Link – Watershed Discipleship

Counter Mapping: a decolonization tool

June 8, 2018June 24, 2018WD Editors

by Dave Pritchett
Watershed Discipleship Editorial Team Member

In my essay, “Watershed Discipleship in Babylon,” in the Watershed Discipleship anthology, I argued that the grid system is fundamentally opposed to the watershed. Where the watershed unites creatures within it by the hydrological cycle, the grid divides by parceling land into commoditized areas. Water in the watershed follows the contours of the earth, whereas the grid superimposes its lines across the landscape. Moreover, since Ancient Greece, the grid has been used as an imperial tool of colonization; it affords empire with a mechanism to quickly and strategically map an area for population and resource control. Read more →

‘A Seat at What Table?’

March 16, 2018April 11, 2018WD Editors

Vice Moderator of Presbyterians For Earth Care, Sue Smith, challenges the church’s position when it comes to investment and climate change. In a recent reflection called “A Seat at What Table?” she writes: Read more →

Anglican Theological Review’s Water Volume

February 9, 2018February 7, 2018WD Editors

A recent edition of the Anglican Theological Review focused on water, and included an article on watershed discipleship by Ched Myers: “Prophetic Visions of Redemption as Rehydration: A Call to Watershed Discipleship” (see abstract here). The volume also includes a number of sermons, poems, and other theological expositions around the theme of water. Though the full text is not available online, you can order a copy through the ATR website, or email them including your name and full address. Through watershed discipleship, Ched invites Christians to “reimagine baptism as a liturgical sign of terrestrial resistance and renewal.”

Photo by Cherice Bock

Schade’s “Preaching the Body of God”

January 6, 2018WD Editors

With all of 2018 ahead of us, it is refreshing to reconnect with more holistic understandings of how to understand our place in the world. Leah D. Schade does just this in her article in The Other Journal, “Preaching the Body of God.” She draws from the work of Sallie McFague to explore environmental justice from an ecofeminist theologian’s perspective, and invites preachers to not shy away from this work in their public witness. As she notes:

Engaging McFague will challenge preachers to question the underlying foundations of our language, especially within the overarching paradigm of patriarchy.

Schade offers helpful tools for thinking through how to preach on environmental topics in light of other justice issues, and in a way that people will understand and connect with. This article is a great read, reinforcing the aid that multiple lenses can bring to our work for environmental issues. You can also check out Schade’s other writing about preaching with eco-themes at her Patheos blog, EcoPreacher.

Eco-contemplation and Action: Bahnson on the Ecology of Prayer

December 20, 2017February 6, 2018Cherice Bock

The latest issue of Orion Magazine, a special 35th anniversary edition, contains several articles that may be of interest to those practicing watershed discipleship, such as “Women and Standing Rock: where does the body end and sacred nature begin?” by Layli Long Soldier (this page contains a number of articles, poems, and photos on a similar theme), and “One Good Turn” by Kathleen Dean Moore, the story of five activists getting in the way of the Keystone XL Pipeline. There’s also a great piece called “The Soldier and the Soil” about an Iraq war veteran who is dealing with his post-traumatic stress through organic farming. This issue of Orion alone could keep you in excellent reading material for the entire holiday season!

Wake Forest School of Divinity professor Fred Bahnson

I point our readers particularly to “The Ecology of Prayer” by Fred Bahnson. It’s a beautifully written essay that moves through the wonder of a tide pool to the startling emptiness of a faith-based climate action rally, he draws us into the poignancy of the emotional and spiritual states many of us find ourselves in when we contemplate creation, and our impact on it. Using the metaphor of moving on to Easter Sunday too quickly without fully experiencing the deep and awful power of Good Friday, Bahnson wrestles with how to best deal with the startlingly intense human reactions to the natural world in all its beauty and loss. How do we grieve well? Read more →