The painting by Matt Philleo of The Temptation of Jesus is one I find very challenging. There is Jesus, removed from the city of Jerusalem on its outskirts, agonising before God about his future, the direction of his life set amongst significant dangers and threats. In this painting the onlookers do not know the outcome of this agonising and do not know what Jesus chooses. As church, St. Mark's United Reformed Church, we recently committed ourselves to Green Discipleship - doing all we can to to care for God's creation locally and globally. This is no light prayer or promise before God. It means our church community continues to take small and large steps in reducing our impact on the world. Here are some of the steps we have taken & are planning for:
- Hippos/water-savers in the back of every toilet - saving water & money with each flush!
- Long-life energy-saving light bulbs around the building
- Using canvas bags instead of plastic But reusing plastic ones if we have them
- Recycling ink cartridges
- Hosting the Tree of Life Centre furniture reuse shop
- Reusing wool donations to knit & crotchet prayer shawls & prayer blankets
- Replacing doors so the building is draft-free!
- Replacing windows as appropriate - ditto above
- Exploring cavity wall insulation for the building
