Empires Always Fall

And, you have to make allowences for water

Nov 06, 2024

Empires always fall

And, you have to make allowances for water.

You can try to divert it, you can try to dam it up, but it will always go somewhere.

Forests are strong because they are connected beneath the surface, because their roots run deep, because they are tapped into the ancient wisdom of the mycelium.

Squirrels going about their business for winter hide nuts the spread the forest, forgotten treasures that turn into next years trees.

Our waters run deep, our roots run deep.

Let us tap into ancient wisdom and if nothing else, let’s keep burying those nuts for winter so they can become next year’s trees.

Empires always fall.

Inspired by Adrienne Maree Brown’s post on Instagram, my substack post You Have to Make Allowances for Water, and Jarod Anderson’s book Something in the Wood’s Loves You

You Have to Make Allowences for Water

Anna Elisabeth Howard, CJN

Jul 13

Sweat drips steadily down my face as I do what I always do when I come here: take the dogs and head straight for the river. I stare between the upright triangular ears of my boston terrier and the floppy but alert ears of my boxer as they lead me through the field like a mis-matched dog-sled team. The boxer is strolling and the boston is trotting and thus they match speed despite their vastly different leg lengths. They pause to sniff a particular clump of grass and I try in vain to keep the sweat out of my eyes. I don’t remember it ever being this humid in the mountains even in July.

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“I wish I could still believe in God, but I can’t be a Christian anymore because of ______” Fill-in-the-blank with racism, misogyny, homophobia, toxic capitalism, and so on. I’ve had this conversation with different people almost word-for-word over and over. White American Christianity has so defined God that many people cannot separate God from the toxic theology they were taught.

But this isn’t the God I see in the Bible. The Bible shows us a God meeting people where they are and nudging them towards justice and total thriving for all: shalom. The Bible details arcs of justice and societal reform. If we understand how radical those arcs were in the context of the day, we can extend them forward into the future and figure out how to work for justice, total thriving, and societal reformation in our day.

I grew up in that first world view. Come along, and I’ll tell you the story of how I escaped, and I’ll show you a theology that I believe paints a more accurate picture: a faith for the common good where everyone thrives and no one is left out.

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Anna Elisabeth Howard writes highly caffeinated takes on shalom as a lens for everything from her front porch in Hendersonville, TN where she lives with her husband and two sons. She is a community organizer and movement chaplain with a background in youth and family ministry and is a graduate of Fuller Theological Seminary. An avid hiker and backpacker, many thoughts start somewhere in the middle of the woods, or under a waterfall. She is a regular contributer to Earth & Altar and her latest book is Inward Apocalypse: Uncovering a Faith for the Common Good.

Buy Inward Apocalypse: Amazon | Independent Booksellers

Social media: Facebook | Instagram

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