August 24-Joann Cordell, sorpano
August 31-Jeff Johnson, tenor

Green Church
By Freddy Davis

We are working toward making Saint Matthews a “green” church.  No, we are not painting the building or decorating with plants.  We are taking a journey toward being good stewards of our “church”environment. In many cases this is a “win-win” as we use less energy, paper, plastics, etc.  It is really as simple as “refuse, reuse and recycle”.

So what does a “green” church look like.  Hopefully it looks a lot like your “green” home. 

-You probably recycle all of your newspapers, magazines, phonebooks, catalogues, junk mail, and office paper and so should Saint Matthews.

-You probably recycle your plastics and aluminum and cardboard and so should Saint Matthews.

-You may have started to replace your regular light bulbs with energy efficient compact fluorescent so should Saint Matthews.

These are the first simple steps.  Others include an energy audit – free to non-profits; using our own regular coffee cups instead of Styrofoam (oil-based), double side copies.

The list is long and we will take the steps slowly.  A committee is forming: Greg Tieman and Eugenie Taylor have volunteered, but we would welcome others.  It will be a learning experience and a fun, creative one.  And we will report in our successes, and our goals and see where others can help us along the way. 

In fact here are a few things we are already doing:

We have always had a recycling bin for our church programs.

The lovely Hellebores and many of our other plants are natives– i.e. easy keepers

We are using china cups for coffee some of the time.

See if you can find more areas where Saint Matthews is green and give us your suggestions.

Also check out the website of the City of Washington DC by clicking here for more great ideas.

Tuesday Morning Bible Study
Tuesdays at 9:30 AM in Mathes Hall

The Tuesday morning class meets during the summer and looks at the lections for the coming Sunday.

Wednesday Morning Bible Study and Breakfast

An Adult Education Program
Exploring Benedictine Spirituality
resumes from 7:00 AM to 8:00 AM
Wednesday, August 27th.

A REMINDER ABOUT
THE WEDNESDAY 10:30 AM
HOLY EUCHARIST

Something special happens in the Chapel in Mathes Hall on Wednesdays at 10:30 AM. This very relaxed Holy Eucharist includes a teaching on the Saint of the Week by Father Bill. In many ways, this teaching is an open dialog that allows everyone present to share fully the intent of the following Collect of the Holy Eucharist:

God our Father, whose Son our Lord Jesus Christ in a wonderful Sacrament has left us a memorial of his passion: Grant us so to venerate the sacred mysteries of his Body and Blood, that we may ever perceive within ourselves the fruit of his redemption; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.