Bill McKibben is an award-winning author, activist, educator. Like many of us, he grew up believing—knowing—that the United States was the greatest country on earth. As a teenager, he cheerfully led American Revolution tours in Lexington, Massachusetts. He sang “Kumbaya” at church. And with the remarkable rise of suburbia, he assumed that all Americans would share in the wealth. But fifty years later, he finds himself in an increasingly doubtful nation strained by bleak racial and economic inequality, on a planet whose future is in peril. And he is curious: What the hell happened?
We invite congregants and neighbors to come together and talk about his book, The Flag, the Cross, and the Station Wagon. Those of us who, like McKibben, are members of the boomer generation, what are our memories? Those of us who were born in the generations before or after, what is our take on how we got where we find ourselves? McKibben is not without hope. And he wonders if any of that trinity of his youth—the flag, the cross, the station wagon—could, or should, be reclaimed in the fight for a fairer future. Would you like to be part of the conversation? Let us know of your interest in this book group and some of your schedule preferences, so we can confirm additional details soon.