What’s the buzz?


This congregation in Washington, D.C., will tell you


By Julie B. Sevig T


om Knoll likes to talk about the day First Trinity Church, Washington, D.C., went from


150 members to 15,150 and this “Lutheran megachurch” became all the buzz. Tat was last April when some


15,000 bees arrived, were blessed and, as the pastor says, “they became Lutheran.” But it gets even better. At the height of last bee season (June), the Lutheran bee colony housed on the roof of the tiny urban church grew to about 70,000. First Trinity has a history of caring for


For more information, email office@firsttrinitydc.org.


creation, banning plastic foam products, changing to more energy efficient light bulbs and buying into cooperative electrical energy. Ten a light bulb above Knoll’s head went on: why not install bee- hives on the roof? Tis process was pos-


sible, or at least made easier, because member Paul Diehl


has been a beekeeper for decades and teaches classes in beekeeping. Both Diehl and Knoll are quick to encourage other


congregations to do something similar. Tey know bees are crucial to earth and human survival. Bees are the main pollinators of the fruits and vegetables we eat, and the flowers we enjoy. But they’re dying at an alarming rate, which concerns scientists and folks like Diehl and Knoll. When their idea started to take shape, only a few


other buildings in our nation’s capital had bees on their roof—the National Geographic building and the White House, Knoll said. Last winter, the congregation placed an order for a


queen bee and 15,000 worker bees, which arrived in a 3-pound box and then settled on First Trinity’s roof.


26 www.thelutheran.org


Nina Gwynn puts honey into bot- tles on the ELCA’s “God’s work. Our hands.” Sunday.


Tom Knoll, pastor of First Trinity Lutheran, Washington, D.C., blesses the bees that arrived by mail order last April, which enabled the church to make honey that it sold in September. With him is Paul Diehl, a member and beekeeper.


GERALDINE MCCANN


GERALDINE MCCANN


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