Old First Church steps into the 21 century

I've been going to First Presbyterian Church since I was born.  It's a small, plain, white sanctuary with a small, plain, white education building in the middle of downtown Tallahassee.  When I was young, I used to think it was incredibly boring  - not anything like the interior of St. John's Episcopal which had stained glass and golden crosses and candles and wood beams and embroidered cloth.  But now I have come to appreciate the no frills, simple message of First Presbyterian.   I love that through the 160 years we've been around (that is SO long in America time), we haven't changed too much.

First Pres. is actually the oldest building in Tallahassee still standing and in use for its original purpose.  Incredibly, it looks almost identical today as it did in 1838.  I love looking through old photos of Tallahassee because I can always point out my church.  Usually it's the only thing around.  Here's a picture of First Pres. back in the day:

1838, corner of Adams and Park

And some before and after shots of the sanctuary:

Sanctuary circa 1940

Sanctuary circa now

Those of you who are around town, you can recognize that not much has changed. I think that's awesome.

Oh, but what has changed?  Since we are awesome, today marked the dedication of our SOLAR PANELS.  That's right - staying true to our hippie and liberal Presbyterian Church USA roots, First Presbyterian Church of Tallahassee has officially gone green for the glory of God as a congregation.  It stems from a response from the General Assembly calling all Presbyterians to go carbon neutral. On the First Pres Church Tallahassee website, there is a link that tells us what energy we've used and what pollutants we have not emitted into our environment, and also what sort of power we collect hour by hour. It's so cool. Here's a pic and some fun facts:

As of right this second, we've stored up enough energy to run a TV for 65,858 hours and to power 72 computers for an entire year - and that is after the panels have only been operating for two months!

Here's what we haven't contributed to our environment because of the panels:

• 21,989 lbs of CO2
• 46 lbs of nitrous oxide
• 84 lbs of SO2

I love that my church made this a serious priority and is dedicated to making a difference in the environment.  

Postscript: When Gamma chapter of Chi O was founded at FSU in 1905, many founding members and members thereafter were in the First Presbyterian congregation - I read their accounts in the archives. That makes me happy indeed.