First lady Michelle Obama and 26 elementary students used the Spring Equinox day of March 21, 2009 to plant spinach, blueberries, and other vegetables and berries on the South Lawn of the White House.
Rabbi Jesus said, Like sun and rain, have no enemies.
I imagine Green Jesus today holding up bonobo primates, who live in the wild on the west bank of the Congo River in Africa, as models for us in peacemaking They do no practice violence within their species or against other species. If we want a peaceful world, without an incredible amount of ecological destruction caused by war, we need to imitate the bonobo, 98 percent of whose DNA overlaps with ours.
To extol crows and lilies of the field, as Jesus did, implies that all More-than-Humans deserve their proportionate space.
The Song of Solomon, better named the Song of Songs, is a poetic allegory full of passion for Earth Community. Lyrics ooze delight in wild animals—doves, gazelles, foxes, lions, leopards, and ravens. Growing up, Jesus drank wine and danced and sang lyrics from the Song of Songs during multiple nature festivals. Fascinatingly, it is the only book in the Bible in which the names of God in their myriad forms do not appear.
Jesus said, “Beqa na’ba. Consider crows.” Ponder and examine them carefully. My surname, Grabill, is an English transliteration of the Swiss-German Krahen-buhl, literally Mother Crow Hill. What does considering Mother Crow teach me? Communal crows love to play and pretend to be asleep. When a cat stalks a crow and is ready to pounce, the crow may swoop into the air, cackling. Parents and non-parental singles cooperatively feed broods of five to seven chicks and each other. Extended families communicate with an unusual range of calls and help each other gather insects, fruit, and carrion that Earth Community provides. Considering crows teaches me to rely more on Mother Earth directly, by gardening, and to participate more in coops and Farmer’s Markets.
