Finding Refuge in God's New Earth

Today we are facing an unprecedented assault on both the world's poor and the natural world. Marginalized people and wildlife all need refuge or the planet's most vulnerable and beautiful life will become extinguished. Those of us in solidarity with people at the edges of society and with nature feel the pain and chaos of marginalization. We often find it difficult to step out of the fray into contemplative spaces where our minds, bodies and spirits can be renewed. Yet this is essential since there are direct links between the degradation of the human spirit and the destruction of the natural world.

Seeing the beauty in God, in ourselves, in the poor and in nature is essential if our resistance is to be sustainable. In fact it was Moses' mother and Pharaoh's daughters' seeing the baby's beauty that led to the first acts of non-compliance with Pharaoh's imperial power in Exodus. Seeing the beauty requires cultivating watchfulness and prayer—precursors to contemplation. I am convinced that we all need sanctuaries so we can not only survive but flourish in the struggle for life and liberation.

We have recently been graced with 35 acres of forest and pastureland on the Skagit River an hour north of Seattle where we have established New Earth Refuge—a family-based hospitality and retreat center tied to Tierra Nueva—a ministry to Latino immigrants and others on the margins. Here we actively seek a sustainable life of solidarity with both people and nature under assault.

Our journey has been long and perilous, but also rich and rewarding. An extended trip to Central America in 1980-1981 was both an awe-inspiring awakening to the beauty and dignity of the poor and a jarring introduction to the dark side of US Empire. While studying Spanish in Guatemala for six months we learned from our Guatemalan teachers about our nation's numerous violent interventions against democratic movements throughout Latin America . We witnessed the terror of a civil war that claimed thousands of lives of Guatemala 's indigenous peoples. We felt called to somehow address the root causes of poverty, and found support from a Christian community in Oregon to work among peasants in Honduras .