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A Calling to Honey Creek – Part 3

Nathan Aaberg — May 27, 2019 — Leave a comment

People using shovels to fill in grave in the woods

Familiy and friends pitch in during a burial (photo courtesy of Honey Creek Woodlands).

In two previous posts (here and here), we have been sharing the story of Joe Whittaker. He played a pivotal role in the founding of the Honey Creek Woodlands green cemetery on the grounds of the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers, Georgia. It was, I’m convinced, his life calling.

As I wrote earlier, two elements of Joe’s story compel me to share it. First, for Creation to be healed and renewed in any significant way, we need to integrate a commitment to God’s earth into our culture. The burial of our loved ones offers a great opportunity to do just that. Burial intimately connects us with Creation. It also brings us back to the humility and radical Creation kinship of dust to dust.

Second, when God calls you to make a difference for the future of God’s earth, you will need to step outside of your comfort zone. You and I can learn about the challenges and rewards of answering that calling from Joe.

In this last segement, you’ll learn more about the burial services at Honey Creek Woodlands, what Joe will remember from his time there, the wildlife this green cemetery supports, and what Joe is doing now.

Burials at Honey Creek

“We pride ourselves on the fact that every service is a little different,” says Joe. “The modern American funeral can start to have a little bit of a cookie cutter kind of a feel to it.”

“The pine box burial is probably the most common in terms of what people are going to be buried in,” says Joe. “Those are a nice canvas for people to express their feelings and their loss and their love. We see a lot of painting on caskets and writing and decorating of caskets. That’s something that you wouldn’t see at most modern cemeteries.”

“The family is usually heavily involved. We’ve had families help dig the grave. We’ve had families help fill in the graves. I’d say the vast majority of the time it’s actually the family that is lowering the body.”

Community burial at Honey Creek Woodlands (photo courtesy of Honey Creek Woodlands).

“I told my clients, “You can sit there and watch us do everything just like any other funeral. But we just want you to know that you are welcome to do as much as you’d like.””

“Often it’s basically a family burial. They take care of everything themselves, which in a bygone era used to be the norm. It can be a little dicey sometimes, because they don’t have a whole lot of experience doing this. But typically it’s very moving, very touching.”

Meaning and Stories

When I asked Joe, what he has going to hold onto from his time at Honey Creek Woodlands, he said it would it would be the people he’s met and the strength he’s seen in them.

“I wish every person I’ve buried would have lived a nice long life and just kind of faded out at the age of 95 or something, but that’s not the case,” says Joe. “You bury men who die at 40 and leave behind children. You bury children. You bury teenagers from car accidents. You bury suicides. You bury drug overdoses. You’re dealing with moms and dads.

“It’s hard to watch what they go through, but it’s just awesome to see the strength that people have.”

“I remember early on there was a very young man that came to see me in June of 2008, the first year we were open. He was a musician in Atlanta, and he had lung cancer. His friends brought him. They were all in their twenties, and one of the friends pulled me aside pretty early on. She said, “Look, he doesn’t have any family and doesn’t have any life insurance or any money, but don’t worry – we’re well connected with the musicians in the Atlanta area. We’re going to have a fundraising concert, and we’re going to get the money.””

“So I met with the young man. He was in pretty rough shape as he was in hospice at the time. We put him in a golf cart to take him out there. We picked him a spot. I don’t think a week went by before I got a phone call that he had passed. The person who called me was the same person who had assured me about the money. She said, “Well, we haven’t done our benefit concert yet. We thought he had more time.””

She promised, however, that even if it took until after the burial to do the benefit that they would get Honey Creek Woodlands the money. Joe trusted her. The burial went ahead.

“So they put the word out on social media that this guy had died. Money poured in from musicians from all across the country. A lot of money came out of Chicago, all the big cities. And this wasn’t like a well-known musician. He was just with a garage band.”

“By the time we buried the guy, his friends didn’t just have the money to bury him, they also made a very substantial donation to the monastery and to the hospice where he had been. And this was all pulled off by twenty-somethings.”

A Cemetery with (Wild) Life

Thanks to being managed for natural habitat, Honey Creek Woodlands is full of life.

“We see an awful lot of wildlife,” says Joe. “I’ve probably taken it for granted the amount of wildlife I’ve seen.”

Honey Creek Woodlands has owl, hawks, and all varieties of other birds. It also is a home for turtles, lizards, snakes, and amphibians.

Tiger swallowtail butterfly on flower of shrub

A tiger swallowtail butterfly at Honey Creek Woodlands. I would hope to be buried in a place like this that is full of wildlife. (Photo courtesy of Honey Creek Woodlands)

“We also have an unbelievable number of butterflies,” says Joe, “which is such a great thing for us because it’s symbolic of the resurrection.”

“I love the analogy that the caterpillar has no idea that it’s going to be a butterfly. It’s just going along being a caterpillar. And then all of a sudden, it’s a butterfly. I think that kind of has a parallel with us just living our lives the way we do not even knowing that when we’re done being this person that there’s something even more amazing yet to do.”

In fact, Honey Creek Woodlands holds the Georgia record for the number of butterflies found on a single day at one site. It helps that they have some of the best-trained butterfly counters in the Southeast.

“When we do the counts twice a year,” says Joe, “we routinely either set a new record for ourselves or try to break the record for the state of Georgia for the number of butterflies found.”

In the chapter in Sacred Acts about Honey Creek Woodlands, the reader learns, too, that Father Francis Michael, a leader in the monastery’s decision to proceed with Honey Creek Woodlands, has identified 52 species of dragonflies on the monastery’s grounds.

The staff at Honey Creek Woodlands and visitors see a lot of deer, turkey, squirrels and chipmunks. Signs of coyotes are also about.

“We know we even have bobcats, but I’ve yet to see one,” says Joe. “People really love that wildlife is here,”

Stepping Back

While the work for Honey Creek Woodland has been a satisfying and deeply rewarding experience for Joe, it’s also been a challenge.

“It’s been very challenging for me being that I don’t live in Georgia. I’ve been going back and forth for years, and I didn’t start this project thinking it was going to be a ten year project for me.”

When he first started, his wife needed to give ever more care for her aging mother, so Joe and his wife agreed that he should work for Honey Creek Woodland despite the separations it would require for them. She would be able to focus on her mother without feeling neglectful of Joe. Joe could pursue his life mission.

But then when his wife’s mother did pass away about four years ago, they had to make a big decision about what to do. They ultimately decided that Joe should continue at Honey Creek Woodlands. since she had four more years of teaching before she retired. Still, Joe makes clear these last four years have been the hardest on them.

His wife retired on June 6, 2018. Joe officially ended his time at Honey Creek Woodlands the day before on June 5. They are enjoying their next season of life together.

I’m happy to report that Joe continues to serve Honey Creek Woodlands as an advisor and consultant. But even after his consulting work ends with Honey Creek Woodlands, his life will eventually reconnect with the place in which he invested so much of his life. Joe has recently made the decision to be buried in Honey Creek Woodlands.

“I’ll be the first member of my family not buried in South Carolina,” says Joe, “so it was a big decision. My family’s kind of scattered in a bunch of different cemeteries, so there wasn’t one that was a family cemetery. I no longer live in Charleston, which is my hometown.”

“It just seemed like more people would know me, and I would be surrounded by more friends at Honey Creek Woodlands in Georgia.”

Covered burial site in a light-filled woods

(Photo courtesy of Honey Creek Woodlands)

One last note. The numbers of green cemeteries are growing, and there is likely to be one or more in your state. I would encourage you to be discerning in choosing a green cemetery for yourself or a loved one. I totally believe in the green burial ideal, but I have seen green burial offered in woods that are clearly not being managed well for conservation. This is far better for Creation than the conventional burial, but it is not ideal.

The ideal situation is a cemetery that offers green burial as the burial method AND is managing the land of the cemetery and around it for conservation with long-term commitment and capabilities. It’s even more ideal if the land has some sort of permanent legal protection. Here’s a short piece that explains the distinctions between generic green burial and conservation burial. If you’re looking at a green burial option and have questions, I’d be happy to try to help you decipher whether it’s a good option.

Last thought – it’s been such a delight to talk with Joe. I’d ask that you ask God to bless Joe and his wife. He answered a call and moved a better culture of living with God’s earth forward.

My Coming Earth Day Fast

Nathan Aaberg — April 18, 2019 — Leave a comment

I’ve decided to fast and pray on Earth Day.

This is a step in a continuing odyssey for me.

Listening to a podcast recently lit the kindling of my awareness that fasting has a long history of being a powerful Christian spiritual practice. I have also long believed that a Christian faith that does not spiritual transform ones’ faith-life is not really faith at all. I will be trying my first focused fast on Good Friday with that same motivation.

My intense spiritual struggle over the condition of God’s earth also motivates me. My heart alternates between breaking at the condiition of God’s earth and intense anger. For reasons not entirely clear to me, I am acutely aware of the wounds of God’s earth. Sometimes I wish I could turn off that sensitivity. I am also painfully aware that few people of faith seem to care with any urgency. And the ones who do, including me, struggle to find meaningful traction and direction in taking meaningful, large-scale action that will alter the course our world is on (Gabe Brown is one exception).

My faith struggles mightily with all this.

So I am going to see where this leads. I recognize many Christians do not associate Earth Day nor God’s earth with their faith. Likewise, many of the people who are acting energetically and sacrificially to defend and restore Gods’ earth do not associate Christians with Earth Day either. Over time, I would like to change this. But I must start with myself.

Motivations

I seek the following from my Earth Day fast.

Open My Heart to God

Here is a great quote from Cistercian monk Charles Cummings in The Sacred Art of Fasting by Thomas Ryan. “The more I try to make Christ the center of my life and thoughts and actions, the more I feel every pull and tug that draws me back from the radical, loving surrender of myself.

YouTube, sports, and a host of small matters distract me. These cause me to be deaf to God and his callings as they relate to family, neighbors, and Creation.

I am hopeful that I wil experience a closer connection to God through this fast. I desire the Holy Spirit to fill me so what is uniquely me is creatively directed towards God’s ways. I want to give God’s will highest priority. Even as I write that, part of me is afraid of allowing that to happen. May this fast reduce or eliminate that fear.

Full Mourning

I sometimes retreat from allowing myself to feel the full grief of how much we have defaced the beauty and goodness of the natural world. I want my grief “circuit breaker” removed. I need to dive into that grief.

The grief over the empty forests of Vietnam. Poaching wars over the last great animals of Africa. More thatn 750 impaired (meaning chronically sick and depleted) streams and rivers in Iowa, largely due to the way we farm and raise animals. The decimation of Haiti’s forests. Emerging dead zones (like the one in the Gulf of Mexico. The list goes on and on. People and Creation suffer from all of this.

David mourned by fasting after the deaths of Saul and Jonathan (2 Samuel 1:12) and the death of his son Abner (2 Samuel 3:32-35). Nehemiah fasted in grief over the state of the Jewish people who had returned to Jerusalem and the condition of Jerusalem itself – the wall broken down, gates burned by fire (Nehemiah 1:4). Mourning and grief for God’s earth through fasting and prayer seems wholly appropriate.

Deep Repentance

I want to express deep penance for what we have done to God’s oceans and lands and for the part I have played in it.

I also want to express regret for the fact that Christianity has largely been AWOL from the struggle to cherish God’s earth. And, in fact, too often economic philosophies and political ideologies have used a misrepresented Christianity as religious legimitization for advocating degrading uses of God’s earth.

But repentance is much more than feeling sorry and feeling regret. I’ve recently learned that the Greek word metanoia that we translate as “repent” has a deeper meaning. It means a transformation of our hearts and minds. Father Gregory Boyle of Homeboy Industries articulates it like this: “to go beyond the mind we have.” I will pray that I and many other Christians will go beyond the hearts and minds we have to a loving spirit that cherishes all that is God’s. What isn’t God’s?

Visceral kinship

I believe the fast will help me better appreciate the plight of the poor harmed by climate change and the plight of birds, mammals, insects, fish and other life who find it ever harder to survive in the world we are unraveling.

Seeking direction for action

In Esther 4:16, we read of Esther asking the Jewish people to fast before she visits King Ahasuerus uninvited. She will do so to seek save the Jewish people from destruction and at the risk of her life. Moses and Jesus both fasted for 40 days before key points in their missions on earth.

I need further wisdom and discernment about where I should focus my energies in trying to defend and renew God’s earth. I hope to gain it while fasting.

Intensify my prayers for Creation and its defenders

Are you praying for Creation along with your prayers for family, friends, and yourself? I do, but I feel compelled to do more. We should also pray for the scientists (like Katharine Hayhoe), advocates, and regular people who are putting their hearts and minds to the service of Gods’ Creation and the people who depend on it. They struggle against the powers and dominions of this world. Their hearts are broken by what they see unfolding. They are trolled viciously. Sometimes they are killed because their words and actions would stop powerful people from making money.

Learn to LIve with Limits

Our appetites tend to be our masters. This is true of our individual lives. This is true of our economic-political systems. Adam and Eve’s sin was ultimately about not accepting a limit on their desire. I struggle with limits on my appetites. And when my appetites for distraction and security fill up our lives then we have little life and love left to give to God’s purposes. I seek God’s help in loving limits and loving God’s ways.

Seek Joy and Hope

This year Earth Day is the day after Easter. That proximity is unusual, and it calls attention to the fact that Christ’s life, death, and resurrection are good news for all of Creation.

I desperately need to remember that good news and to fully experience the joy it contains even in the midst of this crazy, broken world. And by remember I mean a confidence that fills my bones and heart, not just a doctrinal assent.

I believe It is fully understandable and acceptable to be outraged and full of despair at the injustices of the world that harm people and Creation. The Bible gives us many resources for expressing outrage, doubt, and misery. We are not fully human if we can look at injustice in any form, shrug it off, and go on to a Netflix binge.

Yet, our faith also calls us to hold joy in our hearts even as we struggle with brokenness and evil. God loves us and the whole world and has expressed grace and love to us through Jesus. God’s mercy does endure forever. God will make everything right some day. I need direction for action and light in my heart.

How exactly this will work

I will begin with a sunrise-to-sunset fast on Good Friday to deepen my experience of remembering the crucifixion of Jesus. Then, on Easter evening, I intend to eat dinner with my family before going on a water-only fast until after sunset on Monday (Earth Day) when I will have dinner again with my family. I will still be working during the day.

In The Sacred Art of Fasting, I read that it is really not a spiritual fast if one does life completely as one would normally would. So I plan to take a walk and pray during the time I would normally eat lunch. I also plan to pray whenever I feel hunger pains and between tasks.

Since fasting is typically combined with almsgiving in Christian tradition, I plan to honor that tradition but will do so in a different way. I will make a contribution to a conservation organization that is protecting habit so that God’s living things have places to live and food to eat.

I Welcome Fast Companions

I originally thought I would make a big push to encourage you and others I know who share deep concern for God’s earth to join me in this fast. Having friends to communicate with during the day for mutual encouragement would certainly be wonderful. But I’ve decided to focus this first attempt on my own exploration of this practice. This will enable me to speak from experience for Earth Day 2020.

If you do decide you want to join me, please email me at wholefaithlivingearth@gmail.com. We can arrange to share phone numbers so we can create a text group during the day.

I strongly encourage you to do some research on fasting before you do it. If you have any health issues that would make a food fast a risk for you, please consider a fast from something else. And if you haven’t fasted before, please consider starting slow – perhaps skipping just lunch or doing a juice fast.

Your prayers would also be welcome.

A Calling to Honey Creek – Part 2

Nathan Aaberg — April 9, 2019 — Leave a comment

Blessing of gravesite at Honey Creek Woodlands. (Courtesy of Honey Creek Woodlands)

In an earlier post, we began to share the story of Joe Whittaker. He played a pivotal role in the founding of the Honey Creek Woodlands green cemetery on the grounds of the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers, Georgia.

Two elements of Joe’s story compel me to share it. First, for Creation to be healed and renewed in any significant way, we need to integrate a commitment to God’s earth into our culture. The burial of our loved ones offers a great opportunity to do just that. It is a defining moment in the lives of families and religious communities. Burial intimately connects us with Creation. It also brings us back to the humility and radical Creation kinship of dust to dust.

Getting Honey Creek Woodlands Going

When talking about the effort and challenges to get Honey Creek Woodland going, Joe says, “It’s good I didn’t know then what I know now. I probably would have just said, “Good luck with your project!””

Joe’s lack of training in land management and lack of knowledge of Piedmont ecology posed big challenges. He was going to try to create a green burial cemetery on 80 acres of formerly forested land that had been clear-cut some years back and was in a state of transition.

As Joe puts it, “I had no idea of what the land was going to do. I was just overwhelmed with what it did.”

In particular, invasive species had already taken hold in the forests. The clear-cutting gave the invasive species a wonderful opportunity to spread. In addition, the natural succession of the Piedmont woods also generated tremendous vegetative regrowth. This meant a jungle of green overwhelmed the land. Blackberry and briars, in particular, grew vigorously.

Walter Bland, a local native plant expert, visited the site with Joe early on and said, “Joe, I don’t know what you’re thinking is, but your clientele is going to want to see natural.”

“That’s what we’ve got,” said Joe.

“No, no, no,” said Walter. “There’s a big difference between natural and nature. Natural has a lot of management involved. It looks like nature but it’s under control.”

In short, people were not going to want to bury their loved ones in thickets. Nor would they find it practical or appealing to come back to visit a thicket.

Joe, with the benefit of the wisdom of Walter and the Georgia Piedmont Land Trust, made a significant decision. Rather than trying to control all 80 acres in an aesthetically pleasing way through an intensive use of resources, he would allow much of the 80 acres to go through a decades-long natural succession process. Over time, trees would naturally emerge in these areas. Their shade would, over time, thin out the understory plants.

But in the smaller areas where burials would be done in the short-term, Joe and his staff actively managed the landscape. This meant trimming trees and controlling brush. These areas would still be natural and have abundant native plants that are vital for wildlife. They would, however, be more visually appealing and accessible for visitors. Honey Creek Woodlands would, in other words, be going for something that looked natural and functioned ecologically. It just wouldn’t be 100% unmanaged naturalness.

Joe then worked to figure out the logistics and layout of the cemetery. The area where the burials were to take place was actually a mile and a half from the monastery itself. And between the monastery and the burial area there was Honey Creek, crossed by an old, dilapidated bridge. The only existing way to travel in that direction was a rough Forest Service road. Joe gave the solving of these issues a high priority.

A gravel road leads through the southern woods of Honey Creek Woodlands

The road through Honey Creek Woodlands and a forest rebounding from clear-cutting. (Courtesy of Honey Creek Woodlands)

“One of the things that I’ve really focused on for the last ten years,” says Joe, “is trying to make this as convenient and logistically smooth for families as I possibly could.”

“People get caught up in the warm fuzzy part of the funeral service. But you’ve got to have parking. You’ve got to have accessibility for elderly people. I keep beating that drum. You’ve got to think logistics, people. Before any natural burial cemetery gets off the ground, think about logistics!”

This focus on the details has come out of the awareness that the modern, conventional funeral does make things convenient. There is parking. There are bathrooms. For natural burials to work for most people, it can’t be too challenging or inaccessible.

“If we can grow the number of people that this options works for just by providing a little bit of convenience,” says Joe, “then it will be well worth it. If your facility does not work for the elderly, it’s probably not going to be very successful.”

One of the ways they provide convenience is by having a fleet of golf carts visitors can use. While some visitors use the hiking trails, the vast majority of the people who come to visit their loved ones are going to use golf carts to travel the three-mile round trip.

Having some golf cart repair experience, by the way, was another serendipitous part of Joe’s background that he brought to Honey Creek Woodland. Who would expect that working for a golf course during the summers of his high school years would pay dividends much later in life? Destiny? God’s plan?

Thanks to the efforts of Joe and his team, the Honey Creek Woodlands conservation burial cemetery opened on April 22, 2008 – Earth Day. Since then, more than 1,300 people have been buried there, including the remains of about 30 miscarriages. Honey Creek Woodlands has sold almost 3,500 plots.

The Demographics of Burial at Honey Creek Woodland

True to his background in market research, Joe has paid attention to the demographics of people who choose to be buried there. He’s categorized them into three groups.

The first are those desire to be buried on the grounds of the monastery where monks will pray for their soul every day. This appealed deeply to many people of the Catholic faith. Because there aren’t that many monasteries in Georgia, Honey Creek Woodlands possessed a unique attraction. These deeply Catholic families, however, rarely have had any exposure to green burial beforehand. Their faith doesn’t necessarily include a concern for Creation.

“That’s a big hurdle to overcome,” says Joe.

“If a grave isn’t manicured,” says Joe, “then some people feel their loved one is being disrespected. That’s been one of the biggest hurdles for me to get over – this cultural notion of manicured graves.”

The Pavilion at Honey Creek Woodlands. (Courtesy of Honey Creek Woodlands)

Joe identifies the second group by their financial motivations.

“They’ll call up,” says Joe, “and say, “My uncle died without any life insurance but he left instructions that he definitely didn’t want to be cremated. And we don’t have any money.””

The lower cost of green burial is attractive to them. At Honey Creek Woodlands, the total cost is usually around $5,000 for everything. According to this article from 2017, the average cost of traditional funeral is around $11,000.

Joe found the budget-minded customers to be challenging to work with at times. The environmental and spiritual philosophy of a green burial did not motivate them.

People who specifically wanted a green burial comprises the third group.

“These are people who are environmentalists, whether they’re birdwatchers or people who camped a lot in their life or even hunters and fishermen – anybody who’s spent a lot of time in the outdoors. Even master gardeners,” says Joe. “It’s perfect for what they want.”

“When I’m trying to pitch green burial to people one of the things I’ll say,” says Joe, “is that our Creator had no need for a trash can.”

“Everything’s recycled.”

Part Three will be coming before long.

A Calling to Honey Creek – Part 1

Nathan Aaberg — March 16, 2019 — Leave a comment

As people like you work to change how churches act towards God’s earth, weaving mindfulness of God’s earth into the culture of our churches is vital. When we do so, we enable the Spirit to more truly shape our hearts and souls.

For cultural change to happen, we can’t just say a prayer like a magic incantation. Someone needs to actually carry the ball forward. That someone needs to sense that it is their calling, even if it is not their place of expertise. That someone needs to be willing to dive into the details that can be less than sexy.

With that in mind, I want to share the story of Joe Whittaker over several blog posts. Joe played a key role in launching Honey Creek Woodlands, Georgia’s only green burial ground. It is owned and operated by the Monastery of the Holy Spirit, a Roman Catholic contemplative religious community in the Trappist tradition.

More than one thousand people have been buried at Honey Creek Woodlands since it opened for business in 2008 in Conyers, Georgia. What makes Honey Creek Woodlands distinct from some other green burial grounds is that the land above ground is managed to be as ecologically healthy as possible as well. Conservation efforts there are part of a larger constellation of conservation and cultural activities happening in the 8,000-acre Arabia Mountain Natural Heritage Area.

I interviewed Joe because of my own interest in green burials and was planning just to write a blog about Honey Creek Woodlands. But his story was fascinating, and I was struck by his big heart and humility. I discovered he is Episcopalian, and he has also long loved the outdoors. He seems to have been destined to do what he did at Honey Creek Woodlands.

I believe Joe was answering God’s call. I believe you and I are hearing the call of God to preserve and renew God’s earth. We can be inspired by Joe’s faith and courage. He helped accomplish accomplish a great deal, despite his nervousness about stepping into the unknown. That’s what building God’s Kingdom looks like. It requires real faith and action.

I hope you will be inspired and also take away insights about the challenges and rewards of launching a green burial cemetery. Moving to green burials is, I believe, one way for Christians to create a culture that truly lives out a conviction that the earth is God’s.

A Monastery Needs Help

The Monastery of the Holy Spirit had a challenge at the end of the 20^thcentury. How could the Monastery use its 2,260 acres of land to generate needed revenue while still stewarding that land in a way pleasing to God? In the past, there had been some clearcutting for timber. This was not something the fathers considered a good option going forward. The abbott at the time – Francis Michael – was, among many things, a naturalist. He understood that growing monocultures of pine trees on that land was not how you stewarded a healthy ecosystem.

Yet, how could that land be conserved as natural habitat when restoration efforts take money instead of generating revenue?

“Your options are limited,” says Joe. “You can exploit the land or you can sell off the land. Neither one of those were too appealing to the monastery.”

A way out of this conundrum presented itself when Francis Michael and others at the monastery heard of the first conservation-oriented green burial cemetery. Dr. Billy and Kimberley Campbell had launched it in South Carolina. It was a place where people could bury their loved ones simply and humbly. The Campbells used some of the revenue for management of the land as a healthy natural area.

The monastery came to the conclusion if they should look into doing this on their land. They could meet people’s desire for natural burial, steward the land, and support the Monastery as a whole financially.

They began exploring the idea more seriously. The metro Atlanta community showed great support as little wilderness has been spared from development in the past decades. The city and Rockdale County were also very supportive.

They were ready to go but who would actually make it happen?

Joe’s Call

Back in 2005, Joe was working in South Carolina for a company based in Chicago that did consumer research on what people buy in grocery stores. He traveled a lot and worked to understand the connection between food sale trends and what stores were doing with promotions. While he was driving he heard a story on National Public Radio (NPR) about green burial. It so happened that Joe had long been telling his family, in a half joking way, that when he died he just wanted them to put his body out into the swamps.

The green burial story on NPR riveted his attention.

“Holy smokes!” he thought, “This is exactly what I wanted my whole life.”

His excitement was tempered a bit by the assumption that the green cemetery they were talking about must be somewhere out on the West Coast. Then the radio host noted that they were talking with Dr. Billy Campbell. He was operataing the only green burial nature preserve in the country at Ramsey Creek Preserve in Westminster, South Carolina. This was in Joe’s own backyard, just an hour away.

So Joe contacted the Campbells, met them in 2007 and initially just talked through his own burial plans with them. But the relationship deepened. He began helping them as a volunteer.

The Monastery of the Holy Spirit contacted Dr. Billy Campbell about their plans to convert 80 acres of clearcut land to a green burial cemetery. They asked if he knew of anyone who could get their green burial cemetery off the ground, Billy connected them with Joe.

“That’s kind of crazy,” thought Joe when he first heard of the monastery’s interest. “I don’t live in Georgia, and I have a job.” It would also mean commuting back and forth to Georgia and living there for ten days at a time.

He and his wife. however, gave it some more thought. In the end, they decided that he would go to Georgia to help get the cemetery up and running. They realized it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

“It’s almost like going to a Rolling Stone concert and saying I really like this band and then writing them an email saying, ”You guys are great.” And then they say, “Well, hey, do you want to come and help us out?” And the next thing you know you’re playing backup guitar for the Rolling Stones.”

“I don’t think I could have created a more perfect position for myself. I’ve always felt very blessed. I don’t think a lot of people get to do things that they’re passionate about and that they enjoy and that they get a lot of meaning from.”

You’ll read more about how Joe helped to launch Honey Creek Woodlands despite many challenges in the next installment. Be sure to read the chapter “Life is Changed not Ended” in the book Sacred Acts: How Churches Are Working to Protect Earth’s Climate. It provides more details about Honey Creek Woodlands.

Together Again – Gathering #2

Nathan Aaberg — January 21, 2019 — Leave a comment

Building on the first gathering that we held in the fall of 2018, a group of us came together again at a second gathering on January 12th.

My friends Lesley and Gilbert Smith generously hosted us at their home in Vernon Hills, Illinois. Despite falling snow and some tricky driving conditions, nine people came. (You can see eight in the photo along with the Smiths’ dog Linden, who is insistent on playing ball.)

I am hopeful that this kind of gathering might be something you might like to try where you live. So below I share some information on the basics of the event as well as some reflections.

We began with a prayer and then a potluck lunch. Over lunch, each person shared how their faith, life, and attentiveness to God’s earth have been woven together over time This brought us together in a significant way right away. I believe it’s not often that we get to speak about deeper things with other people.

We then cleaned up and relaxed a bit before regathering in the living room. We began there with some updates about topics and people from the first gathering, including the formation of the BEHOLD Facebook group by Jon Terry of the Au Sable Institute.

Then Lesley and Gilbert spoke in some depth about their lives, with a particular focus on what they have learned from running a tree care business for nearly four decades. In this business, they have applied their Christian values and their Christian attentiveness to helping connect their customers in thoughtful ways with the beauty and complexity of trees. This was similar to the tour of the Reimers’ family farm we received at the first gathering. The opportunity to be given deep insight into the lives and experiences of people who are interacting with people and Creation everyday is a treat.

I then gave a draft presentation to the group. I titled it “Why Tending and Defending God’s Earth Is an Essential Part of a Christian Faith-Life.” There were 10 reasons. These reasons came from my four years of writing blog posts here and much reading as well. This sparked some lively conversation. The presentation still needs much work, but I am hopeful it will be the start to something I could share more widely. I was grateful for the group’s patience, interest, and candid feedback.

We then moved into a prayer session, with everyone taking a turn. A little more than four hours after we had begun, we closed with the singing of the Doxology.

It was good. It was very good.

We live in a time when more and more of our communication is by social media, It was refreshing to talk at length together in person with people of faith who were all ready to share their challenges and hopes and deep concern for God’s earth. One of the attendees even said, “My wife and I could have hung out for hours with each person there.”

Here are some of thoughts, impressions, and lessons:

Meeting in a Home Adds a Lot: When I organized the first gathering, I actually checked out a number of meeting rooms and facilities before the Riemers generously offered to host. While there is probably a place for larger gatherings being held in larger buildings, there is something down-to-earth and just right to gathering in a home. Of course, it helps to be in a home that is full of art, books, plants of all kinds, and even a beautiful dining room table that one of your hosts handcrafted from a black walnut tree that he and his brother harvested.

Trying Not to Get Caught up in Numbers: It is so hard not to judge success by numbers. We actually had 15 people signed up to come at one point, but a number of folks had to cancel in the last two weeks. A little voice in my head wondered if this was still going to be worth doing with a smaller number. Where was the momentum?

With God’s help, I’m letting that go. I ended up very happy with how it went. In our metric-oriented society, it’s hard to let go, have faith, and focus on the quality and intangibles of an experience, isn’t it? One wise friend suggested, in fact, that too large of a group could actually hinder people from sharing their hearts openly.

Who Knew?: At the very last minute, I invited a friend and her husband, and they were able to come. The funny thing is that the friend and I have been in the same professional orbit for years. It was only very recently, however, that we learned that we and her husband were all people of the Christian faith and like-minded about God’s earth. How many other people are there out there like that in all of our circles?

Allow More Space: A good friend who attended gently pointed out that I have tended to try to squeeze in a lot of content in these first two gatherings. This was, of course, a Midwestern way of saying, “For heaven’s sake, Nathan, don’t organize the life out of these things!” Having some structure is good, of course, but we might benefit from more breathing room and organic conversation flow. I will take that to heart.

What Kind of Words?: During my presentation, conversation flared up around one of my slides that presented a forceful statement that, among other things, explicitly called what is being done to God’s earth as “violence.” There was some concern that I was speaking too boldly and provocatively. Will we, some of the group wondered, turn off Christians who are just beginning to become open to seeing that God’s earth matters? How do we express convictions and urgency without being a zealot? It occurred to me that we must somehow reconcile the fruits of the spirit with Jesus’ readiness to express anger, to speak against wrong, and to create tension. This is no easy task.

In the Shadow of Climate Change: Climate change and the chaos it is bringing were part of our conversation. One provocative thought that was shared was this – only when the scale and urgency of climate change cannot be ignored will a significant number of Christians and others look to change their ways. Christians who are paying attention and are convinced that this world that God so loves matters to God need to be ready together when that happens. But what does being ready mean? What does that look like on the land?

Truly Living by Faith: During our sharing over lunch, a number of the people there shared stories of deep faith. In some cases, it was their own experience of living on the edge between despair and hope and survival. In other cases, it was people and groups of people they had spent life with who truly lived on complete trust in God. I was also struck by the fact that a number of people there have served people in need as professionals and as volunteers and/or are doing so now. Faith and compassion can’t help but be expressed both towards people and towards Creation.

Finally, I cannot describe fully how good it was to be together that Saturday. How much our hearts and minds are inspired and expanded when we share our faith-lives deeply with others who who experience wonder in God’s Creation and who feel compelled to tend it and defend it.

I hope you already know what that kind of togetherness feels like or will in coming months.

I end with a prayer that Lesley Smith shared with me after the event. It is a prayer that she says before she and her husband Gilbert meet with a customer to talk about the customer’s trees.

Blessed are you, YHWH, creator of the universe who made the trees with wisdom and grace, without which we would all perish. Thank you for these gifts of life, healing and beauty. Father, you are the author of the light, and I ask for permission and insight to communicate with this tree for its healing and for the benefit and blessing of all Creation. Lord have mercy. Amen.