As you may know, chemicals in the commercial cleaning products we use affect our water and soil. Shifting what we use for cleaning to non-toxic and biodegradable products can make a big difference.

So how would a congregation share this awareness while reaching out to their neighbors?

This Fall, Spirit of God Lutheran Church, a congregation serving what is known as West Duluth, used a $500 microgrant from the NE MN Synod EcoFaith Team to support a successful neighborhood event.  This was their fourth year participating in “Love Your Block”, an annual city-wide cleanup effort, and this year they expanded it to focus on cleaning with the whole creation in mind. 

Inspired at the EcoFaith Summit by a story from Bethlehem Lutheran in Brainerd, they decided to personally deliver creation care focused cloth bags the week before God’s Work, Our Hands Sunday to all the homes in their neighborhood. They purchased150 cloth bags and filled them with ecofriendly products for laundry, dishwashers, and biodegradable garbage bags.  Pastor Nathan Sager did the legwork, walking through the church’s neighborhood to plot out an eight block area, noting the number of homes in each.  Congregational volunteers then took bags and distributed them to their assigned block, having an opportunity to introduce themselves and their congregation.  Other members worked on neighborhood clean-up while Pastor Sager manned the large dumpster which was rented for the event, a much-appreciated opportunity for disposal of large items that could not be put into garbage pick-up or transported easily in personal vehicles.  Significant were the conversations around the dumpster, the connections with neighbors, and the sense of accomplishment by the team. 

The cost of the event was split evenly between a city grant, the synod microgrant and congregational donations.  Spirit of God is planning to repeat this event in 2024 with different themes, perhaps putting a loaf of bread from Duluth’s Best Bread Company in the bag rather than the products, and continuing the clean-up and the dumpster rental.

The event was linked to God’s Work Our Hands Sunday, an opportunity to celebrate who we are as the ELCA - one church, freed in Christ, to love and serve our neighbor.  Service activities offer an opportunity for us to explore one of our most basic convictions as Lutherans: that all of life in Jesus Christ – every act of service, in every daily calling, in every corner of life – flows freely from a living, daring confidence in God’s grace.