Get Green, Save Green

 

 

WASHINGTON — Like manna from heaven, thousands of dollars in new revenue is raining on a group of congregations here from the unlikeliest of sources: the utility bill. 

 

The windfall arose after 11 churches and a nonprofit youth group got together to solicit reduced-rate bids for electricity — most of it from renewable energy sources — from local suppliers. In the first year of its contract, which ends in May, the group expects combined savings of nearly $100,000. 

 

And more revenue is on the way: the group is planning to take a cut of those residential savings as a kind of eco-tithe.

“These are not the kinds of things that are taught at seminary,” said the Rev. Dr. Donna Claycomb Sokol, pastor of Mount Vernon Place United Methodist Church, which is joining the bulk purchasing this year. “How to save money with our energy — it’s innovative and exciting.”

With their cavernous sanctuaries, large meeting spaces and multi-use buildings often open day and night, churches, synagogues and other religious spaces are particularly clobbered by utility bills that can run into the thousands of dollars each month. Beyond dollars and cents, many congregations also consider environmental measures such as reducing  greenhouse gas emissions as part of their duty to care for God’s creation.

Many congregations already treat the environment as a fundamental part of their mission. Officials with Interfaith Power & Light, a network of religious institutions with affiliates in 38 states, said members are installing solar panels, undertaking energy-saving retrofits, buying green power, instilling a love for the earth in sermons and lobbying elected officials for clean energy alternatives.

“It’s about values and moral responsibility,” said the Rev. Canon Sally G. Bingham, the Episcopalian minister who founded the network in San Francisco in 2000 and has seen it grow to 14,000 members, with nearly half of them signing on in the last four years.

“Some are doing it for financial reasons, but most do it because of the devastating effects of pollution on poor people,” she said. “Every mainstream religion has a mandate to serve each other, especially the poor.”

The churches in Washington forged their alliance with help from the Washington Interfaith Network, which does community organizing for member congregations and is now receiving a 10 percent cut of the overall electricity savings. The other group that helped bring the churches together, the DC Project, is a nonprofit that promotes weatherization and green energy jobs.

 

story & photo courtesy of - The New York Times 

What does today's God Story teach us about "green"?

How often do you think about "everything" in the earth, every last fiber of creation, being God's property?  It's hard to maintain that type of awareness right.  Some people seem to be able to maintain this perspective better than others, often we call these people "saints".  For example, Mother Teresa recognized that every poor and needy person on the streets of Kolkata belonged to God, and so she loved them like they belonged to God, with everything she had.

In Washington D.C. churches are coming together to try and paint an accurate picture of God's Creation.  To recognize that the earth is indeed the Lord's, it belongs to God, we are merely stewards, and are attempting to act according to this conviction.  In the process of doing what they feel is right, they are also saving money.  Money they are intending to spend on the realization of the more fundamental aspects of the gospel, like loving the poor and needy.

Here are some questions to think about:

What type of picture have we painted of creation?  

Who do we think the earth belongs to?

Do we act as stewards or consumers of God's creation?

What do we do when we "save" money?  Buy more stuff, or help more people?