Powered by the sun (Son?)

By Richard Cannon in All Sorts

reflecting on our dependence on the sun for all our energy and on Jesus, the Son of God, for power to live life

Powered by the sun (Son?)
As we are all well aware, the war in the Middle East has reduced the
flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz causing sharp increases in
global petrol, diesel and aviation fuel prices. As a result, people are
thinking about ‘decarbonising’ and turning to solar power. Electric
vehicles are becoming popular, and with escalating power prices there
has been an increase in the installation of solar panels. As an aside,
one idea I would like to float as a 150th Anniversary project for
Mornington is the installation of solar panels on the Church roof with a
battery to store the energy. This could be a future focused project for
the Church to reduce our environmental impact and combat climate
change, as well as a means to reduce our power costs. The project
could be boosted by a ‘Green Grant’ from the Methodist Connexional
Property Committee. Let me know what you think about that idea.
The shift we are seeing away from fossil fuels to solar power made me
think about where our energy actually comes from, and I would like to
suggest to you that in New Zealand it almost all comes from the sun.
Energy from solar panels obviously comes from the sun, but the
energy in fossil fuels, coal, oil and gas, also ultimately comes from the
sun. Coal was made from the burial of plant material under layers of
sediment, and over millions of years, the heat and pressure of deep
burial caused the carbon in the plant material to be converted into
coal. So where did the energy in plant material come from? The plants
made hydrocarbons from carbon dioxide and water using energy
harvested from the sun through photosynthesis. Oil and gas were
formed in a similar fashion by the compression, underground, of
aquatic organisms and algae also buried under sediment.
Again, ultimately the aquatic organisms got their energy by eating
plants or other organisms that ate plants, So once more the energy
came from the sun. What about hydroelectric power? This relies on
water falling down through pipes and rotating turbines. How does the
water get to higher altitudes? The sun causes it to evaporate, it
condenses in the atmosphere and falls as rain or snow, and some of
that rain and snow collects at high altitude. Finally, wind power.
Wind is simply air in motion. It is primarily caused by the sun heating
the Earth unevenly which creates differences in air temperature and
pressure. Air naturally moves from areas of high pressure to areas of
low pressure, and that flow of air can turn the blades of wind turbines.
So, most of the energy we use in our daily lives comes from the sun.
But where does our energy come from. You may say from the food we
eat (ultimately plants again!), but where does our drive come from,
what powers us? Is it the power of the holy spirit? Are we motivated
and empowered not by the sun, but by the Son of God?
2 Peter 1:3 Jesus has the power of God, by which he has given us
everything we need ·to live and to serve God. We have these
things·because we know Jesus, who called us by his glory and
goodness.