By Ryan Klinck

“If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.” - Philippians 2:1-4

It feels as though our ancestors
Took our beloved Earth
Placed it on top of a mountain
And pushed it over an edge

And as it began to roll
Down and down and down

Their science became
Better
and better
and better

And they saw the things they made
Move faster
and faster
and faster

Which meant there was
More and more food,
And faster and faster machines
Which meant greater and greater things
That led to better
And better
And better for you and me

And they saw it was good
So in one mighty chorus we proclaimed
“Let us make our Earth spin faster,
Because speed and efficiency led to
Better
And better
And better things

So, they found ways to make the Earth spin down the mountain even faster
Because faster
and faster
and faster
Meant that things would be better
and there would be more
and more

And more for me…

And things continued
Faster
and faster
and faster
Down the mountain
Until some of them began to realize
After working
Too many hours
Too many days
Too many weeks
Without a break...
“Faster, doesn’t mean ‘better’
For me.”

And they tried to slow down the Earth
But they were too few
And the Earth rolled right over them

Some people took notice of this disaster
But their hearts were not moved
Because it did not affect “me”

So the Earth rolled
and rolled
and rolled
Faster
and faster
and faster

And more people began to realize
Disaster
after disaster
after disaster
That faster led to disaster
And they warned and warned their leaders
And they asked and asked their friends
And they cried and cried out for help

But we could not agree
And those with greed
Who had built the machines
Continued to move our Earth
Faster
and faster
and faster

And now our home spirals out of control
And we do not know how to make it slow

And we argue
and argue
and argue
About who is to blame
Who is sane
Who will save us from this fate

Some say
“Me, me, me,
I will save you.”
And others say
“You, you, you,
You are to blame”
And all the while
the machines move us
Faster
and faster
and faster

And we try
and try
and try
To fix our machines and ways of being
But we still move
Faster
and faster
and faster
Down the mountain
As we
Spin
and spin
and spin
In circles trying to save ourselves
Rather than our home, the Earth

We have reached a point, God,
Where we cannot save ourselves
From the systems and machines we have created
That propel all that is beloved
Towards its death

And we long for the day
That your kingdom may come
And we in full accord ask
For a miracle from you
To save us from ourselves

Questions:
You are invited to sit with these questions and answer them in a journal, a document, or through verbal sharing with a group. Take time to sit with each section for a minute or so and see what rises up within you. Trust what comes up and listen to it, for it may lead you to unawakened parts of yourself.

• Is it always right and good for everyone to agree? Are there times when it is better for there to be disagreement?

• Most of us know our world as a place of disagreement. How do we come to decisions together when it feels like no one can agree on anything anymore?

• Are there things that we can all name in full accord to God? How might God’s kingdom bring about unity in a world filled with severed lines of communication?