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Environmental Missions Prayer Digest
October 2011 |
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Greetings!
Wangari Maathai--Nobel laureate, founder of the Green Belt Movement, and sister-in-Christ Jesus, passed away on Sunday, Sept. 25, at the age of 71. We at Eden Vigil wish her the joy of her resurrection. Often in this opening paragraph, we offer a Scripture passage or a quotation. This month, in  tribute to Professor Maathai, we refer you to a song, Peter Mayer's "Holy Now." (You can find a nice version of it at YouTube here.) The songwriter arrives at the conclusion: So, the challenging thing becomes Not to look for miracles But finding where there isn't one. Often what we come away with from a song, like how we interpret Wangari Maathai's Catholic faith or her activist life, is determined by what we listeners and observers bring to it in the first place. For what do we have eyes to see, or ears to hear? |
Wangari Maathai proposes an Easter Monday celebration
 Professor Wangari Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement in 1977. Its mission, as described, was "to plant trees across Kenya to fight erosion and to create firewood for fuel and jobs for women." In 2004, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, becoming the first African woman and the first environmentalist to win the prize. While Green Belt's "Billion Trees Campaign" may be calculated in the number of seedlings planted, Professor Maathai's legacy may be best understood in her statement: "The planting of trees is the planting of ideas. By starting with the simple act of planting a tree, we give hope to ourselves and to future generations."
In 2005, Professor Maathai gave an interview to Mia MacDonald of Beliefnet which was entitled "Heaven Is Green." When asked how she had sought to engage religious leaders in environmental activism, she replied:
For the last few years, I have been trying to communicate with leaders of various Christian churches to urge them to bring protection and conservation of the environment into the mainstream of their faith and their teachings. I have been suggesting that Easter Monday could be a very good day for the entire Christendom to plant trees. If we could make that Monday a day of regeneration, ... it would be a great celebration of Christ's resurrection. After all, Christ was crucified on the cross. In a light touch, I always say, somebody had to go into the forest, cut a tree, and chop it up for Jesus to be crucified. What a great celebration of his conquering [death] it would be if we were to plant trees on Easter Monday in thanksgiving.
Please join us in prayer: - For comfort to the family and friends of Professor Maathai who are mourning her death.
- For the continued success of the Green Belt Movement, now that its founder has passed away.
- For the re-forestation of Kenya. The country's forests have dropped below 2% of total area, and as such are exacerbating drought, erosion, and climate change.
- For the Ogiek, the ancestral forest dwellers of the decimated Mau Forest. They live in
 | | Ogiek men examine a 3D map that they helped create from tribal memories, detailing the landscape of the Mau Forest prior to its decimation. |
constant tension with the government and have often been displaced. Less than 5% of the Ogiek are Christian. Literacy rates are low, so the Gospel must come in oral forms.
Link: Heaven is Green: An Interview with Wangari Mathaai Photo of Maathai: Martin Rowe Photo of Ogiek: Giacomo Rimbaldi |
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We look forward to serving you in the months ahead.
Thank you for praying.
And please remember: if you know of any environmental missions projects or prayer requests, please send them our way.
Lowell Bliss
Eden Vigil
Links: Contact the editors, Eden Vigil website, Donations to Eden Vigil
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