An environmentally sustainable, spiritually fulfilling, socially just community of faith 

in the United Methodist tradition in Northeast Minneapolis.

 

 

  

 

 

Thank you for taking the time to look at our website. 

 

Northeast Minneapolis is a great place to live, work, worship, and play.  

 Come be a part of our community of faith, in our garden, in our building, in sanctuary and in action.

 It is my prayer that wherever you find us, you may find us to be people of justice, healing, and hope.

And may we, together, carefully work and live out God’s deepest dreams for the planet.    

Peace, Love, and Understanding,

Pastor Sarah
 

 

 

On the Autumnal Equinox a group from Northeast United Methodist Church gathered for a climate conversation, the first of several. Host and Church member, Tony Pollock cooked a tasty and seasonal vegetarian dinner: a groundnut vegetarian stew, homemade bread, and some sort of magical desert.

We started our conversation with pictures of Minnesota, from the rocky cliffs of the north shore, to people ice fishing, to concerts at Lake Harriet, to a family farm, and more. We each picked one picture that most attracted us and then one by one we told of  our joy for all the memories held in that picture. Then we talked about how that scene has changed over time, such as the way early ice out has reduced the ice fishing season. 

After that we looked over the fence into Minnesota in the year 2030, at the new ways we will be living that will reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. Pictures with brief descriptions told  about new area heating systems and air source heat pumps that reduce our reliance on oil and gas and that support jobs in these new technologies; travel on busses that have priority lanes and car clubs for car sharing; pocket forests and more trees so we can reclaim a sense of wildness and gain the benefit of shade; extra insulation and triple window glazing to reduce heating and air conditioning; more flexible work, such as use of a local office close to our homes to reduce commutes;  and more. The interesting thing is that the changes were welcome (except a shorter shower in the morning ☹). 

We will gather for more of these climate conversations. We meet tonight with our kids in confirmation to consider power and what it will take to build power within individuals and among people.  We may create a plan for climate insurgency. Perhaps we will be changed. Perhaps in thankfulness for the natural world and with hope for tomorrow we will get braver and take more action —  perhaps more action in our personal choices, maybe public action. As a first action, following each conversation we are writing our city and state leaders to take action to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and to do it now, not later, when later is too late.   We are using the resources we have and doing what we can because now is the time when we need everyone to do everything we can to create hope for the Earth.