This report is written by Maureen Rowan: Eco Congregation Coordinator:
Methodist churches were invited by the President, Dr David Turtle, to celebrate with their wider communities in May, so we in Centenary were happy to plan a party. It was a fun day, but also had some ‘Martha moments’ as we tried to ensure our Eco Congregation commitments were not lost in the excitement. They weren’t, but it took planning and winning over hearts and minds.
Throughout 2023/24, we had journeyed through the President’s theme of ‘Take my yoke upon you’ – giving attention to practicing means of grace together. For May, the President’s message included the reflection:
“It’s obvious that, as with all the spiritual practices we have considered, celebration should be one part of a blended rhythm of life. The difficulties and darkness which come our way in the world mean that practicing lament and mourning must also be part of that rhythm, but celebration can minister more deeply to our souls than we may appreciate…..It’s a short step from thinking about celebration and the joyfulness of God, to considering community”.
At Centenary, we had already had outdoor summer celebrations with the four churches in our circuit in two previous years so there was experience to draw on. There was also a nagging feeling that our good environmental practices diminished once we headed outdoors. This year we aimed to build in plans for sustainability alongside the fun stuff like the bouncy castle, the ice cream and the great food.
We set three objectives to keep in mind and communicated these in the announcements sheet ahead of the event: reduction of emissions from incineration or landfill, avoidance of food waste and reduction of plastic pollution. The celebration coincided with Christian Aid Sunday so we were aware that the global challenges were much bigger than our efforts could address. We were reminded of the quote from the Ugandan Climate Activist, Vanessa Nakate, however:
“Your actions matter. No action or voice is too small to make a difference.”
The objectives translated into a familiar list of sustainable practices: no single use plastic in food service, clear distinctions between what goes for recycling and what goes for composting, minimising waste for the black bin, making sure any leftover food was taken away to freeze or eat later. We were heartened by the support of Dublin City Council who, once we shared our plans for a sustainable celebration, delivered a large consignment of compostable cutlery and cups. One of the organising team also persisted in the search for reusable plastic plates which could be washed and stored for the future.
How to make all the sustainability happen on a glorious sunny day without being killjoys remained a challenge.
The reading that Sunday was from Luke, Chapter 10:
“Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
Those of us labelling bins, making sure the bags for vegetable peels were compostable, and washing out cartons for recycling, felt a lot of sympathy for Martha. The heartening thing was that we didn’t have to call out “Tell her to help me!”
Support was strong once we had the opportunity to deliver the message to the congregation as part of the service, provide a sense of context and purpose, and have laminated instructions strategically placed. There were almost too many ‘Martha moments’ as people walked around with the wrapping from the cheese slice off their burger, looking for an instruction on where to dispose of it.
There was more work than if single use plastic and leftover food was just thrown in the black bin. But gallant men volunteered for washing up and stuck with it to the end. Everyone preparing food segregated compostable waste and rinsed the plastics for recycling. Others took on the task of wrapping the leftover burger buns in tinfoil and freezing them for another church’s picnic some weeks later. The Korean Church (one of the four in our circuit) distributed individual packets of delicious spicy leftover beef and chicken dishes to cook in the wok at home. Overall nothing was wasted, very little went for landfill or incineration, and the compostable waste bin was overflowing.
Government publications tell us that nationally we lag significantly behind the EU average in relation to the circular economy, still favouring the produce, use and dispose model. We will continue to do our bit at Centenary, as long as there is someone to do the washing up!