Once a month the ACPE Professional Ethics Commission (PEC) posts a couple of statements from our Code of Professional Ethics for ACPE Members. Each posting is accompanied by a brief personal reflection from a member of the PEC discussing some ways this person lives these commitments*. Read more

So many people across the country are experiencing heat as they’ve never known in their life. And as we make our way through it, it seems as though this is the new baseline, and that the weather will likely only get worse. This poem invites us to reflect on this new era in which we find ourselves. The poet is Craig Santos Perez, a native Chamoru (Chamorro) from the Pacific Island of Guåhan/Guam. He is director of the Creative Writing program and an assistant professor of English at the University of Hawai’i, Manoa, where he teaches Pacific literature and creative writing. He maintains his own blog and has blogged for Harriet.

I don’t love you as if you were rare earth metals,

conflict diamonds, or reserves of crude oil that cause

war. I love you as one loves the most vulnerable

species: urgently, between the habitat and its loss.

I love you as one loves the last seed saved

within a vault, gestating the heritage of our roots,

and thanks to your body, the taste that ripens

from its fruit still lives sweetly on my tongue.

I love you without knowing how or when this world

will end. I love you organically, without pesticides.

I love you like this because we’ll only survive

in the nitrogen rich compost of our embrace,

so close that your emissions of carbon are mine,

so close that your sea rises with my heat.

Poem copyright ©2020 by Carlos Santos Perez, “Love in a Time of Climate Change” from Habitat Threshold (Omnidawn Publishing, 2020.) 

Accessed at https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/156662/love-in-a-time-of-climate-change-616f21ec9f43a

From the good people at The Mindful Leader: “In this beautiful short film, Adetola shares her story of how gratefulness is a path for honoring her African ancestors. She reminds us that life is a gift and encourages viewers to “Live gratefully–do not be afraid, do your best, stand in your power, and be proud of who you are.

Access the video below:

This past summer, I entered the doors of the VA Healthcare System in Pittsburgh as a chaplain intern. I had some idea that a chaplain provides a listening ear, hospitality, and prayer. I was curious about what more I had to offer or learn in addition to some of the therapeutic interventions that I had known. I found CPE (Clinical Pastoral Education) to be an intensely rich experience that expanded my understanding. I recall an encounter when I held a cell phone for a veteran to hear a song that he enjoyed. He was unable to have a conversation but could respond to questions with a yes or no.