This Gifted Land
David Keesey-Berg
"We begin with the land because the land was here, as a gift from a bountiful
Creator, before the first human eyes gazed on its beauty and the first human
feet walked on the soft earth that surrounds us in this holy place. When I
stand at the beginning of the Labyrinth path behind our church, I sometimes
feel like I can sense the presence of those men, women, and children who
first passed this way. I picture them kneeling down and placing their hands
reverently on the soft, warm earth. I sometimes feel like I can hear echoes
of their prayers."
Read this beautifully written
article in it's entirety. Click here.
Click here to read some reflections by the author on the writing of
"This
Gifted Land"
History of Land and Land-Use Decisions
In 2010, the Wisconsin State Journal featured MCC in this article to help
you with a brief encounter on the history of land, how we’ve made land-use
decisions, and why.
Click here to read this article.

Successful Earth Day Cleanup! In less than an hour, we picked up 5 bags of trash, threw countless toys
back over the fence to Kindercare, hauled tree décor and brush to the curb,
AND ate GIANT pickles on a stick! Then, we played.
Solar Array
In August, 2014, MCC
completed a
64-solar-panel array. The electricity generated by the solar array will
reduce dependence on non-renewable sources of energy by 35% reducing CO2
emission by 24.8 tons/year. Our appreciation is extended to H&H Electric for
their fine work in providing accurate information to a competent team of
employees. H&H also assisted us in securing a grant for $11,000 from Focus
on Energy to help defray the costs. You can observe our solar production data any time at on
the internet at
http://egauge14060.egaug.es/ .
Prairie
Restoration
Maintaining the prairie since 1983 has been a cooperative effort by members
of the Madison Christian Community. Some helped to hand- gather the seeds
from remnant prairies along railroad tracks and from "goat prairies",
hillsides too steep to cultivate. In the spring church members burn the
prairie to stimulate native plants and control non-native species.
We are committed to providing a space for plants that have been in
our land for thousands of years and which have developed unique ways of
surviving the extremes of the Midwest: heat and drought in summer; wind and
frigid temperatures in winter; and occasional fires that swept through in
spring or fall. Click here to learn more about Prairie Restoration.
Ideas
for Environmental Sustainability
Check out these ideas from the Enact (Ecoteam) guide for
better environmental sustainability.
The Ecoteam program was created by
Global Action Plan for the Earth.
Click
here for Ideas for Environmental Sustainability
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Caring for Our Corner of Creation
What is a “Sense of Place?”
“Caring for Our Corner of Creation” is a study-action program designed to
help congregations carry out mission and ministry with a deepened, enriched,
and engaged sense of place.
Click here to
download a PDF of this program.
Church
on Earth: Grounding Your
Ministry in a Sense of Place
This book about cultivating spiritual, social and ecological relationships
is available from Agusburg Fortress.
Click here.
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