The Care for Creation team presented a networking workshop and then also a breakout session at the Oregon Synod Assembly.  Both were well attended, and again affirm the passion for creation that so many people have.  On the schedule ahead are a training event September 24^th at Camp Lutherwood and a day of training in Pendleton in early October, probably the 8^th.  Plans are currently underway to put that on skype, so anyone in the Synod could participate.    I will miss working with the team on these events.   It has been a great group of people with whom to plan and present. 

At the Assembly I got to hear Shane Claiborne talk.  He is indeed inspiring and has many creative ideas he and his intentional community have put into place that indeed serve people at the margins.  Also at the Assembly the Allert Scholarships for Oregon’s seminarians were announced.  I am grateful for the $700 awarded to each of the seven of us, both for the financial help and for the support and goodwill for our journeys.     

The one class I am taking this summer is Theology and Ethic of the Land.  After four weeks of reading and online discussions, we spent a week at Twin Rocks Friends Camp at the beach hearing lectures from five presenters, watching films, discussing, journaling, and walking on the beach and in the woods.  One big idea was the importance of place . . . of deeply knowing the place in which we live as the basis of wisdom for living in harmony with creation.  Another was the importance and timeliness of reducing CO₂.  Projections are that a 7% reduction worldwide by 2012 would turn the tide on global warming compared with a 15% reduction needed by 2015.  I find myself renewing efforts to buy local food (average food transport is over 1500 miles for vegetables and over 2000 miles for fruit, resulting in significantly increased  CO₂ cost) and looking for other ways to reduce my carbon footprint.  Check out www.350.org for topics related to reducing CO₂ to a sustainable 350 parts per million.  To complete the class I have two papers to write.  One is a narrative from the point of view of something in nature that includes its history and current ecological health.  The other is my own ecotheology . . . relationships between God, humans, and the rest of creation.   

As of July 1^st we have just over six weeks till we head south.  We are juggling the usual summer fun . . . Grandcamp, family time at the Elk Lake cabin, visits from my brother and his family and then Bartt’s brother . . . with continuing to reduce our stuff and figure out what really goes with us into our one bedroom student apartment.  My several years of working on simplifying is suddenly coming into sharp focus. Prayers are welcome to keep us focused on the bigger picture and on getting the details done.

  Peace,

Katherine Brick, Seminarian