Brookings resident Carl Kline is an ordained clergyman, part-time teacher and occasional blogger.

There was a package in the mail for me yesterday. My wife called to say I had received something from Rev. Billy. This was unexpected. Imagine my surprise to find a book inside, if you can call the separate stack of pages a book. There was also a letter addressed to me with a return envelope for my donation, reminding me that their Earthchurch in New York City was providing a haven for some of those immigrants Governor Abbott bused there.

The book begins with the following introduction, titled The Blue Path. “To talk about what looks like the end of the world isn’t easy. If we are able to focus on it, we suddenly feel strangeness and dread, amazement and loneliness. Suddenly nothing makes sense. We are under the control of an outside force … the Earth. But then, we are made of the material and electricity of the Earth. We are the Earth, but it’s been a long time since we felt like we were at home in the natural world. The Earth seems totally independent of human beings. In fact, lately, the Earth seems ready to trash us. In the Earthchurch we’re working on that separation. It’s not too late.”

Rev. Billy and his church choir use music as the link connecting them and others to the Earth. They sing in their storefront church in New York City, but they also sing in corporate offices, bank lobbies, and parks. They sing love songs to trees and birds. Rev. Billy encourages us to say “I love you” to a tree; and if it doesn’t seem genuine initially, keep doing it till you can feel it. There’s an interesting video on YouTube where Rev. Billy talks to trees (many cut; some ground to wood chips), as he also talks to us through a megaphone.

Rev. Billy is an actor and activist. I first discovered his work in a video called “What Would Jesus Buy?” In those former days, the concern was the shoPapocalypse. The choir traveled the country, especially around the holidays, preaching and singing their message of, “Stop Shopping.” They were escorted out of malls, including the Mall of America. Rev. Billy has been arrested on various charges like “disturbing the peace,” more often than Martin Luther King, Jr.

Curious about Rev. Billy and his background, I discovered he came from a family with a conservative Christian background, left home at the age of 16, and lived at one time with his family in Watertown, South Dakota. This later fact convinced me I should show the “What Would Jesus Buy” video to my college class in Watertown. They watched in disbelief. I’m sure most were in agreement with the comment of one student after the film, “he’s crazy.”

Two of the more memorable scenes in the film include a baptism. It’s a “stop shopping” baptism outside a mall. A couple, respecting the message of Rev. Billy and the choir, offer their child for him to hold. The Rev. offers the child a blessing, and a hope for a world less focused on things and more on children.

The second is a scene on “Black Friday.” Billy is outside a store where people are crowded around the entrance, waiting for the doors to open and the sale to begin. He is preaching his “Stop Shopping” message. When the doors open, the crowd surges in, and several people end up trampled and lying on the ground. It doesn’t stop the others as they run toward their special item, on sale for Christmas.

Rev. Billy and the choir have transitioned from the “stop shopping” mantra to a new word, “Earthalujah.” Their music and preaching celebrates the earth and it’s gifts. Their activities challenge earth exploiters and their supporters. One example is when Rev. Billy exorcises BP at Tate Modern (you can also access this video). With the choir singing around him, and some members covering his body with oil, he is as forceful in his preaching as any fundamentalist clergy might be in exorcising some bodily demon. For him and the Earthchurch choir, what fossil fuel corporations and their supporters are doing to the earth is worse than demonic.

As I was opening the package from Rev. Billy, I was also receiving an internet message from a friend in the southwest. “Our AC went out at 3 PM this afternoon. The temp outside was 113 degrees and inching its way up to 115. When I called for help, my mother’s AC guy sent someone right over. ‘We give priority to seniors and families with newborns.’ Bless that man’s heart! The service guy has been on the roof for two, going on three hours. I put Mom in a cool shower and then took her across the street to the neighbors. I had NO idea how hard heat is on elders—until this afternoon.”

Rev. Billy and his followers may be extreme in their activities. Some will call them crazy. But they certainly aren’t as extreme as some of the weather we’ve been seeing, or the extreme profits the wealthy earth exploiters have been making.

Personally, I’m glad Rev. Billy wears a collar. (I’m not excited about the pink suit.) And I appreciate the way their choir music and his preaching can be juxtaposed with what one experiences in the traditional church. If only our more typical churches were more prophetic, singing in the lobby of Citibank about God’s Good Creation and teaching children how to hug and love trees.