“My Lord be praised by brother sun
who through the skies his course doth run,
And shines in brilliant splendor.”
–St. Francis of Assisi, tr. Howard Chandler Robbins, Hymnal 1982
When the Rev. Canon Pam Hyde became the Canon for Creation Care one year ago, the most consistent question congregations had for her was “How can we get solar energy at our church?” I wonder what St. Francis would make of the new relationship between “Brother Sun” and human beings in the 21st Century, where we are able to use the gifts of energy the sun provides to create electricity that powers our homes, our businesses, and–more and more–our vehicles.
At some level, I think it would make perfect sense to him: the family relationships between sun, moon, and earthly creatures he drew are quite similar to the interdependency between ecological systems we now understand more scientifically.
Moving to clean energy is feasible. Solar energy is one form of clean energy that is relatively affordable and that churches can have installed on their campuses fairly easily. There are eight congregations in our diocese that already have solar–but that leaves many more to move in this direction, which is why Canon Pam was deluged with requests.
She has therefore spent the past year with a team researching models used by other churches and dioceses for getting solar energy to their congregations. We are on the cusp of being able to launch a two-year program at the diocesan level to bring solar energy to almost every church in the diocese, if they choose to participate. The program is focused on relieving the burden of paying all the costs of moving to solar energy up front by spreading those costs over time so that it is easier for all churches to participate. The diocese will also take on much of the responsibility for things like finding financing, finding an installer, and other tasks that some churches might find difficult to undertake on their own.
This program is being conducted through the diocesan Creation Care ministry. Churches who are interested should reach out to indicate their interest to the Canon for Creation Care. Canon Pam will follow up with those churches to discuss how they can get started with their participation in the program and to answer questions.
The effects of our changing climate are growing ever easier to see in Arizona. Our changing patterns of rain and heat, and the increase in devastating forest fires, bring this close to home. Unless the human beings on our planet embark upon a strategy to drastically reduce our carbon footprints, some places on our planet will no longer be habitable for the interconnected web of life.
As followers of Jesus, it is our responsibility to care for the Earth which God has made: it is good, it is loved by God, and God desires the earth to flourish. It is also fragile; and human beings are the only species with the capacity to heal systems that have been damaged.
More information is available on the diocesan website.