Earth Day Arts Salon at Good Earth Farm: ATHENS, OH

This past Earth Day, an intergenerational group of local folks gathered to share their love and awe of creativity and creation. We sat in a living room warmed by a wood stove. We shared songs, photographs, stories, and poems. We sang together, oohed over the joyfully taut art of juggling, and took an afternoon to ponder how the arts often ask us to see the world differently--then to live in that different world.

For me, art is ever-evolving proof of the Spirit moving among us. Since I was a wee thing, I've thought about creation/creativity as a gift from the ultimate Creator--not only something vast and remarkable God gives us, but an ongoing conversation God expects us to join. Our Earth Day celebration reminded me that, despite too much evidence to the contrary, there are people of faith who care deeply about the natural world and sustainability in the name of a Greater Good.

By the end of the afternoon, after the potluck with blue corn cornbread and local honey, chocolate popcorn, chevre, and hearty casseroles of red beans and rice--after the table had been laid with visual art and after a quick visit out to see the new lambs, I felt as if we'd lived out a new psalm. Selah.