Lenten Carbon Fast

Day 14: What you can do today Consider what you can do to stop the Keystone XL Tar Sands Pipeline from being completed. (Click here to learn more: http://thinkprogress.org/tag/keystone-xl/)Thousands of people in Washington DC, Oklahoma, Texas and Canada have committed civil disobedience to increase public awareness.  Secretary of State John Kerry is on the record with his opposition.  President Obama spoke powerfully in his Second Inaugural Address.  Take 30 minutes today to learn; if you already know enough, take a few minutes to act.  http://www.tarsandsblockade.org/

Lenten Carbon Fast

Day 13: What you can do today Find out who your elected representatives are and tell them what you're doing through the Carbon Fast. Urge them to create and implement strong national and international laws to stop climate chaos. Find out what energy saving or climate change activities are going on in your local area by contacting local community groups.  350.org has 111 local chapters in 54 countries: http://local.350.org/. The Sierra Club has local chapters across the country:http://www.sierraclub.org/chapters/.

Lenten Carbon Fast

Day 12: What you can do today Save energy in the kitchen. Cook food in a microwave, which uses 50-70% less energy than a conventional oven. When you need to cook in a pan on the stove, use a lid to preserve heat, which will also cook your food faster. Cook double portions and freeze what you don't eat.

Lenten Carbon Fast

Day 11: What you can do today Only use your washing machine when you have a full load, and run it on cold whenever possible. Run at maximum spin to reduce drying times and avoid using a tumble dryer, opting instead for a clothesline. A typical washing machine uses 90% of its energy to heat the water. Generally, cold water gets your clothes just as clean and saves about 2 pounds of CO2 per load.

Lenten Carbon Fast

Day 10: What you can do today Dry your clothes on a clothesline instead of in an electric or gas dryer.  Electric dryers use up to 10% of residential electricity in the United States.  The average household can save more than $100 a year by foregoing the electric clothes dryer and using a clothesline.  A recent study by Cambridge University's Institute of Manufacturing found that 60% of the energy associated with a piece of clothing is spent in washing and drying it.  Over its lifetime, a T shirt can send up to 9 lbs. of carbon dioxide into the air.  Read more.  (If you must use a dryer, consider installing a diverter valve to the vent so that during winter, the hot air exhaust can be used to help heat and humidify the house.)

Lenten Carbon Fast

Day 9: What you can do today Fireplaces - we love them and we want to use them.  However, as Grist's "Ask Umbra" says, "the fireplace accounts for 14 percent of air lost out of a home - more than the windows.  So before we get all excited about window glazing, it pays to stop up the chimney.  At the very minimum, close the damper when you're not using the fireplace.  If you know for sure you will not use it for an extended period, plug and seal the flue... and put a note on the fireplace, so that no guest or forgetful resident lights a fire in the plugged chimney."  See: http://grist.org/climate-energy/beating-the-draft/    For more information, seehttp://www.lowimpactliving.com/blog/2007/10/10/get-cozy-guide-to-eco-smart-fireplace-fires/ and http://www.alternativeenergyprimer.com/Environmental-effects-of-wood-burning.html   For a useful guide for home energy saving, see the U.S. Dept. of Energy 2009 booklet: http://grist.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/energy_savers.pdf

Lenten Carbon Fast

Day 8: What you can do today Your hot water heater represents about 20-30% of the carbon emissions of your home, the biggest user of energy in your house. Consider setting your hot water thermostat to 120°F. Insulate your hot water tank with an insulation jacket if available for your system. Arrange for your boiler to be serviced so it runs more efficiently. If your boiler needs to be replaced, learn all you can about energy efficiency. A great resource: http://www.house-energy.com/

Lenten Carbon Fast

Day 7: What you can do today Ask your electricity and gas suppliers if they have a green or renewable energy plan such as that offered by NSTAR Green or by Veridian.   Make the switch to a green plan today. Bonus: Switch to an energy company that supplies 1002 percent renewables such as Good Energy.

Lenten Carbon Fast

Day 6: What you can do today Put on a sweater and turn down your thermostat to 65° when people are home and active and 55°- 58° at night as well as when no one is home. In warm climates, raise your air-conditioner thermostat 4° or up one setting. Home heating and air-conditioning are responsible for a large portion of our carbon footprint. For more on air conditioning and alternatives, check out Losing Our Cool: Uncomfortable Truths About Our Air-Conditioned World (and Finding New Ways to Get Through the Summer).

Lenten Carbon Fast

Day 5: What you can do today Make an announcement in Church today about the Lenten Carbon Fast, share your personal commitment to the Fast, and invite others to join you. This is how we multiply impact.

Lenten Carbon Fast

Day 4: What you can do today Did you hear about the civil disobedience at the White House on Ash Wednesday - a call to conscience in advance of tomorrow - which will be the largest climate rally in history?  Click here to read Jim Antal's blog on the Ash Wednesday Action:  www.macucc.org.  Click here for details on tomorrow's rally:http://forwardonclimate.org   If you're going - develop some strategies about sharing your experience and conviction in ways that will increase others' commitment.  If you're not going, take time today to ponder: what would it take for me to publicly witness to my convictions about creation and climate change?

Lenten Carbon Fast

Day 3: What you can do today In America, people are more reluctant to talk about their financial life than they are about their sex life. Each of us makes decisions every day about consumption of resources and investment of assets. Today: notice - and consider recording - the environmental impact of the choices you make - just today's choices - in the arenas of consumption and investment.

Lenten Carbon Fast

Day 2: What you can do today Watch and learn how to communicate more effectively on the issue of climate change. Bill Moyers interviews scientist Anthony Leiserowitz, director of the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication, who describes his efforts to do what even Hurricane Sandy couldn't - galvanize communities over what's arguably the greatest single threat facing humanity. Benefit from Leiserowitz' expertise in the psychology of risk perception. http://bit.ly/Zm10zT

Lenten Carbon Fast

Day 1: What you can do today  Thank you for responding to creation's cry and Christ's lament by engaging in this Lenten discipline with thousands of others. You'll be given dozens of opportunities to reduce your personal carbon footprint in the coming days. You can multiply the global impact many times by committing yourself - today - to share with others that you're doing this discipline and invite them to join you. On this critical day of self-examination, look at whatever may hold you back from sharing your commitment and inviting others to join you. Share this link via Facebook, email and Twitter: www.macucc.org/carbonfast

Broken But Redeemed

A couple of weeks ago the District Superintendent met with about a dozen key leaders of our church; the purpose was to get know the folks of our church and to learn more about who we are as a worshipping body. His first question -- what is unique about your church? The silence was deafening and spoke volumes. Nothing. Finally I disturbed the thoughts of all present (of course I did, you all know how much I hate silence!). 'We used to be a church for the broken' I began, 'I mean a place where the broken could come and know they were accepted as they are, where they are, and who they are. But we aren't that any more.' I nearly whispered the final statement. A few near me agreed.

Since that Sunday evening I have thought a lot about that question and not just that question but an even broader question. What is church? Based on my gut and visions this is my response:
Church is -
- broken people, led by a very broken person, living in a broken world whose mission is to go into the broken society to meet broken people where they are to bring them home.
That simple.
So, then what is the difference between the broken people who commune together once a week and the broken people who don't?
- the broken people who gather weekly in a church building are redeemed through Christ Jesus and brought into Wholeness with God through the indwelling Holy Spirit who is our voice, our guide, and our conscience.
We are still broken, just as broken, some even more broken. But we know who we are and whose we are. We are where we belong. We are home.

Our job now is to go into the broken world, onto the streets of our broken society, and meet with the broken where they are. The prostitute on the corner, the drug addict in the alley, the alcoholic stumbling out of the bar, the abused in the shelter, the abuser in prison. We are to meet them there and love them as they are, where they are, for who they are. We are then to bring them into the family of the redeemed and journey with them on the road to who they are to become...we are to bring them home.

It sounds all so obvious, so simplistic and so utterly difficult.

We used to be that church.
We used to be those people.
- we were once led by a minister who understood brokenness, who would speak of that brokenness fearlessly and willingly from the pulpit.
- we were once led by a minister who was never embarrassed to sit with the homeless, drink coffee with them, and then walk across the street and up the road to where they bedded at night.
- we were once led by a minister who went into the bars and spoke with those who were drowning their fears and sorrows in too much liquor.
- we were once led by a minister who would walk with the down-trodden, the depressed, the addict, the accursed and the abused and would bring them home.
We aren't any longer.
We used to be unique...but not any more.

Jeff Cannon...for all of your foibles there are ten times the fortes. You are a blessing. You are missed.

I just wanted you to know that. From God...through me...to you. You are a blessing Jeff Cannon and you are loved!