Your Congregation | Colleagues | Colleague Sharing 2007

Colleague Sharing 2007: 
 Trinity United Methodist Church, Seattle
June 9, 2007
Hosted by Marcy Lagerloef


Marcia Lagerloef began the meeting with a prayer and a silent meditation about water.  The newest Earth Ministry module in the Caring for all Creation series is By the Waters; Marcy is an oceanographer as well as an Earth Ministry board member whose life work has involved studying and protecting the living waters of our region.  She placed a bowl of Puget Sound water in the center of the circle as a reminder of the beautiful watershed we live in and the blessing given to us by the waters of our baptism.

On a practical note, most attendees were interested in how to show movies in a church setting without violating laws and yet without paying large copyright fees.  This turns out to be a very complicated issue and conflicting suggestions abound.  We are open to anyone with good information about this.


Meridee Johansen is the Social Action chair of St. John United Lutheran on Phinney Ridge.  St. John has a strong environmental vision and had several events celebrating Earth Month in April.  These events included: 

  • A blessing for abundance and health of the church garden;
  • Pastor Carol Jensen used Puget Sound water for baptisms;
  • The church has an ongoing Liturgy and Environment Committee  which helped plan the earth month events;
  • They held a Creation Fair with Sustainable Ballard which was very well received in the community;
  • 80 people from the neighborhood attended a showing of Who Killed the Electric Car?
  • St. John held the beautiful and well-received Salmon Vigil service of prayer and reflection on October 17 with Save Our Wild Salmon and Earth Ministry;
  • St. John is the Seattle distribution sites for Thundering Hooves (www.thunderinghooves.net , pasture-finished and sustainably raised beef.  Thundering Hooves sells the best Thanksgiving turkeys in Western Washington according to Jessie.
  • St. John also has T-shirts and tote bags for sale in their congregation, with a design symbolizing their Creation care


Diane Carleton attended on behalf of the neighboring Woodland Park Presbyterian Church. 

  • Each year, WPPC uses the On the Road module from Earth Ministry and holds a car-free Sunday;
  • WPPC collects pledges from people to lower carbon footprints;
  • Kathy Fletcher from People for Puget Sound held a forum at WPPC;
  • Diane told recommended a book called Low Carbon Diet:  30 Day Program to Lose 5000 Pounds;
  • To reduce Junk Mail, write to:  Mail Preference Service, Direct Marketing Association, and PO Box 9008, Farmington, NY 11735.  Request they remove your name from all 3rd class mailing lists.  You can make your request via the internet for $5 fee at www.DirectMail.com/Junk_Mail. 


Laura Kennedy Gould from University Unitarian (which is in Wedgwood) is a long-time Earth Ministry colleague.   

  • The Unitarian denomination has a “Green Sanctuary” certification which UUU is working on, the website is:

http://www.uuministryforearth.org/grs_overview.htm

  • A community sponsored agriculture (CSA) delivery comes to the church each Sunday to deliver healthy and sustainably-grown produce to members in the congregation;
  • They are “Garbage Nazis” regarding recycling!
  • The church requires that all tenants be green and do not use toxics.

 
Sharon Wilson of St. Andrew Episcopal Church is an elder of Earth Ministry.  She was interviewed by The Seattle Times for their Earth Month coverage, and she reminds other colleagues to be prepared to speak out about faith and values at any time! 

  • Rev. Peter Strimer is the new pastor of St. Andrew; he is also an Elder of Earth Ministry;
  • St. Andrew has been a Greening Congregation for three years;
  • It has a “Creation Keepers” committee that does this work;
  • Sharon chose to join the facilities committee of the Church to help move it towards a lower carbon footprint;

§         She reported on an EPA “energy star” program for Congregations; Bob Drake at the local EPA office is a speaker who will come to congregations (553-4803). The address for information on Energy Star is : www.energystar.gov/ia/business/small_business/congregations.pdf

  • One activity of St. Andrews this past year was a winter walk in the Arboretum – getting to look at some familiar places in different seasons

 

Marilyn Thornton of Blessed Sacrament is the director of Religious Education for this parish in the University District.

§         Buyer Be Fair is an excellent movie on fair trade and appropriate in a church setting

§         Blessed Sacrament had a Climate Change Fair with an amazing hands-on display about how global warming comes about; this church gets the science fair gold star award from Earth Ministry! 

§         The church is planning a solutions fair and a solar dance! 

 

Judy Stone is from Trinity Lutheran in Lynnwood which has recently started a Creation Stewards group:

§         For several years Trinity has been buying fair trade coffee from Equal Exchange, serves it to the congregation at coffee hour and sells fair trade coffee, tea and chocolate once a month at cost; (Please note that Earth Ministry now has its own blend of triple certified coffee available for purchase through the web site!)

§         The group is encouraging more recycling at church; office paper, cardboard, plastic bottles and aluminum cans are recycled, but there is not a commercial pickup.  Volunteers do the recycling.

§         The Creation Stewards had an Earth Day display to share creation care ideas with the congregation and restarted the use of ceramic coffee cups for coffee hour.

§         Trinity encourages individual action and supports people of faith to makes changes in their lives.

 

Mary Ellen Smith is from University Congregational Church.

§         Kevin Raymond (Earth Ministry Board Member) presented the Climate Project’s slide show based on An Inconvenient Truth;

§         Once a year Trinity has a “Superfluity Sale” to encourage people to get rid of stuff and consume less; last year they made $17,000; they give proceeds to community partners including Earth Ministry;

§         UCC also has a community supported agricultural delivery on Sundays; their children’s retreat had a vegetarian day.

§         The congregation recommends architect Carol Nelson for green remodeling.

§         They had a well-attended field trip to a wind farm in eastern Washington

 

Bruch Shilling and Judy Raymer are both from Plymouth Congregational Church in downtown.

§         Plymouth realizes the need to carpool and is working on that issue because parking is difficult in the area; the 4th and 5th grade classes took on this issue in June; transportation is Plymouth’s issue and Seattle’s biggest problem (true!)

§         Plymouth recycles diligently, though it is very expensive in downtown Seattle.  An oft-repeated problem for churches is that while city recycling is free to households, all businesses, including non-profits and churches have to pay.

§         Plymouth is encouraging the Parish Care Board to pay attention to environmental issues as well.

§         Plymouth held an adult education class between Sunday worship services on climate change with a climate scientist and Dennis Hayes (from the Bullitt foundation and the founder of Earth Day).

 

Lucia Schubert is from the beautiful Magnolia Congregational Church which is newly in the process of Caring for Creation.

§         This church organized carrying bags for groceries to cut down on waste and get people weaned from over-packaging;

§         They are planning to increase recycling and are encouraging people to cut down on junk mail and get off mailing lists;

§         The church is having a car-less Sunday and encouraging walking, bicycling and carpooling to church.

 

Marcy Lagerloef attends Grace Episcopal Church on Bainbridge which has a very active Earth and Spirit group. 

§         The Earth and Spirit group designed a logo and so “brand” all announcements for the group in the bulletin and on all materials;

§         The Church held a climate lecture for Earth Day that was very well attended by community members as well as churchgoers;

§         Grace had a lovely Earth Liturgy for Earth Day;

§         The car-less Sunday at the end of April had a decrease of 348 miles driven and 50% of folks came to church a new, lower carbon way, including walking, biking, and carpooling! 

 

Christy Nordstrom who is trained by Al Gore’s The Climate Project gave us a brief overview of her slide show on climate change which is excellent; Christy is available to give this to any church group at no charge. She can be reached at cjn2@mindspring.org  Christy and Kevin have a combined presentation that includes spiritual connections/references along with the Gore scientific presentation. 

Jessie Dye, the Program and Outreach Director of Earth Ministry, talked about EM’s work of Advocacy for All Creation.  All four of the Priorities for a Healthy Washington environmental laws were supported by Earth Ministry and passed by the legislature this year!

Additionally, there is new and ongoing climate change legislation that requires continual advocacy and work so that it sets real limits and good limits on carbon emissions.

The group ended with a prayer of gratitude for the good gift of water and of our friendship.

 

 
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