Not too long ago, I listened to the Monmouth Civic Chorus sing a work called “Sing the Body Electric” based on Walt Whitman’s poems. After the concert there was an opportunity to meet the composer, Vince Peterson. I was intrigued by one the questions he was asked: What is it like to hear your compositions performed, and do you ever disagree with the conductor’s interpretation of your works? Peterson’s answer about how there are times he would interpret differently, and that there are times in listening to his compositions performed that he would like to go up and become the conductor got me thinking a lot about our relationship to God and God’s world.
This morning we read together the 23rd Psalm. It is one of those Bible texts most of us have memorized even in this day when not much memorization of the Bible happens. The words of this Psalm wrap around us during the most difficult times of our life, reassuring us that no matter what, God is with us. In this Easter season we are particularly cognizant of that reality as we continue to celebrate the freedom of the Easter message that Christ is Risen … no longer do the powers of evil and death hold any sway over us. The 23rd Psalm surrounds us on this day to challenge us and remind us that God has called us to be the presence of God to the world. We celebrate the baptisms of Juliana, Aidan and Alex this morning: Three new lives given to the care of their families and to us … our new sister and brothers in Christ. We also know this week marked the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. A challenge to take seriously how we will care for this planet so that Julian, Aidan and Alex and their children will have a safe environment to live in, and will know their responsibilities in keeping it that way.
It occurs to me in reflecting on all of this, that as God’s people we are a lot like the conductors of a musical work. In creation, God entrusted humanity with the care and keeping of all that is. With God’s guidance we have the awesome responsibility for interpreting how this will be done. Every step we take, every decision that we make needs to recognize that trust from the smallest to the largest step. Two examples, one small, the other a larger challenge that John Walradt will tell us about.
The small: There is a routine in preparing for each Sunday’s worship. Neil Brown and I get the music and liturgy together and email the information to the church office for printing. This week the duplicator cut the master a bit off, and as you can see the copy from the back page runs to the front. Now, that bugged the perfectionist side of me … and I knew we’d have visitors joining us for worship this morning. So … I really, really, really wanted to throw out, recycle those bulletins and start over. But it hardly seemed the right thing to do just to make things look better. After all, you can still read the bulletins without trouble, there is nothing really wrong with them. In light of the congregation’s struggle to be more intentional about our carbon footprint, being environmentally sensitive in all the decisions we make how could we justify starting over and wasting resources this way? Yes, it’s a small thing one might reason, but those small decisions add up over time. So, I swallowed my perfectionist bent and let the bulletins be.
Text of John Walradt's presentation:
I want to start with a little background so you can better see how we have arrived at this point.
When the church was built in 1941:
- Anne and I were only a gleam in our parent’s eyes.
- Gasoline cost ~ $0.20/gal and crude oil ~$1.00 /bbl.
When Anne & I joined RBUMC in 1969:
- We (and the church) were only ~28 years old. (The education wing was only about 12 years old.)
- Gasoline was $0.35/gallon, crude oil $3.30/bbl
Now:
- The church is about 69 years old
- Gasoline costs > $2.70/gallon, crude oil is > $70.00/bbl
Church membership slowly declined in the 80s and 90s while the cost of maintaining and operating the aging buildings rose inexorably.
Particularly in the last 10 years, those involved in managing the church’s budget realized that energy costs were becoming larger at a rate faster than our income. In about the same time frame, we had a growing number of environmentally aware members and in the last few years began deliberately trying to lower our energy use and costs. Actions included:
- Installed 5 new 7-day programmable thermostats on our steam heating systems early in 2009.
- Completed a lighting upgrade project in Sept 2009 (spurred on by a Green Faith sponsored energy audit and cost analysis)
- Fine tuned our computerized climate control systems
In 2008 our natural gas bill was over $35,000 and our electric bill was over $18,000. In 2009, we reduced our natural gas usage by 11% and our electricity usage by 6%. In the first quarter of 2010 vs 2009 our gas usage was down 2% but electricity usage was down 33%!
We demonstrated that by coupling increased awareness with purposeful actions we could exert some control. Realization: We do not have to be completely at the mercy of increasing utility costs!
As I became more involved and familiar with our physical plant, I discovered some startling things:
- Fellowship Hall, a room heated 24/7, has no insulation and, even worse, has 16 sq ft of ventilation openings into the attic space and a 4 ft diameter power exhaust fan opening in the roof. Where do you suppose the heat goes?
- The 114 wing of the building (built in 1950) has only 2 inches of fiberglass insulation.
- The heavy rains over the last 5 months provided occasions to observe and identify three sources of serious water leaks that are structural and roof related.
- The last big windstorm ripped off pieces of the weathered and time-worn 114 addition roofing material.
- Windows ranging in age from 50 to 90 years all predate energy efficient design criteria and many have areas of rotten wood and/or wear and fit poorly.
The UMC Council of Bishops in November 2009, issued a pastoral letter entitled, “God’s Renewed Creation: Call to Hope and Action.” The Bishops identified three threats to God’s creation and to life and hope:
- Pandemic poverty and disease
- Environmental degradation
- The proliferation of weapons and violence
- Let us orient our lives toward God’s holy vision.
- Let us practice social and environmental holiness.
- Let us live and act in hope.
The convergence:
Coincidently with these revelations about our facility and the Bishop’s call, we became aware of the opportunities presented by current incentives and lowering costs for installing solar power systems. George Schildge’s company, CRP Industries, has installed solar panels on a large warehouse in California and is investigating a system for their NJ location. Anne and I have nearly completed installation of a 10 KW solar PV system on our house. These systems have payback periods of 5 to 7 years and provide “free” electricity for the 20 to 25 year lifetime of the systems!
- Why not determine the feasibility of a solar PV system for the church?
- We must replace the roofs on the 114 Wing and Fellowship Hall.
- Why not seal up and insulate the FH, parsonage, and 114 Wing attics?
- Why not replace the worst of the old rotted, leaky and inefficient windows?
- Oh, by the way, we have an underground fuel tank, asbestos insulated heating pipes, and a 50 year old boiler with a gas leak at the parsonage. Duh!
THE TIME IS RIGHT! We can hit some home runs for the future of our church!
- Potentially reduce out of pocket cost for electricity by >$13,000/year.
- Reduce natural gas costs by $5000 to $10,000 per year by insulating and replacing the worst windows.
- Eliminate future environmental liabilities of an in-ground fuel tank and asbestos insulation.
- Reduce our carbon footprint by eliminating production of > 50 tons of CO2 per year.
What can you do to help insure the future viability of the church and reduce our carbon footprint?
- Go to FH after the service and sign up for a cottage meeting.
- Check the kiosks for photos and more information on the projects.
- Over the next 6 weeks of the campaign, prayerfully consider how you can contribute of your time, talents, and resources to become a part of these dramatic changes in our Church’s stewardship of the environment and the facilities provided by present and past members.
God is the composer … we are charged with conducting God’s creation. I am sure there are times when God would like to rush down to the podium and take the conducting baton from us and say a little less of this, a little more of that. Let us remember to look to God for shepherding … for again, the 23rd Psalm not only comforts us, but challenges us. God IS our shepherd – are we conducting our lives in that context?
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