As “Summer of Heat” continues in New York, Third Actors are taking action in their own communities during Elders Week, July 8-13. From Augusta, ME, to San Francisco, and from Minneapolis to Broward, FL, elders will host rallies, demonstrations, sing-alongs, and other events to pressure Wall Street banks to stop using our hard-earned retirement savings to fund the climate crisis.
Third Act Faith folks are taking part in these actions and also stepping up during SOH’s Faith Week, July 29-August 3. To provide spiritual grounding for these and other SOH events, TAF has prepared a recorded contemplative service, designed to speak across traditions and address the ethical and spiritual dimensions of climate activism.
Rev. Dr. Jessica McArdle created the recorded contemplative service. Including interfaith chants, prayer, and petitions, the recording provides an immersive guided forest meditation. Designed to invite participants to experience the natural world’s refreshment, the recording’s intent also underscores the earth’s fragility and our summons to safeguard what has been entrusted to us.
An environmental and social justice activist, Jessica is also a practicing contemplative with twenty-five-plus years’ of experience in ordained ministry, including interfaith chaplaincy. She also serves on the Environmental Ministries Team of the Southern New Conference of the United Church of Christ, which supports greening local congregations and enlisting faith communities to protect democracy. She blogs at thespiritualactivist@blog.
The contemplative service is available on TAF’s YouTube channel for individuals or congregations taking action during Elders Week, Faith Week, or any of the 12 weeks of Summer of Heat. We invite anyone anywhere to view our virtual service as a way to engage in prayer and solidarity with those taking action in New York and across the country.
If you do not live close enough to New York to take action on Wall Street, visit Third Act’s Summer of Heat page to locate an action near you during Elders Week, or to see how you can take part from home.
On August 1, as part of Faith Week, members of TAF will join people of faith from GreenFaith, Dayenu, Earth Quaker Action Team, and XR Mindful Rebels for a day of food, song, art, and meaningful spiritual practice in Citi Plaza. If you can be there in person, register here.
Again there are options for those who cannot be in New York. On August 1 at 1:00 PM PT/4:00 PM ET, GreenFaith is hosting a Virtual Action Hour, to flood Citibank with phone calls. In the meantime, you can sign this letter calling on Citibank to do the right thing: stop funding fossil fuel expansion in the Gulf South, invest in clean energy, and reverse the environmental racism that they have been bankrolling for years.