When I was living in the suburbs, it was easy to forget that my household hooked up to the grid, since the power cables were tidily buried under green lawns. Now that I live in town, I can glance out […]
Columnists
Feeding the Hungry from Our Own Backyard
How a Minnesota congregation filled bare shelves at local pantries by tithing the produce from their gardens. At Karmel Covenant Church in Princeton, Minnesota, we began praying and contemplating what it would mean for our rural congregation to “contextualize” its […]
Found Faithful
Nancy and I were newly married we had little time and little money. One Saturday afternoon in the fall she was going to be gone for a few hours and made a very reasonable request of things for me to […]
Greens on the Windowsill
I love homegrown vegetables. If I haven’t eaten something fresh and green for a day or two, I really miss it—amazing for someone who grew up on frozen peas, canned corn, and that perennial favorite, green bean casserole. As I […]
Making a Difference Together
Our family went to the Muppet movie together, if only because the main characters are two brothers named Gary and Walter. It was a rousing, toe-tapping, smiley extravaganza. See it. Not to turn the plot of the Muppet movie into […]
Moving Beyond Transaction
We live in a decidedly transaction-driven culture. I do this, you do that, we go on our way. You have a transactional relationship with your employer. You invest your energies in the responsibilities you were engaged to accomplish; your place […]
A Green Read: How to Walk Gently
Another Indiana January finds my nightstand groaning with books. Reading is one of the blessings of winter—no yard work calls my name, and the early evening darkness encourages me to ignore the dishes, curl up on the sofa, and open […]
The Transition Initiative: One Way to Face Life after Oil
How would your lifestyle change if oil was no longer cheap and readily available? For the founder of the Transition Initiative, Rob Hopkins, it means that relationships with others would become the most important resource for living. This growing movement […]
Preparing the Church for Tomorrow
Throughout the history of the Covenant Church there have been defining moments that have carried this movement to new levels of faithfulness and fruitfulness. We are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses whose legacy of vision, sacrifice, and priority […]
Sharing My Green Convictions
Are you kidding?” I said, dumbfounded. “No! I take home all my recycling from Mom and Dad’s,” my friend Angie told me. I could almost see the green flames snapping behind her pupils. “They won’t recycle it, so I just […]
Means of the Heart
November is stewardship month in many Covenant congregations. As church budget committees begin to sift through priorities for the year ahead, it is timely for church members to also think deeply about personal commitments around investing in the work of […]
The Leap from Polar Bears to Plastic
The Indianapolis Children’s Museum has the well-deserved reputation for being the finest example of its kind in the world. I take my kids there several times a year to see the six-story glass tower, Fireworks of Glass, designed by artist […]