*4.2. Searching*

A second practice arises from the first, namely searching. Knowing and relating with the earth requires an attitude of openness, curiosity, and humility. Just as Kimmerer (2013) was eager to understand the plants in the pond behind her home, so Mitchell (2018) and Gilio-Whitaker (2019) were eager to understand the relationship between colonialism and ecological destruction. So, also, was Carson ([1962] 2002) eager to learn the effects of chemical pesticides on human, animal, and plant life. In all these cases, the authors searched to increase their understanding and guide their action, whether the action was

cleaning a pond, political advocacy, or the elimination of pesticides in agriculture. These author-activists shed light on the future work of practical theologians: (1) searching the ecosystems in our home contexts to inspire awe and inform our understanding and action; (2) searching the practices of congregations and people of faith; and (3) searching sacred texts, ritual patterns, and religious structures and practices to reflect on the teachings and values therein, and to critique and reshape them when we find them lacking.

Searching is a familiar theme in practical theology, one that is clearly important to a discipline rich in research and effective in shaping actions for the common good. Wanda Stahl, for example, has engaged in a long-term study of Wild Churches to discover their congregational practices and embedded theologies and values (Stahl 2021). The Wild Churches regularly gather in community in their local habitat (often with pets), and they reshape practical wisdom as they do. Stahl has discovered that their theologies often change over time, moving toward pan*en*theism and an accent on salvation for the whole planet.

Searching is a form of opening ourselves to that which we have only glimpsed, have never encountered, or have been avoiding. It is also a form of seeking reversals or asking hard questions (Moore 2004, chp. 5; 2021). The searching process can fill gaps in a community's knowing, or present major challenges as new discoveries, radical questions, and alternative futures unfold. It is not purely intellectual work, however, but quiet, meditative work as well. In theistic contexts, searching includes spiritual opening and discernment of God's movements, as well as complex deliberations on God and the world, and analysis of climate change and other crises. Searching is an endless practice, but it enriches the lives of searchers and the communities in which they live.
