Gray Mountain is the latest suspense novel from John Grisham. It involves a young female lawyer from NYC who was laid off as a result of the 2008 economic crash who goes to work for a year as an unpaid legal intern in a small legal aid office in Appalachia. It provides detailed descriptions of the environmental and human brutality of strip coal mining. Canadian registered companies control 70% of the world's mining activity some of which have these kinds of affects on local communities.
We were there in September when more than 400,000 people gathered in New York City for the People’s Climate March. And we were among over a million human beings who took to the streets in every part of our globe. We marched for those of us in Cameroon, Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala and for all who are most affected by climate change and who bear the brunt of a system that favours those who have.
This December, 2014 world leaders will meet once again - this time in Lima Peru. As part of the lead up to the next major Climate Summit in Paris in 2015, representatives from the world’s governments are meeting to develop an outline of a new international climate agreement. Canada is a key player in these climate negotiations and we must continue to work for our country leaders to play a positive role.
The first reading from Isaiah greets us as unclean, sinful souls whose deeds are like polluted rags. How depressing – but wait- we are then reminded that God is our father. We are the clay and God is the potter. We are the work of his hands.
My mother was a ceramic artist. I grew up watching her throw ugly lumps of grey clay on her potter’s wheel and patiently mold them into beautiful vessels. She painted them with glaze that appeared also grey and drab. Only after firing them in her kiln would the magic appear. Mother waited with great expectation while the fire did its magic and released the colors she knew were hidden there. Opening the kiln was like opening a present. How she treasured the work of her hands.
