Mining the Mission | What Hybrid Would Jesus Drive?
It’s one thing to give up Hershey kisses or M&Ms for Lent. A pair of bishops in the Church of England are asking their congregants to forgo excessive energy use between Ash Wednesday and Easter.
Bishops Richard Chartres of London and James Jones of Liverpool recently partnered with the U.K.-based nonprofit organization Tearfund (Jones is a vice president) to promote a Lenten “carbon fast,” a plan that prescribes a household energy-saving tip for each of the period’s 40 days. Carbon-cutting reflects the Christian value of caring for the poor, the logic goes, because coastal and drought-prone third-world regions are disproportionately affected by global warming.
Now this is mission in action. The Lenten sacrifices I recall growing up were mere token efforts, personal trifles with no effect beyond one’s own spiritual well being. What Bishop Chartres and Bishop Jones are doing truly actualizes a major part of their organization’s mission. Scoff if you will at the notion that churchgoers in two English cities can reduce humankind’s carbon footprint and halt African droughts in the process: Though my religious ties are far more tenuous than they used to be, I recognize the Christian notion of individuals serving a greater good — and changing the world in the process. And isn’t that what so much of nonprofit service entails? | 501(c)
Tags: carbon footprint, Church of England, James Jones, religion and environment, Richard ChartresRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Environment, Religion, Worth a look
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