Dear Earthlings,
I am overjoyed to be traveling to China and Korea with Dr. John B. Cobb Jr. to help create an Ecologic Civilization. Dr. Zhihe Wang and Dr. Meijun Fan, the co-directors of the Post Modern Institute for the Development of China,postmodernchina.org/have invited me on this adventure which promises to be a life transformative experience for me and our church. I will bring back ideas to contribute to the environmental movement and our church mission. We are leaving on September 16th and returning October 2019.
In China we will travel to four different provinces: Beijing in Hebei Province, Taigu in Shandong Province, Liandu in Zhejiang Province and Puer in southwest China on the Vietnam border in the Yunnan Province. We will then travel to Korea for the first Interfaith Ecologic Conference where Dr. Cobb will be the keynote speaker and I have been invited to present a paper. We will learn from religious leaders and scholars at the. “Interfaith Dialogue for a Sustainable Ecological Civilization” http://www.yeojuecoforum.org/.We are invited to listen to the earth speak to us in dreams and I will share how dream sharing invites us to become close interfaith friends. Dream sharing is honored in all the wisdom traditions and after having been left out for hundreds of years, dream honorings is an ancient spiritual practice whose time had come back.
Church for Our Common Home offers an internet ministry that invites worship, educational programs and dream sharing in person as well as on the internet. James Long has created an exciting new lay ministry at Church for Our Common Home and our Digital Arts Team. Please watch our worship on Sundays 5 pm Pacific Standard Time on Live Stream and on the church Facebook page and see the edited versions at this link.http://www.churchforourcommonhome.com/new-page Special thanks to our church member Jamie Long and our new Digit Arts Team for they are moving our ministry out into the world in a big way, just in time for my presentation at the first Interfaith Ecology conference on the planet. Providence seems to be at work!
This conference in Korea is particularly meaningful for me because I lived in Korea beginning when I was six years old and have not previously returned. Here is my passport photo when my family and I moved to Korea in 1962, 57 years ago. How much has changed in Korea since I attended the first grade in Seoul?
Here is a photo of me on a medical tour of China in 1981 when I was 25 years old. How much have I changed in the last 60 years? China, Korea and I have changed more than any of us could have imagined!
Dr. Cobb is the preeminent interpreter of Alfred North Whitehead and process thought and theology, teaches a “… a process-relational worldview (e.g. the philosophical tradition of Alfred North Whitehead)–including the principles of interconnection, change, and intrinsic value–for advancing the common good.” The process God is one of creativity, transformative change and love and s/he is calling us forward for the common good on this trip to China and Korea in hope that we can change the way we think and live in order to create an ecologic civilization. https://claremontprocess.org/
Here is a photo of the Institute for the Post Modern Development of China and Church for Our Common Home sponsoring a special Earth Day Program and dinner in 2019, hosting Dr. Oon, from Malaysia about her international work with Eco Enzymeshttps://www.enzymesos.com/what-is-eco-enzymeand the 2019 winner of the John Cobb Common Good Award, at Church for Our Common Home.
Dr. Cobb, Dr. Wang and Dr. Fan have been instrumental in making this ecologic revolution a reality in China. It is urgent that we learn to live more ecologically and organically in order to change and survive as a human species. Together this unlikely and amazing trio of Cobb, Wang and Fan have created 37 process centers at major universities in China, who in turn have helped to inspire emerging eco-villages, organic farming and other sustainability projects we need to learn about and emulate. I will bring back ideas to the United States, locally to San Diego, to my denomination of the Unitarian Universalist Association https://www.uua.org/connect/web and to our Church for Our Common Home. It has not only the prophetic genius of Dr. Cobb as a teacher that has given me and millions of us a new ecologic vision to live by, it is because he practices what he preaches and is the best ambassador of Christianity of anyone I have ever known. It is his radically loving natures that inspire me perhaps more than his prophetic genius.
Fifty years ago, in 1969 space travelers went to the moon and brought back this photo of our common home- Mother Earth. That same year, Dr. Cobb had an awakening and wrote a book, Is It Too Late? A Theology of Ecologyabout our environmental crisis. He has led us as a prophet, philosopher, theologian and environmentalist in his inspiring and tireless life’s work, not only telling the truth about the severity of our problem, but offering a vision to save the world. So, is it too late to save ourselves from our global catastrophe? I say NEVER! Why? Because I am a grandmother with my third grandchild due to be born the first week of September and as Dr. Cobb says, “Where there is life there is hope.” We have no choice but to work to save the world’s future generations of human and non-human life. I go on this trip to companion a planetary treasure and holy man, Dr. Cobb to China and Korea and will bring back his wisdom and stories of people from around the world working to save us from extinction. Please call me if you have any questions, ideas or special requests (858) 248-5123. The Institute for the Post Modern Development of China has generously offered to pay some of my expenses outside of travel costs while I am in China. I am raising funds for my air travel, other travel expenses and need your support to cover the estimated cost of $3,000.00. No gift of support is too small. Please make tax deductible checks to Church for Our Common Home credit cards are also welcomed.
In gratitude,
Rev. Bonnie Tarwater
Minister Church for Our Common Home
13014 Calle De Las Rosas, SD CA 92129
churchforourcommonhome.com (858) 248-5123 revtarwater@yahoo.com
Affiliate Community Minister of First UU Church of San Diego