Open Space Conversations at Hudson River Presbytery MeetingDecember 3, 2019

Open Space Groups1. Eschatology and Advent, led by Peter Johnson (Notes below)2. A Green Christmas, led by Kathy Dean and HRPGreen Team (Notes below)3. Faith and Order Overtures to GA 224, led by Rob Trawick, Jeromy Howard, and Jeffrey

Geary (Notes below)4. Board of Pensions, led by Carrie Mitchell from Presbyterian BOP5. Holy Cow Consulting, led by John Miller6. Solarize our Congregation, led by Gregory Simpson and Nina Orville7. The 2020 Census, led by Owen Borda of US Census Bureau8. Church Leadership Struggles, led by Tricia Callahan

Advent and Eschatology:How Does the Reign of God Redefine Power and Politics?

In the spirit of the theme of our HRP meeting, “Waiting,” this Open Space conducted a discussion around the subject of Advent and Eschatology. The subtitle identifies what we were trying to get at within the discussion—how does the Reign of God redefine power and politics. Five questions were asked. They are listed below and will help guide the contents of this written report.

Scripture references: Daniel 7, Psalm 2, 110, Mark 13, Acts 1, Colossians 3, Philippians 2, 1 Cor. 15. Themes: Temple, incarnation, apocalyptic, eschatology, Reign of God, Christology, messianic hopes, scripture, ecclesiology, ethics.

1. What are we (the Church) waiting for? Naturally we began with the Second Coming. However, does this notion need to be demythologized? It was then that we thought about literal and literary notions of Scriptural interpretation. That is, do we read the second coming as a literal/historical event or one that is apprehended existentially? That is, using the language of novum as it is delineated by the resurrection of Jesus (Moltmann), when Jesus returns, there will be a New Heaven and a New Earth. There we found ourselves struggling to try and describe what that would look like.

2. What are the “inaugural” signs of the Reign? The Reign of God was inaugurated by Jesus Christ through his death and resurrection. As his disciples, we are between the times. His Second Coming will complete his work and make all things right, fully and finally. But for now, we see signs of the Reign in various places and among various people. (Note: The Church may be charged with not only being responsible for spearheading such events (mission) but also recognizing them when they happen (witness) in other places among others “outside” the Church.) We listed some: the sacraments, worship in spirit and truth (Calvin), changes in power structures that help the marginalized, justice movements, nonviolent movements that

challenge oppressive power structures, etc. (see Matthew 5-7, 25). We noted that such in-breakings of the future of God do not necessarily have to be with or among Christians. Such events can happen wherever God chooses. We noted that the sermon of the day gave testimony to this truth of the Gospel.

3. What are the “not yet” signs of the Reign? The brokenness of the world is easily identified. Racism, violence, slavery, etc., --the list goes on. Failure to love God and neighbor best summarizes the “not yet” of the Reign.

4. How do the Scriptures give testimony to the truth of Jesus and his message? The love of Christ is the highlight of the NT witness. His incarnation shows us God’s love for the world. But we also talked about the resurrection. The challenge was put forth that perhaps our tendency to NOT take the resurrection of the body as a literal promise and/or historical event may be due to a form of dualism that effects our notion of God’s activity in the world. The question was asked, “Why do we recoil at the idea of resurrected human bodies?” given the Apostles’ Creed and the witness of Scripture. Admitting that such bodies would not be the same corruptible material as we have been endowed with in the here and now, we struggled with the notion of “new bodies.” Would we recognize one another in God’s future? Like the Sadducees who asked about marriage in heaven, we wondered if we knew the power of God and the Scriptures. We left those thoughts there for another day.

5. How are Christian ethics defined and empowered? The community must play a role here. But the community looks to its leader, Jesus Christ, whose behavior models the ethics of the Reign. Jesus also fills his people with his own spirit. This empowerment is experienced in stops and starts and is often practiced in broken ways but nevertheless effects changes in those who experience it. Love of God and neighbor also makes it incumbent upon us to challenge and change the unjust structures of society. Because when it is all said and done, love is what matters (1 Cor. 13). How we exercise that love matters. We never did get to any definition of politics as defined by the Reign of God.

I end this report with these words from N.T. Wright about Advent and Eschatology: “Every Eucharist is a little Christmas as well as a little Easter.”

A Green ChristmasHRPGreen Community ConversationDec.3 Presbytery Meeting

Christmas Decorating – Rachel Thompson

ECO-FRIENDLY CHRISTMAS DECORATING IDEAS

Old Paperback Tree

http://kaylaaimee.com/how-to-make-a-paperback-christmas-tree/

Snowflakes Out of Old Jigsaw Puzzle Pieces

https://www.thatswhatchesaid.net/puzzle-piece-snowflake-ornament/

Epsom salts, pine cones, lace

Bottles wrapped in paper & bows

Battery operated fairy lightsin Mason jars

Epsom salts, cranberries, greens

Twigs and buttons

Cranberry & candle centerpiece

TIPS FOR STRINGING POPCORNAND CRANBERRIES

Use dental floss and a large needle. Use stale, ungreasy popcorn and fresh cranberries. Don’t cut off the dental floss at first, but keep pulling it out as you add to the length of the string. Make whatever pattern of berries and popcorn pleases you.

GLITTER, ALAS, IS BAD

However, there is a biodegradable alternative:

https://www.altnaturals.com/collections/biodegradable-glitter/products/biodegradable-glitter

(also available from Amazon)

THE CHRISTMAS TREE: FRESH, ROOT-BALLED OR FAKE?from The Verge, a popular tech/science website.Article by Allessandra Potenza

https://www.theverge.com/science/2017/12/8/16720456/christmas-tree-environment-plastic-carbon-footprint-climate-change

Real Christmas trees are probably better for the environment than fake trees, at least from the perspective of their carbon footprints, says Clint Springer, a botanist and professor of biology at Saint Joseph’s University. If you want to get yourself the most environmentally friendly Christmas tree, you should choose one that still has its root ball attached, so you can replant it after the holidays.

Here’s the thing I had never thought of when weighing the pros and cons: Christmas trees are a crop in the US, so they’re grown on farms for the purpose of being cut down. “It's different than deforesting a tropical rainforest for example,” Springer tells The Verge. For every tree that’s cut, farmers are likely replanting four or five new ones, to up their odds that a good, healthy tree will grow for a few years before being cut down again. Tree farms also provide a habitat for wildlife like birds, help preserve open spaces, and contribute to the local economy, Springer says.

Fake trees, on the other hand, are made of plastic and metal, which take up a lot of energy and resources to produce. Artificial Christmas trees can also contain polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, which often uses lead as a stabilizer — not exactly what you want in your house if you have children. If the fake tree is also made in China, you have to calculate the carbon footprint of transporting it all the way to the US. So, to minimize the environmental impacts, you should reuse a fake tree for more than 10 or 20 years, according to the   The New York Times .

If you really want to do the planet a favor, you should probably buy a real tree with the roots still attached, Springer says. That way, after the holidays, it can be replanted and the tree can continue sucking up heat-trapping carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, as well as provide a home for birds. But, so-called balled and burlapped trees come with some catches. First of all, they’re heavier, more expensive, and messier than your regular cut tree, says Emily Renshaw, a certified arborist at the International Society of Arboriculture (ISA). That’s because the roots need soil and soil needs water.

In fact, you don’t want your live tree to dry up, or die because of the changes in temperature between the indoors and outdoors. Before placing the tree in your living room, you should acclimate it in your garage for one or two days, and you should keep it indoors for five to seven days max, according to ISA. You should also know in advance what exactly you’re going to do with the tree after the holidays: if you have a backyard where you can replant the tree, you should dig the hole before

the ground freezes, and make sure the species you bought is suitable for your area. You can also check if local nurseries, city parks, or schools accept live trees for donation. “You really have to do your homework ahead of time,” Renshaw tells The Verge. “It’s kind of like getting a pet for Christmas.”

Scott Bilmar, of Bilmar Nurseries in Pleasant Valley, New York, said that his nursery used to sell balled and burlapped Christmas trees in the past, but it stopped because he heard too many stories of trees dying. “It’s not a wonderful idea,” he tells The Verge. Still, it’s not impossible. Springer, the botanist, says his backyard in North Central West Virginia still hosts a Christmas tree he planted 35 years ago.

Every year, he buys a cut Christmas tree from a tree farm nearby so he doesn’t have to drive far, thus pumping less CO2 into the atmosphere. After the holidays, he mulches it. In the spring, he uses that mulch as fertilizer for his garden. “It’s a closed-loop system,” he says. 

note from Rachel Thompson: I read many articles online that said basically the same things as this one, including two in the NYTimes.

Wrapping Gifts – Marjorie Rossi

https://theartofsimple.net/eco-friendly-and-green-gift-wrapping-ideas-for-this-holiday-season/

http://www.env.go.jp/en/focus/attach/060403-5.html

Gift Giving – Erin Moore

Upcycled gifts: recycling something that you would typically throw out and making it into something new. Often this is done with wine bottles for lamps, vases, or other decorative items. It is done with corkscrews to make art or just a cork board. Crochet with plastic bags to make bags or baskets or use cut up old t-shirts to crochet with. Make coasters out of old CDs you don't use anymore Make a notebook from various scrap paper as something fun/different. (look on Pinterest

for numerous ideas)

Gifts like Shampoos, Conditioners, Soaps, Face Scrubs - companies like Lush, Ethique, and others make bar products that are packaged in cardboard with no to minimal plastic. Cute wool dryer balls that look like sheep or penguins and both help to keep static down and dry clothes faster

Reusable Silicon Bags can be given as gifts to replace the throw away ziploc bags. They are safe even for meats and can be frozen. Some are even dishwasher friendly. Bees Wax wrap/cover in various sizes that is re-washable to replace plastic wrap. The downside is that it can't be used with meats. Counter top composter or a larger composter bin for outside. “Minimalist Baker’s Everyday Cooking” cookbook by Dana Schultz features 101 Entirely Plant-based, Mostly Gluten-Free, Easy and Delicious Recipes  

Plastic free phone case by PelaEco-friendly journal - recycled paper, cork board cover

Buy used books that are like new: betterworldbooks.com For every book sold they donate to the literacy foundation, also there is an option for carbon footprint offset. 

If you know someone who has Kueirg - get the reusable pod you can fill with your own coffee or search for pods that are compostable rather than the regular plastic pods. 

Clothes - look at thrift stores for good finds, sometimes even with the price tag still on it.Shoes - Rothys and All Birds are two brands that are trying to make sustainable shoes - both are becoming very popular Hand-crafted Jewelry - there's a line by Noonday that recycles old artillery fragments found on farms into jewelry. As well as a number of other companies that make great handcrafted jewelry from recycled materials. 

There's a line called Green Toys that makes kids toys out of recycled plastic or other materials   

Gift the gift of time. Take someone to lunch, dinner, or coffee. Offer to help someone with a project. As always an eco-friendly, green gift is a donation to a charity or organization. Certainly, one to a eco-friendly, green organization like PCUSA Fossil Fuel, Presbyterians for Earth Care, among others like Sierra Club go a long way to help save the planet. 

Christmas Dinner – Connie Knapp

Basic ideas:

Forget the “meat, starch, vegetable” idea and instead focus on an array of dishes Any vegetable soup makes a good first course Stuffed squash (butternut or acorn, stuffed with rice/onion/lentils) can serve as a

“main course” A squash and lentil stew (slow cooked or pressure cooked) is another good choice Beans and or/nut loafs can also fill the bill Think “colors”—red cabbage, green Brussels sprouts, stuffed butternut squash

Cookbooks:

Nava Atlas, Vegetarian Celebrationso Vegetarian menus for every holiday

Mark Bittman, How to Cook Everything Vegetariano If you are planning to do much vegetarian cooking, I recommend owning

at least one good vegetarian cookbook. This one also comes as an app which is great when you are in the grocery store-you can look up a recipe and see what you need.

Molly Katzen, Still Life with Menuo Molly Katzen was part of the Moosewood collective and wrote some of

the first Moosewood cookbooks. This one is a bit fancier than most Moosewood cookbooks and has menus for Thanksgiving, Christmas and other occasions.

Deborah Madison, Vegetarian Cooking for Everyoneo This would be a good second vegetarian cookbook (after Mark Bittman’s).

Websites:

This is a posting from 2012. Moosewood Restaurant in Ithaca is a well-known vegetarian “mecca” and the staff has published many cookbooks.

https://moosewoodcooks.com/2012/11/cooking-for-the-holidays/

The website Delish.com has selection of dishes:

https://www.delish.com/holiday-recipes/christmas/g3140/vegetarian-christmas-dinner/

Even Good Housekeeping has gotten into the picture:

https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/holidays/christmas-ideas/g4045/vegetarian-christmas-dinner/

Chef Jamie Oliver has a set of vegetarian dishes for Christmas:

https://www.jamieoliver.com/christmas/collection/vegetarian/

Epicurious.com has some vegan suggestions:

https://www.epicurious.com/occasion/christmas/special-consideration-vegan

Cleaning Up after the Celebration – Kathy Dean

Environmental Working Grouphttps://www.ewg.org/

EWG empowers people to live healthier lives in a healthier environment. With breakthrough research and education, we drive consumer choice and civic action.

Ewg' Skin Deep Database EWG's Skin Deep ® cosmetic database …Foundation · Moisturizer · Shampoo

Cleaners Ingredient information found on the label …Laundry · Top Products · Dishwashing

Consumer Products The tragic death of a restaurant worker …Cosmetics · Sunscreens

Foodnews EWG helps protect your family from …Summary · Spinach · Strawberries · EWG

Consumer Guides EWG VERIFIED Learn more about EWG’s new mark to help you buy healthier personal …

Cleaning up; try vinegar instead of bleach and other detergents.

Environmental Working Group Website will advise about sustainable products, but not how much plastic is used.They have reviewed 2500 products.

Tips for products to avoid- Anti bacterial products- Air fresheners, open windows instead- Drain cleaners, instead use drain snake instead- Fabric softeners, instead use drier balls- Scented products- Ammonia- Bleach, use vinegar instead

Faith and Order ConversationRob Trawick, Jeff Geary, and Jeromy HowardThe conversation discussed the following overtures that HPR has recommended to GA224

An Overture to the 224th GA from the Session of White Plains Presbyterian Church, on divesting from fossil fuel securities, using the Carbon Underground 200 and the S&P Global Industry Classification.

An Overture to the 224th GA from the Session of First Montgomery Presbyterian Church, entitled “PCUSA Paid Family Leave.”

Concurrence with an overture to the 224th General Assembly of the PC(USA), from the Presbytery of Beaver-Butler, entitled “On the authority of Presbyteries to define severance plans for installed ministers.”

The text of these overtures may be found at http://www.hudrivpres.org/meetings/archived-presbytery-meeting-materials/dec-3-2019-meeting/