth from people doing their job.
In those shoes they stopped Keystone.**
They are historically present through Paris.
They discern the nuclear clean energy lies.
They believe fossil fuels should stay put.
Though excluded, they are not silent.
Phantom protestors are marching to include
anyone who dares to step into those shoes
and proclaim, “I want my healthy Earth legacy to Live.”
*United Nations Climate Change Conference, November 30–December 11, 2015
**Controversial oil pipeline which some feel would threaten the environment of U.S. and Canada
Prayer for Peace
Creator God, help us to “step up” and speak out, for to be silent is to be complicit.
Spiritual Practice
Choose a way to notice, give thanks, and care for God’s sacred creation. Prayerfully consider one of the following practices or create your own. Walk in nature with a spirit of gratitude. Look and listen for God in all Creation. Learn about and engage in an act of Earth-keeping such as recycling, simple living, or fasting from over-consumption of resources. Notice the diversity of the planet’s creatures and be gentle to plants, animals, trees, and people! Fall in love with the vast, intricate wonder of God’s creation and give thanks.
Peace Covenant
Today, God, I will remember what Chief Seattle said: “Man does not weave this web of life. He is merely a strand of it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself” (and his children).
