2021 Lenten Calendar, Week One

My theme for Lent this year is the Land I Live On. Most of my activism focus is on climate change, and I want to fuel that work with a strong and intimate connection to this land.

I want to better understand my relationship to the natural world and the cycles of the seasons, the history, culture, and ecosystem of my valley, the indigenous peoples and how I connect to them, and the responsibility I feel for the land.

Also, because I am caring for my grandson this year, I have a unique opportunity to see the natural world through a baby's eyes, with Wonder and Discovery. I want to re-connect to the awe for Creation that I felt as a child.

At Lent I allow myself to be slow, simple, and thoughtful. I spend time each day in focused study and prayer. And I choose something to temporarily reduce or cut out of my life, as a reminder that what I truly need is the nurturing of Spirit (I try to choose something to fast from that is a good symbol of how I am trying to grow). And I also observe Lent as a time of creative action, acting on what I learn. My goals this year are to:

• Explore some Wonder practices: 

  Wonder begins in the senses, the imagination, and the natural curiosity about the grand adventure of life. I want to be an explorer of both my inner and physical world, and add in some useful daily habits to awaken my awe: Slow down, be curious, and explore new things.
• Educate myself: I'm reading the book Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants, by Robin Wall Kimmerer. I'm also reading books on the Willamette Valley.
• Meditate and Journal: Ground myself in optimistic hope for the future of our planet, and become more open to the best actions to take. 
• Fast: This year I decided to start 16/8 intermittent fasting: I'm going to eat only between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. every day. My purpose is to strengthen my discipline, and focus attention on my relationship with the foods of the land.  
• Take creative action: It's going to be a challenge this year, but I plan to join zoom events, speak up at city council meetings, write and make artwork, and take some other small actions each week to make the world better.

February 17, Ash Wednesday- 

1. Begin fasting: Today I start "16/8 intermittent fasting": I'm going to eat only between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. My purpose is to strengthen my discipline, and focus attention on my relationship with the foods of the land.

 

2. Study Braiding Sweetgrass, section 1: I'm well into this first section, and today I read "An Offering", about the meaning of ceremony that is “fed from the same bond with the land, founded on respect and gratitude.” How can I express my gratitude and responsibility for the gifts of the land? What can I offer earth in return?

3. Wonder Practices: Go on a wonder walk with Aldo, just walking around our yard with baby steps, stopping to taste the leaves, smell herbs, and feel the dirt.

"If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement, and mystery of the world we live in." Rachel Carson

February 18 -

4. Wonder Practices - Personal ceremony: I want to devise a personal morning ceremony to show my gratitude for the gifts of the land. Robin Kimmerer says that ceremony marries the mundane to the sacred. I want a "homemade ceremony, a ceremony that makes a home." Because I go outside every morning just after dawn to let my ducks out of their coop, that is when I will stop for a moment and say this short prayer: 

Thanks for this sky, this land, my home. Amen. 

5. Send a postcard to my city councilor: 350Eugene is having a Gaslight Postcard Blitz to encourage our city councilors to "ban new gas infrastructure, incentivize transition to electric, and fund a just transition to renewables for our underrepresented neighbors." The city is negotiating the franchise agreement with Northwest Natural Gas right now and they can use this opportunity to reduce community emissions immediately.

I've collected postcards and today I will send the first to my local city council member and to the mayor.

February 19 -  First Quarter Moon

6. Study Braiding Sweetgrass, section 1: "Asters and Goldenrod" is about the relationship between these two flowers. “It was an architecture of relationships, of connections that I yearned to understand.” Kimmerer discovered a “lived reciprocity” between asters and goldenrod—“the pairing of purple and gold”. What is the interdependency between humans and plants? And, what happens if I don’t live up to my end of the relationship?

7. Wonder Practices - Explore the Spark: Today I'm going to explore the spark that ignites my excitement for life each day and each moment. What can I do to add even more excitement, passion, and enjoyment to my life, and make life fresh and fascinating? 

My spark comes from awareness in the moment. When I slow down enough to see the beauty around me - a texture of paint or moss, or a color combination that takes my breath away - I am enlivened.

Today I will take time to photograph my garden.

February 20 -

8. Study Braiding Sweetgrass, section 1: "Learning the Grammar of Animacy" introduces the concept of communing with nature by getting to know more about plants and recognizing that they are not inanimate objects. What can I do to start learning about the plants in my immediate environment? If I addressed the plants as something other than ‘it’, would that change my attitude? How?