This Fall every couple of weeks, green team members and supporters will be sharing some personal stories and insights on what embracing values of sustainability means to them in their own lives and as members of the Hamline Church community.  We invite you to learn and become inspired to take further action in your own life or as a member of our community.

by Barbara Deming

Barbara Deming

I’ve been walking to church from the start. My family lived next to, or a few blocks away from the church when I was growing up, and I remember speed walking with my mom as we were inevitably late leaving the house. Slow kicking home through the leaves with my sisters and brother. Picking up some friends to walk home with for lunch afterward. When I returned to church as an adult in Saint Paul I walked to Hamline and Church of the Good Shepherd, which lacked a parking lot, and then Hamline again, once pulling kids on a plastic toboggan after 12 inches of snow had fallen. The habit dies hard.

Now I mostly bike or walk alone, as other family members are out of town or not church-going. During those 15 – 45 minutes I am where I want to be: outdoors, moving my body to get somewhere else I want to be, listening to podcasts (I’m not completely unplugged!) or occasionally singing when no one is around. Sometimes I see another walker, usually connected to a dog, but mostly I’m alone out there on Sunday mornings. The rugged individualist in me is fed and I am able to show up at church ready to join in.

Sometimes I hop on the light rail or bus if it gets me there faster, thanks to the miracle of our shared community commitment to helping each other move around.

After six days of speeding around on four wheels to get to work, school and everywhere else, being on foot or bike puts me in a different place mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally. Maybe it’s a check-in with my privilege, reminding me of who I am when alone on two feet. Sure, I’m still burning the energy from good food and wearing the warm boots I am so lucky to own, but walking is a small pin-prick of a reminder of what’s underneath the busy schedule, house full of stuff and hefty ego.

I invite any of you who are able to join me (in body or in spirit) in the slow church movement on Sunday mornings!

Did you know?  According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, our personal vehicles are a major cause of global warming. Collectively, cars and trucks account for nearly one-fifth of all US emissions, emitting around 24 pounds of carbon dioxide and other global-warming gases for every gallon of gas. About five pounds comes from the extraction, production, and delivery of the fuel, while the great bulk of heat-trapping emissions—more than 19 pounds per gallon—comes right out of a car’s tailpipe.  Consider what you are not putting into the atmosphere when you choose to walk or bike!