More Paperless Possibilities

Very early on I wrote about ending, or at least extremely reducing, paper use in church services - particularly with bulletins. But it has occurred to me that this act of creation stewardship should extend to all church mailings.

I currently serve three churches. I receive the official mail for all three churches at the same address. Quite often, I receive exactly the same thing from another ministry within the conference or a program entity in three mailings. If these groups would go through their mailing list, they would realize they are mailing three identical things to one address - and they could save on postage, paper, and environmental impact by reducing their mailings to me by two thirds. All it would take would be communication that I will receive only one mailing that I am to share with all three churches. When's the last time your church mailing address was audited?

To go even further - almost everything I receive from these ministries could be sent to me through e-mail. Then I would have the option to print as much or as little as I need. I understand many people feel that sending something through e-mail decreases its chances of being seen because of all the other forwards and useless things users receive - but it simply takes a commitment to operate differently. For that matter - I get just as much useless snail mail.

Many other entities are asking people to go paperless. I do so with banking, credit card, and other bills. So how about we ask people to go paperless with the church newsletter or calendar? What a difference this change could make!

Weekly Green Thought: "Nature is schoolmistress, the soul the pupil; and whatever one has taught or the other has learned has come from God - the Teacher of the teacher." - Tertullian (160-ca. 230), De Testimonio Animae

Weekly Green Thought

"The sending of rain is an event greater than the giving of the Torah. The Torah was a joy for Israel only, but rain gives joy to the entire world, including animals and birds." Midrash Psalms 117 (second century)

The other night I sat on my front porch and listened to the rain. Occasionally the wind would blow, and the rain would hit me. It was pretty cold, and I would flinch a bit. But all in all, it was wonderful. Sometimes we gripe about the rain, but just consider what a miracle it truly is.

Playing Green

One of my closest friends is a youth director, and he has really gotten his youth group into playing disc golf. He has "bag tags" with ranking numbers on them, and youth (and some adults) play challenges against each other to try and improve their ranking. Recently, I have joined the group, and I am obsessed! I play at least once a week. It has occurred to me that it's a great sport to get people (especially youth) walking through the woods and experiencing nature. I am not an expert in building courses, but it seems to have a very low impact on changing areas. Trees seem to be kept more than they are cleared in order to increase the challenge involved. I was most excited when I came across some eco-friendly organic discs. These discs, made by Gateway, are made by "combining renewable resources with recycled rubber." I got two (a midrange and a putter), and they are my favorite discs. I can only hope there will be more discs like this as the concept fits perfectly with such a great, green game.


Weekly Green Thought: "The initial step for a soul to come to knowledge of God is contemplation of nature." - Irenaeus (120-202)

Green Teaching

"Let us turn our eyes to the Father and Creator of the universe, and consider...the total absence of any friction that marks the ordering of His whole creation." Clement of Rome (ca. 37-101), Letter to the Corinthians 1:19

Green Words and Thoughts

I keep trying to come up with ways to be more disciplined about writing on this site, and I think I may have something. I was going through the resources in my new Green Bible (see previous post), and I found the section "Teachings on Creation through the Ages" to be very inspiring. One of the contributors, J. Matthew Sleeth, compiled a collection of sayings about care for creation. So, regardless of whether or not I have a new post, I am going to attempt to offer one of these sayings each week. Perhaps it can shape your prayer and meditation for the day or week.

Here's the first one: "I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth." -The Apostles' Creed (first century)

The Green Bible

Not long ago Harper Collins released The Green Bible. This version puts a spin on "red letter" Bibles which have the words attributed to Christ in red. In The Green Bible passages that speak of God's care for creation or include material about the human mandate to care for creation are printed in green. But that's not all The Green Bible offers.

First, it is printed in an eco-friendly way with recycled paper, soy-based inks, and has a natural, cotton/linen cover. Second, there are additional resources about creation care throughout the Bible including a green subject index, The Green Bible Trail Guide - a series of studies based on God's care for creation to be used for personal devotion or group study, and a resource guide to offer advice for one's next steps in caring for creation. Finally, the best feature might be the various essays from contributors such as Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Brian McLaren, Ellen Davis, N. T. Wright, and Barbara Brown Taylor (to name a few). These contributors approach the issue of creation care from their particular disciplines. One sees a sample of the many different angles from which environmental stewardship can be pursued.

I'll admit I have wondered about some of the passages that are green and equally some that are not. For instance, Jonah is my favorite book in the Old Testament, and I would argue the last line should certainly be green as it conveys God's care even for the animals in Nineveh. But no resource is perfect, and a rationale is given for the selection of the passages which makes pretty good sense. I was pleased that the cover page has the quotation of Genesis 1:31, which I selected as my profile quotation for this page.

If you want to find out more about The Green Bible, go to http://greenletterbible.com/

Resolve to be Green(er)

If you aren't practicing "green" habits, I think the new year would be a great time to start trying. If you are already, it would be great to deepen your commitment and intensity. It's so satisfying to set a goal and accomplish it. So resolve to set a green goal, and tell others so they can keep you focused and committed.

Several months ago, I worked with one of my church's youth groups to come up with ten habits that care for God's creation to share with the congregation. So I'll share them now and hope that one (or all) of them might appeal to you as you seek to be green(er) this year and in the years to come.

1. Pick up trash and litter
2. Reuse/recycle as much as possible
3. Turn off lights/t.v. when you leave a room ~ unplug appliances when they aren't being used
4. Use your own bags at the supermarket/recycle plastic bags
5. Take a "Car Sabbath" - don't drive at least one day a week and carpool regularly
6. Give alms to the poor/donate to charities
7. Plant a tree
8. Buy recycled and recyclable items
9. Donate to ASPCA/Humane Society ~ if possible adopt a pet
10. Use environmentally friendly cleaning products