Magazine for March 2010
Renewable
At the moment I am involved with a project that converts waste into bio-gas. It is about using renewable sources of energy as an alternative to using fossil fuels. The amount of natural gas available in the North Sea is declining and one means of supplementing our need for natural gas is to use bio-gas. Put simply, it is about turning sewage into gas that can be used to power our homes. The process is anaerobic digestion. Microbes are used to chomp up sewage in an anaerobic digester to produce gas and a material that can be used as a fertilizer. The gas is then treated so that it is compatible with gas in the gas distribution network. The process is not cheap and needs capital investment but it converts something pretty unpleasant into something really useful.
So what is the connection between bio-gas and Lent? I believe that Lent is a good time to think about transformation processes and costly investment. There are times when we can look at ourselves or the events going on in the world and what we see is just a mess. God did just the same – but He saw the potential that was there. He saw something in us that could be transformed into something of great value, and He saw that it would involve great cost. The cost of our transformation, of our salvation, was Jesus willingly dying for our sins upon the cross on Good Friday.
When we feel downhearted at what we see around us, let us remember the wonderful things that can done with very unpromising materials. Unlike anaerobic digestion, the price of salvation has already been paid and God’s love through Jesus is transforming all things around us however hopeless they might seem.
David Bradshaw