Good morning.
When I think of sustainability I can’t help but get literal about the parts of the word – sustainability is the ability of something to be sustained, which means continued or carried on. The term usually refers to treating our planet and its resources in such a way that it can carry on supporting life in all its diversity and humanity in all the places we inhabit.
I firmly believe that we as a society have so much work to do on that front. We can’t keep treating the planet the way we do now, and the signs are all around us, from fast-moving, severe storms to more frequent droughts to smaller things, like the fact that my son Jacob has yet to see snow in his nearly 2 and a half years of life. All of this is why I changed jobs in 2021 and now work writing software powering the solar energy revolution. For someone with my skills, I think it’s the highest calling I can aspire to live out.
When I think about the role our church has to play, I find hope and encouragement in the knowledge that we have so much practice with sustainability in the broader sense.
I’m a member of the Finance Committee, and so I have a front row seat to your consistent giving and the steady work that’s required behind the scenes to make sure we are financially sustainable and that we can continue operating as an organization. I see the lasting impacts of gifts like the Beddingfield Fund and the Armstrong Legacy Missions Fund that sustain good work in our church, in our community, and around the world.
I also think of the ways my family and I are sustained by this church. When Eli was born, Mary Foskett organized a meal train, and we didn’t cook for literal weeks! Anna and I are sustained weekly by the honest conversations and fellowship in the Connections Sunday School class and the care and love our children receive in the nursery and Sunday School.
When it comes to this capital campaign, I’m really excited about how we plan to exercise that sustainability muscle in the environmental sense by improving our energy efficiency, installing EV chargers, and especially having solar panels provide some of our electricity. We’ll use less energy and make sure more of it is clean – once again answering the call to sustainability in our life together. Thank you.