Renewal

Ollie and I had the opportunity to take part in an amazing conference earlier this year called Renewing Hope: Pathways of Religious Environmentalism. It was an amazing gathering of eco-theologians, religious scholars, grassroots religious environmentalists...and Ollie. This is Ollie at one of the many planning meetings he attended leading up to the conference. He was always a good sport and here, is modeling the conference t-shirts for everyone. The conference took place during the last weekend of February. I recently received these photos, though, from friends...so wanted to post them!

I made this shirt for Ollie by cutting up the adult-sized shirt pictured above and stitching it into a little Ollie-sized pullover. He was a little symbol of hope for everyone at the conference. Here, he is taking a break from his ushering duties to look out a window and pose for our friend, Matt.

The smallest (and coolest) member of the "event staff" team.

Ollie and Mama taking a break from helping to set up the Interfaith Eco-service in Marquand Chapel. Ollie had a special role during the service, walking a pitcher of water down an aisle while Paul Winter played music. Ollie did a great job.

Checking out the chairs before people arrive.

Mama and our friend, Josh, working at the registration table.

For anyone who's interested, streamed video of parts of the conference, including Sallie McFague's lecture, are available at: www.yale.edu/divinity/video/index.shtml

Also, of interest, the Forum of Religion and Ecology at: environment.harvard.edu/religion/main.html

Couldn't help but add another butter video! This one is from mid-April.