DEN Enews

The last candle of Advent is for LOVE - Love sent to us through the birth of the baby Jesus. May the light of these candles and all they represent be with you always.

Speaking of love, Grandma is spreading Joy and Love in her last submission before the New year as only Claudia can do. We here at the Enews are always in awe of her energy and enthusiasm and there are good things brewing. Grandma gets the last word today in our last Enews of the month, ( well, we will send out Christmas greetings but then you won’t hear from us until January)

Thank you

I’m hoping, perhaps even expecting, that Carole will send out one more issue before Christmas. ( Yup - this is it!) If so, I think it’s the perfect time to pause and give thanks for all the good environmental work taking place across our provinces. And to do that properly, we need to begin with a little history.

Back in 2012, Rev. Marian Lucas-Jeffries was the parish priest in the Parish of Blandford. I remember her telling me she was heading off to see the Bishop, the Rev. Sue Moxley. That’s the grown-up version of being sent to the principal’s office; not necessarily bad, but you know something is brewing.

Around that same time, Grandma had started popping up regularly at Messy Church. It began as a “one-time” event to show children how to plant something. (Yes… one time.) Not long after, Rev. Marian shared that the Bishop wanted her to start an environmental group, something that would spread environmental awareness and action across the Diocese.

In more ways than I can name, I offer my deep gratitude to Rev. Marian. A network was formed and, slowly but surely, it grew. DEN — the Diocesan Environment Network — is now well known among other environmental groups. Since 2012, Rev. Marian has led us in coastline protection projects, marched in Pride parades, marched for peace, marched for environmental causes, and marched alongside youth advocating for school issues. She organized the 2019 Enviro Expo at St. Mark’s Church (I was the colourful pinwheel lady!). If it involves caring for creation, our own Mo Marian is usually right there, sleeves rolled up.

Her right-hand person in all this work is Carole Aylard. I honestly couldn’t count the number of events Carole has attended. Carole is our editor, and since the early days of DEN she has helped to keep us informed. In the early days, it was likely an occasional email, perhaps typing one address at a time. Then came newsletters sent faithfully at major church seasons: Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas. And then, in 2020, at the beginning of the lonely pandemic, Carole became the editor of a weekly DEN e-news. Week after week, she kept the information flowing. ( Editor’s Note: Claudia is being exceptionally generous in her praise of this editor. We must gratefully acknowledge that Marian sent group emails in the early days and that Suzanne McConnell and her son Cory were earlier editors).

That was when Grandma was invited to contribute, and I’ve been happily writing ever since.

(Editor’s Note: and we have been happily benefiting from everything Claudia has written)

But Grandma isn’t the only voice. Eva Evans and Jesse Hamilton are our Advocacy editors. If there’s an environmental action that needs people to show up, or a letter to be written to an MLA or MP, Eva and Jesse have it covered.

I could keep adding names of others within DEN who deserve thanks, but, none are as important as you.

Yes, you — the one reading this. Simply reading our newsletter matters. Without readers, there’s little reason to do any of the rest.

This is where Grandma’s “power of one” really shines. I write something, and maybe one person mentions it to one other person. Suddenly two people are aware. If each of them tells one more, that’s four. Then eight. Then sixteen. Just imagine how that spreads through this newsletter week after week.

And now, we may be about to see it grow again.

Grandma had an idea. (I know… look out.) I mentioned to Rev. Marian how grateful I am for DEN and for how open our network has always been. We welcomed any environmental group, asking only that they sign up for the newsletter. Individuals joined the same way. Carole! How many people do we send our e-news to now? I’m guessing it’s a healthy number.

I also floated another idea: perhaps it’s time for a network of pollinator seed spreaders. I already know of New Glasgow, Nova Scotia’s first Bee City. I know of individuals. And of course, there’s our Seed Share project. I don’t yet know how this might take shape, but, be warned, a pollinator seed spreader group may be forming within DEN.

From a trip to the Bishop’s office in 2012… to thirteen years of diocesan support for environmental work… to five years of a weekly DEN e-news… and now to dreaming about pollinator seed networks — we keep growing. We keep spreading.

All because one Bishop and one priest believed the environment mattered.

Thanks be to God.