Please see the article below from the Indy Star, "Living Green: Pastor believes stewardship is what God wants"
Lyle McKee, pastor of St. Thomas Lutheran Church and chairman of Hoosier Interfaith Power & Light Inc., Bloomington.
In 2009, my wife and I stretched our boundaries. We spent two weeks at a farm in Paoli learning about permaculture.
Permaculture is a design system for sustainable living that calls upon all of us -- as much as possible -- to grow our own food, produce our own energy, reuse what we have and create as little waste as possible.
Being beyond the half-century mark in age, roughing it for two weeks (alongside college students) was a challenge for us.
Permaculture is a combination of "permanent" and "agriculture," and it appealed to us as a way of moving toward simpler living.
We are convinced that current carbon levels in the atmosphere are far in excess of what the Earth can manage, and that our climate, species of plants and animals and the planet itself are undergoing stresses that will continue to compound unless we act now.
Our faith calls us to take care of God's good creation -- to "have dominion," which involves care and healing -- over the Earth.
The course transformed our decades-long dedication to stewardship of creation into what may be described as an obsession.
We have installed geothermal heating and air-conditioning. We have expanded our gardens and built our own greenhouse. Solar panels are being installed on our home's south-facing roof this month.
We will produce most of our own electricity (with current rebates and incentives, solar panels are a great investment) and much of our own food.
Because my faith mandates that I act, and the environmental crisis gives me a sense of urgency, I feel compelled to take this obsession to my work (I'm a Lutheran pastor) and my volunteer life.
On March 5, about 200 folks from Indiana representing some 19 different faith groups converged on Indianapolis to launch a new organization, Hoosier Interfaith Power & Light (H-IPL).
Our mission is to bring Hoosiers of faith together as stewards of creation to promote energy conservation, energy efficiency, renewable energy and related sustainable practices. I now chair the group, and we are moving forward in working with congregations and individuals seeking to live more lightly on God's good Earth. H-IPL is the 38th state affiliate of the national organization, Interfaith Power & Light.
Being part of that event was uplifting because so many people and congregations are working to help make a brighter future for our planet.
We believe that congregations are the veins -- the circulatory system and means of infusion -- for this hope and mission. Joint action is the key. We act not just as one, but alongside others across Indiana, leading, inspiring and showing the way forward.
For more information on the movement or to join, go to www.hoosier ipl.org.
As told to IndyStar reporter T.J. Banes at (317) 444-6815.
