Rev. Stacey Mitchell will talk with us about the UU Animal Ministry (UUAM) and the history of Animal Ministry within UUism. And also cover the many different forms of animal advocacy that UUAM is involved in.

The #Resilient40 (#R40) is an African youth climate organization and network made up of over 168 youth organizations and over 70 prominent young leaders, and we are very active on ground within 30 African countries. We are the youth cluster lead under the non state actors steering committee channeling African youth voices into decision making processes across Africa. We are a core partner of the COP Water for Climate Pavilion so an active voice within the UNFCCC processes.

We are a unique diverse cross-sectoral group of passionate youth NGOs committed to working with communities on climate justice, gender, governance, finance, nature conservation, human rights, climate resilience, and making their voices heard across Africa and globally. 

This next generation of leaders created a platform to build momentum to face then threat of climate change and to improve climate resilience across Africa and around the world. Given our work around gender equity, climate justice, governance, finance, Biodiversity, Energy, nature conservation, climate justice, research, food security, migration, chemical and waste management, climate change, debt relief, capacity building and policy work allover the African continent. We are a core partner of a global coalition for global governance fostering African youth voices into such global governance processes.

https://resilient40.org/

When we selected this topic it seemed like an obvious choice. This month includes Thanksgiving in the US, a time for families and friends to gather over a feast, celebrated for some of us in spite of its flawed history. Many other cultures observe a day of thanks for the harvest in the fall as well. The result of the US election, which we realize also affects the rest of world even though you all don’t get a vote, has made it more challenging for many of us to think of good things. But we need a practice of gratitude more than ever in dark times.

Gratitude can be a feeling or a spiritual practice, and can lead us to reflect on our lives in this fall season. Mary Oliver’s poem “Gratitude” focuses on the beauties of the world, but you may have more personal and specific things you are thinking about. Another poem you might want to look at is Marge Piercy’s “The Art of Blessing the Day.”

As we discuss these two poems, we could share what we feel grateful for, our practices and our customs.

Poem: “Gratitude” by Mary Oliver
 
What did you notice?
The dew-snail;
the low-flying sparrow;
the bat, on the wind, in the dark;
big-chested geese, in the V of sleekest performance;
the soft toad, patient in the hot sand;
the sweet-hungry ants;
the uproar of mice in the empty house;
the tin music of the cricket’s body;
the blouse of the goldenrod.
What did you hear?
The thrush greeting the morning;
the little bluebirds in their hot box;
the salty talk of the wren,
then the deep cup of the hour of silence.
When did you admire?
The oaks, letting down their dark and hairy fruit;
the carrot, rising in its elongated waist;
the onion, sheet after sheet, curved inward to the pale green wand;
at the end of summer the brassy dust, the almost liquid beauty of the flowers;
then the ferns, scrawned black by the frost.
What astonished you?
The swallows making their dip and turn over the water.
What would you like to see again?
My dog: her energy and exuberance, her willingness,
her language beyond all nimbleness of tongue,
her recklessness, her loyalty, her sweetness,
her strong legs, her curled black lip, her snap.
What was most tender?
Queen Anne’s lace, with its parsnip root;
the everlasting in its bonnets of wool;
the kinks and turns of the tupelo’s body;
the tall, blank banks of sand;
the clam, clamped down.
What was most wonderful?
The sea, and its wide shoulders;
the sea and its triangles;
the sea lying back on its long athlete’s spine.
What did you think was happening?
The green beast of the hummingbird;
the eye of the pond;
the wet face of the lily;
the bright, puckered knee of the broken oak;
the red tulip of the fox’s mouth;
the up-swing, the down-pour, the frayed sleeve of the first snow—
so the gods shake us from our sleep.