The Economist has a good article on some recent (and not so recent) moves linking religious communities with addressing ecological issues (not just climate change, I’d say). They report that a recent meeting of religious leaders, Prince Philip and Ban Ki-moon resulted in various action plans according to one’s tradition.

The Daoists for example have comitted to burning less incense – this is the one that caught my attention most. It is a rather curious idea – when you sit and think about it you can certainly see how that could affect one’s carbon foot print (the harvesting, and burning of plant materials for incense releasing trapped carbon, and/or inhibiting the absorbtion of additional/existing carbon). Here we’ve talked a little bit about incense – and sourcing it locally/indiginously – could that also have a positive effect? Think of the air-miles involved in transporting myrrh, and frankincense for example, whereas something locally grown, or produced in your region would, simply due to the reduction in transport carbon emissions – be greener.

How does your community source the bread used for your local eucharist? How green are Ghostie-toasties? How green is home-baked bread (leavened or unleavened)? I don’t know. I suspect however, that the lamentable bone white wafer is far from being green. But where did the wheat come from for baking your local bread? Here in the UK most of our bread baking wheat, I think, still comes mostly from Canada – eeek!

Would a service lit solely with beeswax candles be greener than say one illuminated with eco-bulbs?

Are we indie folk asking these questions in our communities? If so – what is your community doing?

But while I’m fast approaching my word-limit/post I’d like to re-visit a related topic which is, I suspect, an even more effective means of Indie-Eco-Activism: Food! Food production, and food security is a very serious issue one that has a huge, HUGE impact on ecology and not in your back yard necessarily, but in the back, front, and side gardens of those least able to afford the consequences.

Over the past 100 years throughout the Christian world our theology of food, has quietly smouldered in the background, some of the best elements – like traditional fasting periods – having been eroded, until they are little more than vestigial digits on our calenders.

Perhaps, in our tiny communities of 5, 10, and 20 people we OC/IC folk could inspire a bit of a mini-revolution in theology and praxis that brings the issue of food, and the ecological and social consequences of its production, sale, and consumption to the fore.

We’ve talked about the “numbers game” in relation to notions of “success” in ministry (here). There is however, another branch of this “game” which we often bemoan, and joke about behind the closed doors in OC/IC circles; but rarely, constructively, in the open. For lack of a better term I’ll call this “High-speed Zapping”.

High-speed Zapping is giving offices and orders to incomers or participants who have literally just walked in the door. They have not been chrismated. They have had neither the time, nor the opportunity to discern whether this community is the one with which they will “throw in their lot” and live the spiritual life. They have not had the opportunity to invest in the community, neither has the community had time to invest in them. In short, their suitability for such offices, indeed for life in an indie community has not been intelligently assessed. The consequences of High-speed Zapping are known to all. We have, all of us, either seen it in our own communities, or have helped to pick up the pieces, and heal individuals and communities that have been caught up in it.

If we sit and honestly assess the situation I think we are all painfully aware of the root causes; in addition to the pull of the other branch of the numbers game (false sense of success), we face the challenges of ego, empire building, and a lack of authentic leadership. But what can serious OC/IC believers do to make a positive change in this situation?

To be sure I don’t have the answers. I can describe what my tiny community has formulated as its rule over the past 15 years of debate, experience, and observation of other communities. One is chrismated after a year as a participant (can.2.3a). You may not hold office, you may not vote, until you have converted and are chrismated. Members are not eligible for ordination before one full year after their chrismation (can. 8.3e); there must be a need within the community for a new ordinand (can. 8.b,c,m), and the community must approve the ordination (can. 8.3). Don’t even think about a mitre! You have to be a lay or ordained member for at least five years (can. 8.6c), the community elects new bishops (can. 7.8); and there must be a real need for a new bishop (can. 8.1n).*

This is but one model answering the problem in one community, how can we address it as a group of fellow indie believers seeking to improve our lot? A symptom (or consequence?) of High-speed Zapping is Synod Hopping (I really need to start an OC/IC dictionary!), where individuals, in order to acquire the orders and titles that they want for their own personal purposes, jump from one bishop to another, leaving a wake of hurt and destruction behind them.

Here again is where I think a working theory of friendship and collaboration comes into its own. If I enjoy a friendship with Bishop X and his/her community, and an individual from that community starts Synod Hopping and comes to me for say – a mitre because she is not going to get her way with Bishop X; out of respect for my friends, and in solidarity with another faithful OC/IC community that I trust, I’ll refuse and send her back to her community. It’s that simple. There is no formal organisation here, just a simple convention, and act of respect for my friends.

I suspect that if enough solid friendships are built, and acted upon, that the problem of high-speed zapping, and synod hopping would quickly wane.

*[For those interested you can acquire a complete copy of our canons here.]