United Methodist Reporter Blog

Swine flu and the church

My cubicle-neighbor Bill just mentioned that yesterday his pastor, fresh off a Spanish-language immersion trip to Mexico, made a point of telling folks that his cough was triggered by allergies, not by swine flu.

I washed my hands when I got home from worship. But then, I do that every week. It became a habit years ago, when I served on church staff. With lots of hand-shaking, it just makes sense.

In many United Methodist congregations, Holy Communion is in the order of worship for next Sunday. Lots of common cups and loaves coming up. Anyone out there planning to take extra precautions? Just curious....

Updated to add:  Check out this helpful site: http://shouldibeworriedaboutswineflu.com

Green stuff

I've had a bunch of faith-related earth-friendly items appear on my radar recently, so here's a sampling for you.

1 - Last month Bill Fentum did a cover story on churches participating in fair trade efforts. The most widely-known product may be coffee, but Bill also mentioned EcoPalms, which pays fair wages and helps protect the environment where the palms are harvested. So, I pitched it to the team that makes those kinds of decisions in the congregation where I'm a member, and this Palm Sunday we will be using EcoPalms for the first time. It's a responsible and affordable step we can take, even in this economic tight spot.

2 - Steve and Rachel Heyduck, a clergy couple in the Central Texas Conference, are on a mission to seriously reduce their carbon footprint. Read Steve's latest blog post for a report on how cutting back to just one car is working for them.

3 - Caring for Creation conferences are being held at two Jurisdictional retreat centers this year: Mount Sequoyah in Fayetteville, Ark., and Lake Junaluska in N.C.

Want more resources? The United Methodist General Board of Church and Society is a partner with Eco-Justice Programs of the National Council of Churches.

Now, as I continue my work I'm sure to be humming "For the Beauty of the Earth" for the rest of the day...

An Unlikely Alliance

There were too many potential post titles floating around in my head for this one: "Sharpton and Robertson... the new Odd Couple."  "This Just In: Pigs take to skies."  "Snowball survives, thrives in Hell." But enough of that. Here's the video:

This spot is part of the We Campaign of the Alliance for Climate Protection.  There's even a page that invites you to suggest a duo for the next unlikely alliance.

I, for one, am glad they featured two Christian leaders who agree on this issue. Might this alliance inspire the wider community of faith?

Arachno-mania

My son and I were intrigued to read about the discovery in recent weeks of a massive spider web at a lake not far from Dallas. It had baffled entymologists as to what kind of spider created this huge, hammock-like web until they realized several species worked together on the weaving project. An unusual finding indeed.

My son, who will be 21 in exactly 12 days (but who's counting?), has always loved spiders, insects and small reptiles. It's a good thing I'm a former tom-boy, because my son liked to keep an aquarium tank on his dresser, full of tiny slithering or crawling critters he'd found in the yard.

One time, he dissected a snake that had died. It was cut in five small parts, and labeled in pseudo-scientific terms.

"Didn't that make you sick to do that?" I had to ask.

"I almost threw up when I got to the head," he admitted.