9 parishioners attended: (Gudrun M. & H., Rose/Thorn, Rae, Ruthie, Judy/Harry, and Day)
(Day M.) God is the (see links) Web of Life in nature.
(Pete T.) I relate the book to Turtle Island, how the Sky Woman falls, dancing the Earth into being.
(Rae S.) I was struck by how grateful the Sky Woman was to creation. She has seeds in her hand! This is very different than Adam and Eve being expelled from the garden of Eden.
(Rose B.) Looking at the Discussion Questions, I note positive interactions between humans and Earth nowadays: For example, veganism and wildlife coming back.
(Gudrun M.) The first religions were nature based. Origin stories vary, e.g., deserts in the middle-east vs. the lush new world in USA.
(Ruthie H.) I grew up in the midwest in Indiana, which had more extremes during seasons.
(Judy H.) I've always seen myself as coming from immigrant stock and relate with pilgrims around the world, e.g., in the Middle East.
(Ruthie H.) The roots of plants/trees are underground so communicating and interacting. See the book - Witness Tree, by Linda V. Makes (writer for the Seattle Times).
(Pete T.) Please check out a splendid poem, 'Bless This Land', out of the book - An American Sunrise.
For next week: Lets read 'Gifts of Strawberries' (p. 22 - >) & 'An Offering' (p. 33 ->), 17 pages total.
