Chapel of the Cross, Chapel Hill, NC

On April 22, 2005, our country will celebrate the 35th anniversary of the very first Earth Day. That first event back in 1970, was organized not as a celebration of the beauty and bounty of the Earth, but rather as a "call to arms" to protest the environmental degradation that was occurring across the country.

Are you old enough to remember what it was like to be outside in many parts of the country back then? Businessmen in Pittsburgh who planned lunch meetings outside their offices, had to take a second shirt to wear in the afternoon. In just the time it took to walk to and from lunch, the polluted air of the city stained their white shirts and made them unacceptable for afternoon business. The Cayahoga River ignited spontaneously and burned for seven days because of the toxic chemicals that had been discharged directly into the water. Lake Erie was declared dead from insufficient oxygen to support aquatic life, a result of pollution and contamination.

Earth Day worked! In the words of Senator Gaylord Nelson, the founder of that first Earth Day: My primary objective in planning Earth Day was to show the political leadership of the Nation that there was broad and deep support for the environmental movement. While I was confident that a nationwide peaceful demonstration of concern would be impressive, I was not quite prepared for the overwhelming response that occurred on that day. Two thousand colleges and universities, ten thousand high schools and grade schools, and several thousand communities in all, more than twenty million Americans participated in one of the most exciting and significant grassroots efforts in the history of this country. (http://www.epa.gov/history/topics/earthday/02.htm)

Subsequently, Congress passed major environmental laws, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was created, followed soon by partner state environmental agencies; together these agencies enforced the new laws.

As a result, our environment is far cleaner in 2005, with respect to visible pollution. Unfortunately, our clean-up has proven to be superficial in many ways. Today we are faced with far more sinister, less visible threats such as stratospheric ozone depletion, climate change from the buildup of 'green house' gases, loss of biodiversity, and the ubiquity of toxics, for example, mercury in human breast milk. It is time to focus on our earth in a renewed way. It is particularly an important time for us as Christians and as Episcopalians, to focus on earth as God's creation.

So in honor of this 35th anniversary of Earth Day, and being mindful that the earth is God's creation, the Environmental Stewardship Committee and the Spiritual Life Committee invite you to participate in a "quiet day" on April 16, a time to experience God in Creation; an opportunity to remember that "the Earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof" (Psalm, 24:1); to focus on the first part of John 3:16, "for God so loved the world". As the Gospel of John affirms, God loved all the world, not just the humans in the world. We invite you to remember that God made all plants and all creatures, not just human creatures. In the words of John: "all things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made" (John 1:3).

We will be spending this quiet day just 18 miles away at Camp Chestnut Ridge in Efland, NC. Here we will have access to more than 300 acres of forests with many trails for contemplative walks, a 10 acre lake, a labyrinth and an outdoor chapel. The important word here is "outdoor". The poet, essayist, social and environmental critic, and farmer, Wendell Berry, tells us that we are "holy creatures living among other holy creatures in a world that is holy". He further reminds us that "the great visionary encounters described in the Bible did not occur in temples, but in sheep pastures, in the desert, in the wilderness, on mountains, by rivers and on beaches, and in the middle of the sea". And so we seek to be out in nature, experiencing God in his creation.

Our quiet day is planned for Saturday, April 16 from 9:30 - 2:30 (possible rain date of Saturday, April 30). We will be led by David Frazelle; we will end our day with a celebration of Holy Eucharist in the outdoor chapel with Victoria Jamieson-Drake.

In preparation for this quiet day, we invite you to read a paper by Wendell Berry, entitled "Christianity and the Survival of Creation" (http://www.crosscurrents.org/berry.htm).

If you have questions about this quiet day, please call Noel Dunivant or Linda Rimer.

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