Eugene Friends Meeting

Eugene Friends Meeting

of the Religious Society of Friends ("Quakers")

Posts filed under unity with nature

MUTUAL CARE

We are showered every day with the gifts of the Earth, gifts we have neither earned nor paid for: air to breathe, nurturing rain, black soil, berries and honeybees, the tree that became this page, a bag of rice and the exuberance of a field of goldenrod and asters at full bloom. Though the Earth provides… (read more)

RETURN TO THE LIGHT

For the last few weeks I’ve been writing about the nurturing power of the darkness, and now it is time to return to the light – but very slowly. We’ve just experienced the winter solstice, when the northern hemisphere of the earth reaches its furthest tilt away from the sun; now it is beginning to… (read more)

UNITY WITH ROOTS

Roots are the foundation of a tree, supporting the tree and holding it in place while also taking up water and nutrients from the soil. Many people imagine tree roots as a mirror image of the branches, but tree roots actually grow mostly horizontally from the base of the tree, rather than downward. Buttress roots right… (read more)

UNITY WITH SEEDS

Only when we see that we are part of the totality of the planet, not a superior part with special privileges, can we work effectively to bring about an earth restored to wholeness. Darkness is no less desirable than light. It is rather, a rich source of creativity … First there is the darkness of… (read more)

THE HAUDENOSAUNEE THANKSGIVING ADDRESS

This First Day at 12:30 p.m. after Meeting for Worship, we will recite the Haudenosaunee (pronounced who-DIN-oh-show-nee) Thanksgiving Address Greetings to the World. Please join us, in person or on zoom! The Haudenosaunee people (also known as the Iroquois) have said that the words of the Thanksgiving Address are their gift to the world and are meant… (read more)

WHY WE MUST LISTEN TO INDIGENOUS VOICES

According to the United Nations, land areas managed by Indigenous Peoples are among the most biodiverse and well-conserved on the planet. The cultural stories of Indigenous People have embraced sustainability long before the term entered public discourse. Modern environmentalism has been deprived of Indigenous knowledge because our early environmental thinkers, like John Muir, saw nature as something apart… (read more)