From one of our recent newsletters (we get a lot of them):

Food security declined for the second year in a row according to the Economist Intelligence Unit, after having improved every year since 2012 to 2019. While the top seven slots go to European countries, overall North America is the top performing region.

Covid stresses are providing an indicator of the food security weak spots likely to be exposed by further climate change. The most vulnerable populations in each country are severely exposed to both risks. Food security problems stretch across low, middle and high income countries, with China’s growing reliance on food imports set to be the next major source of food security debate.

Learn more about global food security here.

This course is perfect for all lifelong learners who are interested in this topic and support Au Sable’s mission to inspire and educate people to serve, protect, and restore God’s earth. A few of the questions that will be covered in this course include:

• How did SARS-CoV2, the novel coronavirus that has caused death and suffering for millions, become a human pathogen?

• How do human influences on our environment affect existing and emerging infectious diseases?

• What about all the other disease-causing organisms out there? What’s next?

• I feel so small – what can I do about any of this? How does my Christian faith inform my response?

Click here to learn more and sign up.

NOTE that the registration deadline is July 17.

In that spirit, here are a few recent blog posts that you might find helpful. (Please feel free to send us any that you find, too.)

From Vinoth Ramachandra in Sri Lanka, thoughts on the virus of fear. Vinoth is an elder statesman, known for his years of ministry in IFES circles. He is always worth reading.

This leads me to highlight a pandemic that is far more dangerous, in the long term, than COVID-19. It is the pandemic of racism and xenophobia that seems to be spreading at an alarming rate and has been responsible for the election of men like Trump, Putin, Johnson, Erdogan, Netanyahu, Modi, Rajapakse and others into positions of power. Much of this is fuelled by fear. COVID-19 has also brought out this fear, at the same time as others have worked tirelessly to care for victims and curtail its spread. In London, a Singaporean Chinese man was assaulted on the street and Chinese shops and restaurants boycotted. In Nairobi, even before the first case was reported, angry crowds attacked Chinese workers. Several incidents of this nature have happened elsewhere.

From Ruth Padilla-Deborst in Costa Rica, a piece on Community and Just Conviviality. Ruth and her family have been exploring theology and creation care in the context of community for many years. The conclusion of this piece tells us much about the direction she is heading:

In Casa Adobe, patterns of communal prayer disquiet our natural tendencies to conform to the status quo and send us into action. Reducing our carbon footprint by sharing household appliances, limiting consumption and simplifying our lives, gardening, and organizing the community to carry out a river clean-up, all these actions push us back on our knees in humble acknowledgement of our limitations.

I am convinced that the re-casting of relationships between us as humans and of humanity with the rest of the living community requires that we step out of the individualistic matrix of single homes and private property. Far from slight tweaks here and there, the condition of our planet demands re-casting and embodying diverse forms and experiments of community sharing. Will you dare to imagine living a new story with me?

Jo Swinney, A Rocha International’s new Director of Communication, shares some thoughts on Corona Virus, Creation, and Opportunity for Change. Along the same lines, Dave Bookless is asking that we Build Back Better in a piece that is taken from one of his recent webinar talks. From Dave’s piece…

Amidst very real fear and grief, this gives us an opportunity to rethink ‘flourishing’, and how our economic systems can be regenerative and restorative rather than unstable, unjust, and unsustainable. We’ve seen a resetting of values: a new appreciation of neighbours and low-paid keyworkers; an awareness of birdsong and blue skies; for some, existential questions about prayer, purpose, and priorities. Very few of these contribute to economic growth or Gross Domestic Product. Alongside many hardships, perhaps we’re learning how to flourish in new ways.

Finally, if you didn’t catch these webinars, they are worth a few minutes of your time:

WEA Webinar on Covid-19 as an opportunity for a historic reset (with Katharine Hayhoe, Kuki Rokhum, Chris Elisara, Dave Bookless, and others)

Season of Creation: A Jubilee for the Earth with Ruth Padilla Deborst and others. (Season of Creation is almost upon us… watch for more details in a couple of weeks.)

Most of us who have been involved in missions are familiar with Community Health Evangelism. They have just produced a comprehensive and free Corona Virus Disease teaching manual.

From the Introduction:

This manual is written for families, churches and CHE workers in communities impacted by coronavirus disease. The manual teaches ways to prevent coronavirus disease, how to care for people who are sick, and gives ideas for sharing your faith in Christ and overcoming fear and grief.

Check it out and download (free) here. Even if you are not directly involved in caring for Covid victims, someone in your church or community probably is.

From the UK comes this booklet by several friends of LWCCN, COVID-19: Environment, Justice, and the Future. Written by Ruth Valerio (when does she sleep?!?), Martin Hodson, Margo Hodson (yes, they are related), and Timothy Howles. The book covers the origins of the pandemic, environmental impacts of the lockdowns, and how we might begin to build a better, more just and sustainable future. Click here to order (it is available in digital format), or here or here for descriptive commentary.

Dr. Bob Sluka, A Rocha International’s esteemed ocean guy, has a chapter in Undivided Witness on Creation Care. Here’s the blurb:

Undivided Witness presents ten key principles linking community development and the emergence of vibrant communities of Jesus followers among the ‘least reached’. Twelve practitioners explore this uncharted missiological space, drawing on decades of serving and learning among communities in Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and South, Central and Southeast Asia.

Available in Kindle format from Amazon.

Frederic Baudin is a respected pastor, church leader and prolific author in France. This is a translation of one of his recent works, and appears to be a good overview of the topic of creation care. Originally published in 2013, it won’t address Covid-19, but looks to be a solid introduction from an author with extensive experience in Africa, India and Haiti.

Also available in Kindle format.

By now you will have read Ruth Valerio’s superb Saying Yes to Life, which was featured in this year’s Lenten program by the Archbishop of Canterbury. (No, Ruth definitely doesn’t sleep much…) We now find that YouVersion, a popular and easy to use Bible app, has a devotional guide to go along with that book:

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Here’s a link to the Saying Yes to Life devotional guide. Click here to learn more about YouVersion or look for it in your phone’s app store.

The World Economic Forum has explored this in an episode of their ongoing “World vs. Virus” podcast. Here is some of what their experts said:

“The evidence we have is pretty clear that people who have been living in places that are more polluted over time, that they are more likely to die from coronavirus.”

That’s the stark assessment of Aaron Bernstein, the director of the Center for Climate, Health, and Global Environment at Harvard University.

Researchers in Cambridge came to a similar conclusion, with a study that found more cases of COVID-19, and resulting deaths, in areas of England with high levels of air pollution.

While the studies are ongoing, the initial findings come as no surprise to Maria Neira, an expert on air pollution at the World Health Organisation.

“We cannot prove any correlation between air pollution and the mortality caused by COVID-19, but it’s clear that, if you smoke or if you are exposed to air pollution for a long time, your lungs will be more vulnerable and you will be more vulnerable to any type of respiratory diseases,” Neira told this week’s World Vs Virus podcast.

Check out the full episode below or read more here.

Tom has been busy – that article is already a book, “God and the Pandemic“. It’s not long, and in classic NT Wright style, takes us deep into the scriptures to understand how to view our current situation biblically. As the book’s website says, “God and the Pandemic will help you to understand how we are to talk about God, how we are to live in the present pandemic, how we recover from it, and what is the church’s calling in the midst of it all.”

Even better, Wright and Francis Collins, Director of the US National Institutes of Health, will appear together in a live recording of the Language of God podcast from Biologos on July 12 at 17:55 pm UTC. Event details are here. From the Biologos blurb:

This live stream event, moderated by host Jim Stump, will feature Wright’s new book, God and the Pandemic: A Christian Reflection on the Coronavirus and Its Aftermath. Collins, who heads our country’s biomedical research, will also share the latest on COVID-19. Viewers will also have the opportunity to ask questions!

And here is Tom Wright himself introducing the new book:

Easier said than done for those who live in places where water is scarce and water taps nonexistent.

From WHO Africa, the “tippy tap”. Check it out! (includes a pretty good demonstration of hand washing technique if you need a refresher course.)

If you have your own source of water for handwashing, and would like to help those who don’t, A Rocha Uganda is accepting donations to provide Tippy-taps to schools and others who need them. Click for information and to make a donation.

Andrew Shepherd, Lecturer at the University of Otago, New Zealand has produced one of the best papers on this topic that we have seen. In Covid-19: An Invitation to Ecological Repentance? Andrew suggests that

A more nuanced approach would be to interpret COVID-19 as an apocalyptic event—one which “unveils” the truth of the world as it really is. Thus, the present pandemic is merely one of the multitude of “canaries in the mine” giving warning to humanity of the ecological perils of our current ecologically-devastating way of life. In this interpretation, COVID-19 is an experience of God’s “wrath” as conceived of in Romans 1. Humanity, “filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity … full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice” (Rom 1:28–32 NIV), have been given over by God to our sinful desires and done what ought not to be done.

Ecologically violent actions pollute and destroy humanity’s relationship with the earth and its non-human inhabitants. Like the species that we objectify and evict from their homes, we too now find ourselves cursed. Torn from our normal lives, we are driven into isolation, yet in an ironic twist, rather than being forced to wander as a fugitive, we are imprisoned within our homes (Gen 4:10–14). Accordingly, COVID-19 and other climate-induced catastrophes, I suggest, should be understood not as stemming from God’s actions, but rather, are the result of human actions/inaction. Humanity is suffering the inevitable consequences of ecological realities that stem from our selfish and desires. COVID-19 could be interpreted as a judgement of the earth and its non-human inhabitants for our mistreatment of them. Or, to put it more crudely, the creatures that we share our earth-ark with, that we ignore or abuse, have bitten back.

The whole article is worth reading and filing for future reference.