My home congregation, First Presbyterian Church Tallahassee, undertook at Capital Campaign in 2007. In part, the campaign was to fix perennial but unexciting problems around the church such as drainage and water intrusion. Also, though, the campaign included installing some whopping-big solar panels on the education building (the official speak is “solar voltaic panels” and/or “11kW solar generator”, I think). Well, the campaign ain’t totally complete yet — keep giving folks — but the panels are up and running. I got to seem them in person last weekend: pretty darn awesome.

The word is that these are the second largest panels on a non-public building in Florida. And boy do they generate some electricity. Get this: on a sunny day the church can make more energy than it uses. We actually sell power back to the electric grid.

When the session announced the campaign it said,

“The phrase “Light from Light” is one of our core affirmations of faith every Sunday in the words of the Nicene Creed: “. . . God from God, light from light, true God from true God . . ..”  With the saints of all the ages, we affirm our faith in the Triune God with our good stewardship of the gifts of creation and the gifts of our forerunners in the faith. The Session of First Presbyterian Church is pleased to announce an opportunity in a new century for our congregation to remain faithful stewards of the light.

As my old internship supervisor would say, “They’ve got it in one” (meaning, “they hit the nail on the head” but in a Scottish accent.)

A few years ago, the PC(USA) General Assembly passed a resolution urging all congregations to go carbon neutral. The session at First Church Tallahassee is heeding that plea, and urging all members and friends of the congregation to do the same.

The PC(USA) website has the text to that resolution, and some helpful resources here.

As that guide says, “the Christian mandate to care for creation and the biblical promise of the restoration of right relationships between God, human beings, and the rest of creation impels and inspires us to act to reduce our energy usage.”

May we all be so impelled and inspired to honor God, the true light of the world.