I have two rain barrels fed by the water running into the downspout from my roof. Up until now, I had no idea how to link my rain barrels to the “big picture” of the mission of the church. Come to think of it, I still have no idea but, I’m happy to say, St. James the Apostle Church in Ottawa is going to find out.

I am awaiting the answer with bated breath because I have been labouring under the naïve delusion that the barrels were just handy for supplying water to the garden. I have been blissfully unaware of the cosmic and possibly transcendent significance of a barrel of water with a few leaves floating in it.

From here:

Creation Matters, the environmental working group of the Anglican Church of Canada, has partnered with Greening Sacred Spaces to offer a program subsidizing “green building audits” for parishes.

[…..]

Enthusiastic beneficiaries of the Green Audit program include two Ottawa churches, St. James the Apostle Church and the Church of St. John the Evangelist.

Following the audit recommendations, St. James installed a rain barrel to help cut water consumption, as well as a composter. Meanwhile, a parish team began exploring opportunities to link the “big picture” audit findings to enhancing mission work.

I forget to mention that I also have not one but two composters. Last week, as I was digging a dead rat out of one of them, I thought to myself: this will be the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal. I have to stop now; I’m getting all emotional.