Sunday morning in Baltimore was lovely and temperate — nice enough for the long white windows in the sanctuary of Northwood-Appold United Methodist Church to be open a little as a breeze wafted in from Cold Spring Lane.

Just two months ago, that breeze was more like a shocking blast of freezing wind. This decades-old congregation was suddenly dealing with something its own members were facing at home: rising Baltimore Gas and Electric bills. The church’s bill was about twice as much in January and February as the same time last year.

“You can’t open the church if you have no lights, no heat,” longtime member Nancy Green told me. So in the “Announcements” section of the church bulletin last month, among the listings for the Line Dance Ministry and the tea party in June, was a plaintive plea to come together as a congregation to help pay the BGE costs.

As a columnist, I write a lot about what’s wrong with Baltimore and how to fix it. I also love hearing about things going beautifully right. That includes about 100 official congregants of the church banding together to support each other.

And the situation at Northwood-Appold is just one example of how Baltimoreans, from small businesses to single families, are grappling with the impact that high BGE bills have on their lives, despite what policies and programs the utility company may offer.

“All churches are experiencing this — not only churches but everybody,” said Green, Northwood-Appold’s former treasurer, who spearheaded the “collaborative” fundraising effort. “I’ve talked to friends who have said, ‘I don’t know how I’m gonna pay this BGE bill.”

Green proposed a payment plan that would help her church pay off the costs, which were around $3,000 in January and nearly $4,000 in February.

The congregant broke down how many people would have to pay what amount. “If we work as a unit, a little from everybody, it pays off,” she said.

Green said the response to her email was immediate, with offers of everything from $50 a week to a one-time payment of $1,000. “Everybody loves the church, and we want to see it succeed,” she said.

“We paid it off in one month.”

As member Rick Perry told me, “I thought it was beautiful, to step up and be a family. We’re responsible for each other.”

The lesson, the Rev. Kevin A. Slayton Sr. said in his Sunday sermon, “Scars,” is that hard times aren’t the main story. Rather, we should focus on the reminders that we’ve survived and are capable of doing it again.

“You did it!” Slayton proudly told the congregation. “You thought that bill was a scar, but it was a testimony.”

Amen.

As someone who grew up in church, I know it’s common to have a heating fund for general expenses, but this situation was the first I had ever heard of one coming to its congregation, whose members understand how hard it is to pay their own personal bills, for help paying down a specific cost.

Northwood-Appold isn’t the only area church to sound the alarm about its bills. East Baltimore’s Israel Baptist Church told WBAL in January it was on a BGE payment installment plan as the congregation struggled with rising energy costs, even using a smaller sanctuary and canceling events because of heating issues. The church did not return a request for comment.

I did talk to Michelle Hook, BGE’s vice president of communications and marketing, who said “no one should have to crowdfund to pay any bill, whether that be medical bills, or your grocery bill, and certainly not your utility bill. This is heartbreaking for us.”

She acknowledged this past winter was “a perfect storm of events, between the historic cold, retiring power plants and increased demands that impact the cost,” and said the company had given millions of dollars in relief for customers.

Although Northwood-Appold has squared away its BGE bills, this is certainly not the first time the church, which is three blocks from where I grew up, has faced hardship. It survived a massive fire in 2013 that damaged its tall white steeple to the point it had to be replaced. And last year, Green said, all five of its air-conditioning units broke at the same time.

Four of those units have been repaired with money from Northwood-Appold’s HVAC fund, and the fifth should be replaced soon. Again, “the church just came together,” Green said. “Whatever needs to be done.”

Hook said, if Northwood-Appold is indeed replacing that unit or other energy equipment, it should call the company’s customer care center to see if it qualifies for rebates, discounts and energy-efficiency programs.

Coming together recently to make sure the lights stayed on seems like a big deal, but everyone I talked to on Sunday at the church dismissed the quick attention as some Herculean effort. Rather, they said, it was just the right thing to do.

“This was the rare opportunity that was a faith opportunity, where you’re seeing people’s needs and you find yourself in the same boat,” Slayton said. “It’s a whole lot easier to relate, because we’re all feeling the same pressure.”

The congregation can breathe easy in the gentle breeze for the moment but acknowledges, if bills continue to rise, “we may just have to do it again,” Green said.

And it might not even have to wait for winter. “Summer’s gonna come,” Perry said.

Something tells me, if the bills get out of control again, charity will, again, begin in the church home.