Dear Edgeboro Family & Friends,

The Lord is risen! Easter blessings to you all now and throughout the Easter season (through May 18)! Before I jump into the rest of this article, I wanted to express my thanks for another blessed Holy Week here at Edgeboro. It takes many people to host 10 worship services in eight days which include special readings, traditions, a Confirmation celebration, a lovefeast, Communion, a musical ensemble, and more! If you set up for worship, provided music for worship, participated in reading, served a lovefeast, or worshiped with us – THANK YOU!

With Easter arriving a bit early this year, this leaves April’s holiday calendar clear. Unless you’re a strong observer of Tax Day (which I suppose we all are to some extent), the only other notable holiday in April this year is Earth Day – and this seems like a great opportunity to highlight the Trex plastic recycling program once again.

Edgeboro and the other Bethlehem area Moravian churches have been collecting and recycling certain types of plastic (see page 4 of the April Newsletter)  for the last 4+ years. All the plastic collected is dropped off monthly at a local grocery store, and from there Trex takes the plastic and makes composite decking and similar materials from it. Trex offers an incentive program for nonprofits and local organizations that for every 1,000 lbs. of plastic collected over the course of 12 months, the participating organization receives a free outdoor bench. (Prior to 2024, the program numbers were 500 lbs. and 6 months respectively.)

Since February 2020, the Bethlehem area Moravian churches have recycled 11,000 lbs. of plastic and have received 17 benches. That’s literally tons of plastic. If you hypothetically took all the pews out of Edgeboro’s sanctuary (excluding the organ/pulpit area) and put all 11,000 lbs. of collected plastic in there, packed tightly, every square inch of the sanctuary below the pulpit would be covered with six feet of plastic!  It’d be over most of our heads! Think about that the next time you step into the sanctuary. That’s how much plastic never made it to the landfills because of our efforts to recycle over the last four years.

Here are some other things you may or may not know about our plastic recycling program:

• Edgeboro member Tom Pheiffer has faithfully been weighing, packing, and delivering plastic to the local Weis monthly for the last four years. He now has a small crew of church members helping to deliver the plastic and would always welcome additional help.
• Edgeboro receives plastic from Martin Guitar and Second Harvest Food Bank.
• Benches have been donated to Camp Hope, Moravian House, and the garden used by Essentials Café behind the Widow’s House. Plans have been discussed to donate future benches as they are received.
• All six Bethlehem Moravian Churches (including Edgeboro) will continue collecting plastic to recycle for the foreseeable future.

One way that we love God is to love what our Creator has made. Though it doesn’t always feel like it when we drop off a bag of plastic at the church, let’s remember that caring for the world by recycling plastic is a very practical yet meaningful way we express our love for God. May God bless and multiply all our efforts to care for creation and preserve our planet!

Striving for Stewardship with you,
Pastor Dan