It was an article about Jervis Bay that captured my attention a week ago. The story was about twin aboriginal girls from the Wreck Bay aboriginal community. When you think about Jarvis Bay what comes to mind? Pristine calm blue water, sandy beaches, mangrove trees, woodlands, sea grass and marine life? I imagined seeing the girls as young children splashing along the shoreline, hearing their laughter as they picked up shells, listened to stories around the campfire or explored the bush that surrounded their home.
Yet these girls, now grown women, were both fighting a rare form of cancer almost certainly from PFAS chemicals that had leached into the water and soil from nearby Defence Force bases. The beach, the fish and other parts that were previously used for cultural practices are off limits, and silent.
As I read about the girls I couldn’t quite put words to my feelings of loss; for the girls, the land, the culture compromised.
Brian McLaren in his new book Life after Doom: Wisdom and Courage for a World Falling Apart, gets close to describing my anxiety with the following words. “ You woke up again this morning with that familiar un-peaceful, uneasy, unwanted feeling. You wonder what to do about it. You suspect that if you pay attention to it, it will unleash some inner turmoil…Sometimes it’s as vague and quiet as a plague, ready to suck the life out of our whole beautiful blue, fragile planet…. It’s anxiety that we feel, yes, and a tender, sweet piercing sadness not just for ourselves, but also for everyone and everything, everywhere, all at once….
…The open secret of doom finds us everywhere. Trees tremble as they tell us about it, weeping. Water whispers it to us. Birds and insects testify about it through the heartbreaking silence that speaks of their absence. Forgotten forests, bulldozed into shiny new housing developments, haunt us like ghosts.”
McLaren’s words are reminiscent of those from our D&C where the earth ‘shudders in distress’ .
Doctrine and Covenants Section 163: 4b ‘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. ‘
So what is our response? McLaren says “Everything matters and some things matter more than others.” He gives a batch of ways to focus on what matters more. First on his list is to voice our concerns and our commitment then to acknowledge, contribute and model a new way of life.
McLaren goes on to say, “ Your individual actions matter and the institutions and social movements in which you play a part matter even more.” I think about the various teams in Community of Christ worldwide who are working towards environmental justice.
Tim Prescott shares with us an extract of proposed legislation on climate justice (attached) to be presented by the Earth Stewardship Team at the Community of Christ 2025 World Conference.
Finally, McLaren says that we are in a dance… a dance with doom but offers the following hopeful words. “Yes, it can change you for the worse…. But the dance can also change you for the better, leaving you more humble and honest, more thoughtful and creative, more compassionate and courageous … wiser, kinder, deeper, stronger … more connected, more resilient, more free, more human, more alive.” [1]
For contemplation:
“We might think of a viable future for the planet less as the result of some scientific insight or as dependent on some socioeconomic arrangement than as participation in a symphony or as renewed presence manifested in the wonderworld about us.” Thomas Berry [2]
“To preserve the natural world as the primary revelation of the divine must be the basic concern of religion.” Thomas Berry [2]
Anne Bonnefin
Communications Co ordinator
Community of Christ Australia
[1] Brian D. McLaren, introduction to Life after Doom: Wisdom and Courage for a World Falling Apart (New York: St. Martin’s Essentials, 2024), 1, 2, 3, 4, 8.
[2} Thomas Berry, Meditations with Thomas Berry with additional material by Brian Swimme (GreenSpirit Book Series)