You are invited to experience an Earth Crisis Support Group and Potluck Party (ECSG) at the monthly Zoom Living Earth Movement meeting Thursday, September 21, 1 pm. John Cobb and Bonnie Tarwater came up with this idea while John worked on his most recent book, Confessions. John invited Bonnie to write the last chapter and appendix, the guidelines for these support groups.
Over the summer we have begun a local group in Oregon,New York and one is beginning in San Diego in October. Would you like to begin a group or join one? Come check out how they work. We will run the ECSG on Zoom just like we would in a local setting. I love eating together in person and this is the time during the ECSG that we plan actions and organize together, share news sources, ideas, and stories of hope. Please bring a sandwich or something to snack on and we will actually eat together. Eating together is a powerful bonding experience and it makes any gathering more fun.
You are also invited to eat while we are together as well as bring a virtual potluck dish that you can describe to all of us. ECSG’s gather a group of 6-8 people in peoples homes and we share a potluck party together. We will read out loud the guidelines and actually practice the kind of sharing we do.
Everyone shares for about five minutes two different times around the circle.
First, everyone shares how they are feeling and what is going on with us personally. The second time around we share how we are feeling and our thoughts about our understanding of what is happening in the world, the threat of nuclear war, ecological catastrophes etc. These groups draw upon three small support group models including medical and psychological support groups, Twelve Step meetings and the early Christian church.
Like any support group, we share our similar circumstances, feelings and experiences and naturally develop bonds of closeness that we do not feel so all alone in our challenges. Like a Twelve Step meeting we share written guidelines at each meeting. This enables anyone to be able to volunteer to lead a meeting and enables newcomers to understand the procedures as well as encourages every group to join the ECSG network for a worldwide movement – a Living Earth Movement!
Together our local groups that join in global actions together. Like the early Christian church that grew rapidly, we meet in people’s homes and always share a meal together. Every crisis is an invitation for spiritual growth. These local ECSG’s ideally meet weekly and create local community and close relationships.
We are facing the worst existential crisis the human family has ever known living during the 6th extinction of life on earth - the only one created by us humans. Most of us live in denial. We do not have enough places to share our feelings and thoughts about our escalating planetary crisis. Too often we fall into paralysis.
Guess what? WE DO NOT HAVE TO BE ALONE. These groups are fun, and while we eat together we plans actions in the world, share reliable news sources, and in between meetings we call and give and receive support. The world has gone mad so hey let’s have a party, share deeply about how we are feeling and create close relationships and loving local community and get to work! We thank the Living Earth Movement for being our cosponsor!
Bonnie Tarwater
Contact me if you have any questions, ideas, potluck recipes or want to join or begin an ECSG, (858) 248-5123, revtarwater@yahoo.com, www.churchforourcommonhome.com.
