Meeting for Mourning: New England Friends Worship at Power Plant

By Hayley Hathaway.

ON SATURDAY, JULY 28, 2018 I joined about 30 Friends from five New England states at the gates of the recently opened Salem Harbor Station, a natural gas (methane) power plant on the coast of Massachusetts. We gathered for a Meeting for Worship for the purpose of mourning, invited by New England Yearly Meeting’s Prophetic Climate Action Working Group. The spirit of their invitation rose up as we worshiped:

“We have heard the Spirit’s crying out against the addictions and idolatries that keep us chained to methane and other fossil fuels. Our lifestyles and work ethic have succumbed to the unending growth and exploitation of resources. God takes delight in the whole, in all Creation, and teaches us to take our proper place as team players with each other. We meet for worship at the Salem Power Plant as we grieve our complicity in allowing fracked gas into our pipelines. We meet knowing the powers of this world continue excavating the Earth of its flesh and bones. We meet with tears and heavy tongues. We meet to ask forgiveness…We are learning as we go. We believe Friends can play an important part in witnessing to the spiritual roots of our testimony for climate action. Let us make our witness clearer, in truth and love.”