Greening the Bread of Life

As Earth Day approaches, it’s time to take a look at how green our practices are.  Every Sunday we offer people the bread of life, yet our fellowship hour boasts some of the unhealthiest practices of the church. Taking a close look at how and what we eat at church is an important part of going green, as is maintaining and sustaining good health. Dealing with unhealthful food, toxic cleaning supplies, and wasteful practices are simple ways of deepening our commitment to greening the church.
Village Presbyterian Church in Prairie Village, Kansas, has greened its kitchen––no small feat for a 5,000-member church that prides itself on environmental stewardship. Dwight Tawney, administrative pastor,reports, “We serve 300 people every Wednesday night for dinner. Three years ago we were using paper, plastic, and Styrofoam. We disposed of 300 sets of that every single week. Now that’s completely gone. We don’t use it at all.”
Gold and green melamine dishes grace the tables of their dining areas. Reusable silverware rounds out the table setting. The Styrofoam is long gone, as is the sizeable amount of trash generated each week. “There’s a little tradeoff,” Tawney notes. “We have to wash the dishes.” Even so, the amount of water used to wash the dishes is insignificant compared with the manufacturing, transportation, and disposal process that used to be involved. Unlike smaller churches, a full kitchen staff takes care of cleanup here.
Not just the dishes have changed at Village Presbyterian; what is served on them has also changed. “In season we serve local produce,” says Tawney. “And we have virtually eliminated fried food from our menu.” A dietician attends the monthly meetings of the Environmental Action Committee. Not only does she bring great ideas to the table, she brings purchasing power.
Even so, purchasing decisions are carefully weighed for economic feasibility and environmental sustainability, which means the church uses paper napkins, albeit with a higher recycled content. After careful consideration, staff realized that the cost of laundering cloth napkins would be prohibitive.
Traditional cleaning supplies have been replaced with a greener alternative. “We now use low volatile organic compound (VOC) cleaning agents,” Tawney says. “Our building superintendent is part of the Environmental Action Committee. It is important to have him in on the decision-making process.” The superintendent helps them make and meet policy guidelines that keep this facility on the growing edge of green.
Even the coffee has gone green at Village Presbyterian. “We drink a lot of coffee here,” Tawney says while giving a virtual tour of the facility. “We had coffee pots going all the time, but we were consuming a lot of energy and wasting a lot of product. Now we have on-demand coffee.” Using a rental system that includes frozen coffee concentrate means no waste and a guaranteed fresh cup of coffee every time. “It actually ends up being cheaper,” he says.
It is easy to reference intangibles such as carbon foot- prints when talking about the need for environmental stewardship, but all Tawney has to do is point to one steaming cup of coffee in a real mug. Through his eyes, it is easy to see that going green makes sense for the climate and the pocketbook.
Ready to try some of these things yourself?  Check out the following options:
The Basics

  • Encourage the use of mugs instead of paper or Styrofoam cups at coffee hour. Create a wall of mugs that can be used and reused. Be sure to include mugs for guests.
  • Use the “good” dishes and flatware at church dinners instead of throwaways such as Styrofoam, plastic or foam plates, and plastic utensils. Alternatively, ask people to bring their own table service for meals.
  • Use dishtowels instead of paper towels and maybe even cloth napkins instead of paper napkins. When using paper, make it recycled.
  • Wherever possible, buy organic foods. Pesticides harm the health of growers and consumers; and they taint soil, water, and air.
  • When eating fish, choose species that are not being overfished. For more information, go to montereybayaquarium.org.
  • Purchase and serve fair-trade coffee, tea, and chocolate. Fair-trade items emphasize responsible steward- ship of the land and provide a good living for the growers. Shade-grown coffees, planted and harvested under the forest canopy, are particularly bird-friendly. For more information, go to coffeereview.com.
  • Compost leftover food.
  • Reuse plastic bags as garbage can liners. When purchasing new plastic bags, look for ones made of recycled plastic. Choose those with a high post- consumer waste (PCW) content.
  • Look carefully at the cleaning agents you are using. Many contain harmful or toxic ingredients. Purchase and use environmentally-friendly cleaning agents.
  • Refrain from buying antibacterial soaps. Generally, plain soap and water are as effective. Antibacterials seem to cause more problems than they solve.
  • Try toilet paper and paper towels made of recycled paper.
  • Just say no to commercial air fresheners; many contain phthalates which are linked to human health problems. Fresh air, sunshine, fans, and baking soda in the bottom of a garbage can provide natural air freshening.

Get Creative

  • Make your own green cleaning supplies.
  • Experiment with natural sachets for bathrooms that make use of essential oils or natural herbs and spices.
  • Establish a scent-free zone in the sanctuary to accommodate those with asthma and allergies.
  • Try holding meat-free potlucks. Bovines such as beef, buffalo, lamb, and goat produce methane, a greenhouse gas that is twenty-three times more potent than CO2.Choose poultry, grain, beans, and eggs to achieve a lower carbon footprint.
  • Make your own communion bread out of organic, whole-grain flour.

Go All Out

  • Ask church members to observe one meat-free day per week and to limit seafood consumption to species that are not being overfished.
  • Hold cooking classes to help people rediscover the art of cooking using natural ingredients. Invite children to help. Use a cookbook such as Nourishing Traditions, by Sally Fallon.

Adapted from 7 Simple Steps to Green Your Church by Rebekah Simon-Peter. To purchase copies of Green Church:  Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rejoice!  Or 7 Simple Steps to Green Your Church, please contact us directly: office@rebekahsimonpeter.com.  Downloads also available on Kindle.

Christians and Earth Day: ‘You can’t love God and ignore the Earth’

The following article was written by Susan Passi-Klaus for umc.org and shared with permission.

The Rev. Rebekah Simon-Peter began to understand that, for her, taking care of the  world is not just an ecological issue, but a moral and spiritual issue.
“It reflects the way we treat the life God has given us,” she said. “It’s about what happens to our neighbors, family and the future generation.”
No mincing of words-“You can’t love God and ignore the Earth.”
Sometimes we just have to put something in words people can understand, which is what Simon-Peter does in her books Green Church and Seven Steps to Green Your Church. After more than a decade of pastoring churches, the ordained United Methodist elder now shares the “green” gospel with congregations, interfaith groups and community groups through BridgeWorks, an extension ministry she directs in Wyoming.
I’ve seen a lot of burning bushes in my time,” Simon-Peter said. “Eight years into pastoring churches I began to see headlines about Global Warming and Al Gore’s documentary, An Inconvenient Truth. In 2007, I joined a group being trained by him.”

Our care of Creation “reflects the way we treat the life God has given us” You can’t love God and ignore Earth #UMCTWEET THISTWEET THIS

God so loved the world
“God so loved the world that he gave his only Son…” (John 3:16)

Dinkin Kalbeth

“Throughout Creation we see praise to God coming from trees, fields, the heavens, the seas, the sun, the moon, the stars, the clouds, ocean creatures, mountains hills, wild animals, cattle, birds, small creatures, and much more. If these parts of nature bring glory to God, then who are we to carelessly destroy them?”

 

“The word world is actually kosmon in Greek—the cosmos,” Simon-Peter said. “Jesus’ love is not just for humans, it’s for all creation. That’s why he said to the disciples, ‘Go to all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation’” (Mark 16:15).
Simon-Peter describes Jesus as the “midwife” of creation (see Colossians 1:15-20; John 1:1-5). “He loves the Earth as much as he loves us.”
Twenty-five years ago, when she was studying the environment at the University of Vermont, people were still trying to figure out this “green” thing. There was a whole lot of talk about what was going to happen in the future and a general assumption was made, “Someone will do something about this before it’s too late.” A few epiphanies later, Simon-Peter finally “got it”—“The ‘someone’ is me.”
“As the Earth sickens, we sicken as well,” Simon-Peter said. “I felt, and still feel, myself grieving for the earth and for the people and creatures that are dying as well.”
Creation care is not “no big deal”
Although there are skeptics and naysayers, Simon-Peter tells it like many believe it to be.

The Rev. Cliff Bird is the Pacific Islands representative to the Creation Care Ministry Team formed by Global Ministries and works for The Methodist Church in Fiji. Photo by Caines Janif

Rev. Cliff Bird

“The naked truth is that human life is no life at all and is not possible without the life of all beings in creation. Christians must combine our voices with the groaning voice of creation, and rally against rampant and mindless capitalism and its consuming goal for more economic growth at the great cost of ecology.”
“It’s not the Rapture,” she said. “But in this diverse web of life created by God, fully half of all species on earth may be gone in 50-60 years.
“It’s the largest mass destruction since the age of the dinosaurs,” Simon-Peter said. “We can’t fill the earth to the point we push everything out of existence. Before God blessed us with the command to be fruitful and multiply (Genesis 1:26-31), he gave the birds and fishes the same commandment (Genesis 1:20-23). We have to balance out our blessedness with their blessedness.”
Scientists insist the doom and gloom stuff isn’t just hogwash. The sixth extinction crisis is already underway. Currently, there are two million species on Earth. Every year 200-2000 of those species become extinct.
Fifty or 60 years from now many of us won’t be here, but our grandkids or their grandkids are at risk for losing the privilege and pleasure of enjoying God’s earthly gifts—the joy of swimming in safe oceans, chasing butterflies, and catching frogs for show and tell? Sadly, future childhoods may be more about forest fires, drought and consequences of an ever-weakening ozone layer. In their future, young students may write term papers about what wasn’t done by previous generations to protect the world they inherited.
Thinking little about a BIG problem
“We are a denomination that preaches what the Bible says, ‘The Earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it, the world and those that live it,’” Simon-Peter reminds us, quoting Psalm 24:1. “Creation is the Body of God. We are part and parcel of it. We cannot separate our life with God from our life on earth.”

Jessica Stonecypher

Jessica Stonecypher

Jessica Stonecypher is Abbess of the Wesleyan Order of Saint Francis. Photo courtesy of Jessica Stonecyper.


“I am grieved by the broken state of our planet and I critically consider my part in its destruction. The United Methodist and Franciscan traditions equip me to look at all members of the creation as brothers and sisters in Christ and to expand my understanding of what I consider sacred. I believe that when Christians extend God’s love to the Creation and those affected by its damage, their faith is enriched and resurrection takes on a whole new meaning.”
Many churches say, “But we’re recycling and we’ve stopped using Styrofoam cups during coffee hour.” “That’s not enough,” says Simon-Peter. The church has to think bigger, do more.
It’s not just about appointing a church “Green Team,” nor is it just about floating patches of garbage in the Pacific Ocean. Not just about disappearing monkeys, melting icebergs and dying coral reefs. It’s about counting nature’s blessings and honoring The Creator by protecting them.
Simon-Peter suggests churches channel their passion into things that make a true difference—installing solar panels, harnessing wind power, or creating a community garden that can be used to feed the homeless or working poor.
From the pulpit
But it’s up to church leadership to inspire their congregations.
“It’s on the pastor to be courageous and visionary,” Simon-Peter said. “Preachers have to use the power of the pulpit to talk about the relationship with the Creator and the Creation because if it doesn’t come from the church pulpit, it doesn’t become real for the congregation.
“We confuse the political with the Biblical—our focus for so long has been on humanity—which is a good thing, but we have not paid attention to the health of the rest of Creation.”

Heather Bennett

“Caring for Creation should be a natural response to loving Jesus. I am in awe over the intricacies and systems created that support life. To love my neighbor as myself, I must care and act so my neighbors can have clean water, air and healthy food. I care because God cares for what He’s created.”
“Church ministry tends to be comfort-focused. We comfort people in distress. UMCOR does fabulous work with responding to natural disasters—which are actually un-natural disasters. The problem is that we’re not addressing why the disasters are happening with such increasing frequency.”
The US Environmental Protection Agency has estimated that if America’s more than 300,000 houses of worship cut back on energy use by a mere ten percent, we could save nearly $200 million for missions.
It’s not what we save, it’s what we can do with the money we save.
Connected to the planet
Are your tulips in bloom? Do your rose plants have new leaves? Are there birds at your feeders? What do you see when you go outside for a walk? Are you planning your beach vacation? What’s fresh and for dinner? Can you breathe in the freshness of a new season?
And God said it was good.
“The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, but the mess is ours.” “God has created a world that is designed to be self-replicating,” Simon-Peter said. “God replicated himself in us and we act on his behalf when we treat Creation with benevolence and creativity.”

Pat Watkins

The Rev. Pat Watkins teaches the theology of caring for creation as a missionary with Global Ministries. Photo courtesy of Pat Watkins.


For further study:
Click here for Bible verses and commentary by the Rev. Pat Watkins. These will serve as a great way to think about and discuss a theology of Creation care.
Watkins is a missionary with Global Ministries of The United Methodist Church. He is guiding a new, globally-focused United Methodist Ministry with God’s Renewed Creation, based at Global Ministries and closely related to the Council of Bishops. He is an expert in educating others about how theology relates to caring for Creation. 
Watkins said, “The United Methodist Church is an amazing and powerful group of Christians because of our scriptures. We just don’t use that power enough. We need to be the voice of Creation care.” His commentary will help us begin to be that voice.
Use these thoughts with a group of friends, your Sunday School class, youth group, or small group.