St. Stephen's Episcopal Church
Caring for Creation

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OUR FAITH -- STEWARDSHIP OF THE PLANET, LOVING HUMANITY
“The crisis of climate change presents an unprecedented challenge to the goodness, interconnectedness, and sanctity of the world God created and loves. … [the] acknowledgment of global warming, and the Church’s commitment to ameliorating it, is a part of the ongoing discovery of God’s revelation to humanity and a call to a fuller understanding of the scriptural imperative of loving our neighbor.”
-The Most Reverend Katharine Jefferts Schori,
Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church
US Senate Testimony, June 7, 2007

“For the Church of the 21st Century, good ecology is not an optional extra but a matter of justice. It is therefore central to what it means to be a Christian.”
-The Most Rev. and Rt. Hon. Dr. Rowan Williams
Archbishop of Canterbury

Almighty God, in giving us dominion over things on earth, you made us fellow workers in your creation: Give us wisdom and reverence so to use the resources of nature, that no one may suffer from our abuse of them, and that generations yet to come may continue to praise you for your bounty; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
-Book of Common Prayer

ONGOING CREATION STEWARDSHIP PROGRAMS

Make a Caring for Creation pledge, committing you and members of your family to take one or more actions this year to help improve our environment. Write out your pledge and place it on the tree in the parish hall. See our List of CFC Action Ideas!

ST. STEPHEN'S CLOTH GROCERY BAGS with "St. Stephen's Caring for Creation" logo are on sale in the Parish Hall. These bags are made from Ecospun, 100% recycled soda bottles, and were custom-printed for St. Stephen's. Special Earth Day price: $5!

JOIN ST. STEPHEN'S ENERGYSTAR PLEDGE GROUP TODAY! This is your chance to add your name to the list of families below who have already committed to changing one (or many!) lightbulbs in their house to energy-saving CFLs. If you are already on the list, you can sign up to change more bulbs! This program is one of the many reasons why St. Stephen's (out of 500 churches) won an "Energy Oscar" in 2007 from California Interfaith Power &Light. Sign up at the CFL Display at Coffee Hour or contact Barbara Bisel, 377-5953.

We are now at 107 parishioners with 437 bulbs, plus 171 bulbs changed on the campus, for a parish total of 608 bulbs! This adds up to a collective savings of:
$15,945 over the life cycle of the bulb
171,456 kWh life cycle energy savings
248,672 lb. CO2 emissions over the life of the bulb

Thanks to the many parish families who have pledged to switch to CFLs, and to our church staff for switching our campus bulbs!: Andersen, Andreson, Andrews, Bailey, Baker, Bisel, Bommarito, Boscoe, Breedlove, Bush, Cashel, Casten, Childers, Christensen, Crisick, Dausman, Elliott, English, Fick, Free, Gillbanks Harrington, Hinds, Hofmayer-Tipton, Hollister, Hughes, Hunter-Holland, Inchauspe-Smith, Ireland/Barbour, Iversen, Jewell, Johansson, Kaune, Kaune-Smith, Kelker, Kerr, Kienzle, Killbourn, Kingsley, Klein, Koenig, Marquardt, Mattly, McDonald, Monet, Nelson, O'Brien, Palmer, Patera, Paxson, Peterson, Pochop, Rhoades, Rosson, Schindler, Schroebel, Severy, Smith, Sovik, Spieth, Swander, Tanaka, Trutner, Tuckerman, Ullrich, Van Wye, Walker, Walker, White, Wiley,With, Worth, Young

WHY AND HOW CHRISTIANS CARE FOR GOD’S PLANET
On Friday, December 7, St. Stephen’s hosted speakers David Shreeve and Claire Foster, authors of How Many Lightbulbs Does It Take To Change A Christian. Claire's talk– originally presented in 2005 as a Paper for Bishop of Leicester’s Lay Congress -- was exceptionally inspiring, and many requested a transcript of Claire’s talk. Claire is National Policy Adviser in science, medicine, technology and environmental issues to the Archbishops’ Council of the Church of England, Senior Adviser at St Paul’s Institute for 21st century ethics, and Lay Canon at St Paul’s Cathedral, London (the first female lay canon in the Anglican Communion).

IN THE NEWS

Presiding Bishop Speaks at Congressional Hearing on Global Warming. Citing the need for immediate attention to serious issues of global warming, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori represented the National Council of Churches USA (NCC) at a June 7th Congressional hearing on global warming. Jefferts Schori testified before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfmFuseAction=Hearings.Testimony&Hearing_ID=e39940af-802a-23ad-4371-252edd78194f&Witness_ID=4d7e1aae-f883-4527-9b14-b3db7dc417b8

Reflections on Poverty and Climate Change. Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, San Francisco Chronicle Open Forum, Sunday, May 20, 2007; http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2007/05/20/EDGHQP1IR11.DTL

The Rev. Sally Bingham, Founder of Interfaith Power & Light and The Regeneration Project, Receives EPA's 2007 Climate Protection Award http://www.epa.gov/cppd/awards/2007winners.html

Go Green, Churches Urged. The Church of England is taking a big step towards going green. Every parish church is being invited to audit its current energy use to determine the size of its 'carbon footprint', a term for the impact that carbon emissions have on the environment. http://www.cofe.anglican.org/info/yearreview/dec06/gogreenchurchesurged.html

Science and Religion Unite on Climate: An excellent discussion of the religious/moral imperative for religion and science to unite in caring for the earth. http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/02/13/EDGRJN76V51.DTL

Drink bottled water? You'll rethink that after reading this:"The Real Cost of Bottled Water" http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/02/18/EDG56N6OA41.DTL

ABOUT ST. STEPHEN'S CARING FOR CREATION GROUP
The focus of the Caring for Creation group is to actively support the goals outlined in the Covenant of California Interfaith Power & Light (CIPL), of which St. Stephen's is a member. Upon joining CIPL, St. Stephen's pledged to pursue one or more of the following goals:

1. Educate our congregation on energy production and usage in relation to global warming by offering weekly tips in our Sunday bulletin, articles in our monthly newsletter, and sponsoring speaking events.
2. Conduct an energy audit of our buildings to identify sources of energy waste and the potential financial savings of energy related improvements.
3. Make energy efficiency improvements in our congregation's buildings.
4. Utilize renewable energy by purchasing green power, installing solar panels, or contributing to a wind turbine fund.
5. Analyze, reduce, and offset our greenhouse gas emissions with the goal of becoming a non-polluting congregation.
6. Support public policies that contribute to our goals.

Meetings are on the second Monday night of each month at 7:30 pm at committee member homes, and we welcome all! Clergy Rep: Fr. Tom Trutner; Chair: Dick Severy