Happy Holidays, oops, I mean Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a satisfying Christmas & that you've all settled into planning what to do for the new year. It's going to be an election year & a hotly contested one. After much inner-debate (the most reasonable kind), I've developed enough audacity & hope to support Barack Obama-- I hope that he will stay close to his promises & get the United States out of Iraq & Afhganistan as quickly & as safely as possible. It was a shock when the Democratic controlled Congress allowed President Bush an almost limitless allowance to play with all of his war toys at the expense of so many loyal American soldiers & innocent Iraqis. I took part in a reading of the names of Iraqi & American "casualties" of this horrible war a few weeks ago in Brunswick at the UUA church. I wish that more churches & more clergy were speaking out more against the carnage. Our little group of protesters continues to garner support on the Bridge Between Porter & Parsonsfield in Kezar Falls. Anyone who would like to join us, call me at 625-4411 or e-mail me at dahrev@psouth.net or just show up any Saturday @ 10:00.

On December 23rd, we had a little "Lessons & Carols" service at our church in Brownfield & then took part in the larger one in Fryeburg. They were both great & spiritually meaningful. I'd like to express my deep appreciation to the Girl Scouts & Brownies who helped to decorate the church's Christmas tree. Thanks!

yet another doug

This is Doug of Hendrick extolling the virtues of an earth jurisprudence-- he brought with him that night a copy of the foreword to "Wild Law" by Cormac Cullinan written by Thomas Berry (bless his still living soul!) who critiques the constitution by saying that this venerated document provides a detailed list of the rights of individual persons, thus, "Humans had finally become self-validating, both as individuals & as a political community." What is left out, according to Berry, is the rest of the natural world, "...the difficulty is no exactly with the rights granted to humans, the difficulty is that no rights and no protections were granted to any non-human mode of being." This reminded me of something that has been in my mind ever since i first heard it at Bangor Seminary long ago: We need a new myth. Berry, the "geologian" provides one: "It's time to replace our arrogance toward the Earth with a becoming humility, to replace our fear of Earth with a grateful response to a benign & gracious mother; yet a severe & demanding mother, a mother who will at times starve us with famine, assault us with storms, drown us at sea, yet will provide us with a world of endless excitement & infinite meaning..." it reminds me of Yeat's wild beast slouching towards Bethlehem to be born...

Thanks to gift-givers

Thanks to all the members of the Brownfield Community Church & people all over the area who donated gifts for kids around here in need. This is the time for generosity (not that generosity shouldn't be all the time!) & I'm sure that the kids who receive this gifts will appreciate them.

welcome to the old coots club!

doug, now that you're 62 & eligible for the benefits of social security (we won't discuss how secure that is!), i'd like to welcome you to the "old coots club," of whom ken kesey of merry pranksters & "one flew over the cuckoos nest" fame said, "stand out at the edges of culture pointing the way" or words to that effect. even tho it is 16 degrees out with a wind howling on your birthday, we'll stand out there on the bridge from the old age to the new age & "howl" when the wind dies down! happy birthday, doug!