Dirt is really good for you. The bacterium found in healthy soil improves the immune system, lowers anxiety and increases cognitive abilities. When we dig in the dirt, we inhale good bacteria. When we live close to the land, we ingest some of the good bacteria from the vegetables and fruits. When we touch dirt, the good bacteria enters tiny cuts in our skin. Dirt increases the serotonin in our brains which lowers our anxiety and depression. Studies point to the fact that the bacterium in good healthy soil is real medicine. Research has found that children who grow up on a farm are 30-50% less likely to develop asthma and have fewer allergies than city kids.  Maybe instead of telling our children not to eat dirt, we should be serving healthy soil with their meals. Maybe instead of telling them to wash their hands, we should have them rub their hands in dirt before coming to the table. 

Our health is dependent on the earth. Our immune system is dependent on the health of the soil. Our cognitive health depends on good dirt. Protecting and caring for the soil, protects and cares for us. It was not an accident that Jesus used dirt to heal the blind man that day. As our model for living, through that one act, Jesus, a.k.a the new Adam or "earth creature", teaches us that the dirt from which we were formed, the dirt to which we will return and the dirt on which we stand, has healing power. The dirt can open our eyes to see things in new ways through the interdependence of all that God created. Our responsibility to care for "the least of these" also means caring for the dust of the ground.

Jesus spat on the ground  - on the holy dirt and made mud  - healing mud that he spread on the man's eyes and the man received the gift of sight. May our eyes also be opened to the holiness all around and the holiness of the ground.

"My daughter (on her 15th birthday) was diagnosed with a rare cancer and we were told she had approximately three months to live. She had over 21 sites in her bones with tumors. She remembered a school trip made two years prior to this church in Chimayo and asked if we could take her. We left her back brace, and a picture. We took the dirt home and weeks later she woke in the middle of the night with pain in her right tibia. Not wanting to walk on it, she took her saliva and mixed it with the dirt on her leg. The next scans showed that this particular tumor (lesion) was gone and the doctor could not explain it. 

Healing Dirt from Holy Ground (Just Listen or Sing Along!)

If we perceived Life with reverence, we would stand in awe at the experience of physical Life and walk the Earth in a very deep sense of gratitude.

Gary Zukav
Thoughts from the Seat of the Soul

During 2013, 2,910 persons were served by volunteers from thirteen participating congregations including First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Oak Ridge, TN. Each church, during its month of operation, provides two to five persons on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings to serve clients and five to ten persons on Saturday mornings to pick up donated items.

   
You can see more about the Storehouse at <ecumstore.org>

By Marie Fleming

Communities of faith and Permaculture go together like comfrey and chickens. Duck poop and pond fish. Kids and red wigglers.  People whose image of paradise is a garden and whose ethics are handily summed up as "Earth Care, People Care and Fair share" are ripe for the insights and tools that Permaculture has to offer. In fact, it is hard to find an aspect of congregational life that cannot be enriched by the gifts of Permaculture. Whether people of faith are involved in worship, scripture study, service, learning, advocacy, meditation, eating or property care, Permaculture has a role to play. And the time is ripe for full embrace. Congregations and their members are part of the growing wave of public concern over climate change, energy descent, and the need for resilient, local communities. 

Well-practiced in 'walking the talk,' the dilemma congregations sometimes face is not so much lack of will as it is a lack of know-how, tools, and leadership. Permaculture and its practitioners can provide all three. Over the past five years since Permaculture brought my life into sharp and hopeful focus, I have aimed to "maximize every growing surface" by stacking the functions of pastor and Permie in congregational settings.

I hope one day there will be an international calendar of church-sponsored courses in Permaculture Design, permaculturists on every congregation's leadership council, edible landscapes instead of lawns on church property, and gardening cooperatives that extend permaculture design to parishioners' homes and neighborhoods. Meanwhile, we maximize the growing surfaces within our reach by stacking functions high and wide. We create beauty, share our skills and invest in the relationships at hand. In the process we cultivate a flourishing community that embraces the sacred call to care for the earth and all its inhabitants.

Excerpt from summer 2014 issue #92, by permission of The Permaculture Activist, wwwpermacultureactivist.net

Marie Fleming is a certified Permaculture designer and teacher, and an ordained Disciples of Christ minister in Bloomington, Indiana.  Marie is available for Permaculture design consultation, retreat design and facilitation, and Permaculture presentations. Contact her at flemingmf@earthlink.net

September is National Hunger Action Month. 

Click for Church Resources  from Society of St. Andrew

Learn more from Feeding America

Join the Crop Hunger Walk in your community!

STEPS: 

1. Have an active Green Team.

2. Sign the Alverna Covenant as a team or as a congregation. 

3. Make at least 3 changes that demonstrate your congregation's commitment to caring for God's creation. 

THEN e-mail the following information :  

1. Congregation name, City, State, address and phone number; 

2. the date the Alverna Covenant was signed;

3. and the changes made by your congregation to walk more gently on God's creation.

Around the world, people of faith are coming together to call on political leaders to address climate change issues. National Religious Partnership for the Environment invites Disciples to add our names and call on our political leaders to take a lead role in helping to craft a moral global framework for the UN climate negotiations that will culminate in Paris 2015. 

 Click here to sign the petition. 

Select "Disciples of Christ" as your religious affiliation.