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Earth Day
Minute for Mission
Honoring the Earth has as much to do with the little decisions we make every day as it does with the big ones. What can we do? In the spring of 2006, Betsy, a member of our church, designed a system of recycling and composting for the Blue Ridge Barbeque and Music Festival, which 26,000 people attended annually in Tryon, North Carolina. The overriding premise of the project was that most people will choose to do the right thing if they have the opportunity. An estimated 140 volunteers would be needed. One Sunday Betsy asked for volunteers to help with the recycling, and more than half of the congregation volunteered — enough to cover the first four-hour shift on Friday of the festival. They have volunteered for three years now, well aware that sorting garbage and food waste is one way to honor the Earth.
Recycling stations were set up throughout the festival grounds, each station containing a bin each for cans and bottles, compostables (food and paper), and trash (Styrofoam and non-recyclable plastics). “I have never seen anything more humbling than watching the 80-year-old lady lean into the food slop bucket to pull out a plastic fork and put it in the trash, while speaking kindly to the person who made the mistake. It was the way God works through us, and God was busy that day!” Betsy said.
For Betsy, the reward came late Saturday night when a motorcyclist dressed in studded black leather said to her, “Thanks for doing this. It’s the right thing to do, and you’ve given us the chance to do the right thing, too.”
In its first two years, the recycling effort reduced the amount of landfill trash from the festival by 60 percent, and the compost now fertilizes Polk County landscapes and community gardens. Thanks be to God!
—Rev. Gene Witherspoon, former assistant to the stated clerk
PC(USA) General Assembly Staff
Rev. Rolfe J. Granath, CFCS
Kaci Grant, GAMC
Roberta Grant, BOP
Teresa Grant, GAMC
You have given us this wonderful Earth of land, sea, and sky to honor and care for. Grant us patience that we might take the time to recycle, though it may be inconvenient; time to protect it, though it may mean using less paper. As we fulfill our responsibility for caring for this Earth, you bless us with its beauty. For this we give you thanks. Amen.
Ps. 99, 147:1–11 Ps. 9, 118
Dan. 2:17–30
1 John 2:12–17; John 17:20–26
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