Climate Caretakers, a US-based ministry of Care of Creation, is offering a different sort of spin on the idea of fasting for Lent. If you sign up for their ‘Carbon Fast‘ they will send you an email each week offering ideas and suggestions as to how you can fast in ways that will raise your own awareness of some of the issues around climate change, as well as begin to make a difference in the world.

Some of the weekly themes they are covering between now and Easter are:

• Week 1 (Feb 26): Electricity
• Week 2 (Mar 2): Spending
• Week 3 (Mar 9): Silence
• Week 4 (Mar 16): Meat
• Week 5 (Mar 23): Driving
• Week 6 (Mar 30): Media
• Week 7 (Apr 6): Ignorance

We particularly like that last one . As they say, “Lack of knowledge about how climate change works is one of the primary barriers preventing us from talking about it more often. We can all learn more, and this will help us be better climate caretakers.”

And be sure to read the fine print! #3 – Silence fast is not fasting silently, but fasting from silence by talking – about climate change with your friends and family.

Try it out – and let us know how it goes. Or tell us what other ways you might be using this Lenten season to focus more on God and his creation.

We knew things were greening up in the Church of England when Ruth Valerio was asked to write a book on behalf of the Archbishop of Canterbury. Saying Yes to Life! was released at the end of last year and is available both in hardcopy and Ebook formats. C of E has now gone one better with their first ever ‘Green Lent’ campaign:

The #LiveLent 2020 campaign gives Christians the chance to follow 40 daily reflections, actions and prayers all geared towards greener living…

Launching the resources, Archbishop Justin Welby said: “We urgently need to rebuild our relationship with our planet. To do this, we need to change our habits – in how we pray and how we act.

“Lent is not just about discipline. It’s about allowing Christ to show us what’s keeping us from loving and serving Him – and joyfully letting it go.

“Whatever age you are, this Lent I hope you’ll engage with God’s plea for us to care for His creation, and that these campaign resources will help you on that journey.”

Dr Ruth Valerio, Global Influencing and Advocacy Director at Tearfund, said: “Responding to the poverty and environmental crises of our times goes right to the heart of what it means to be a Christian in today’s world, following God who calls us to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with him.

“My prayer for Saying Yes to Life and the Church of England’s #LiveLent campaign is that they would inspire in us a deeper love for our global neighbours and the whole of God’s creation, and would equip us to take action in our lives and in our churches.”

https://www.christiantoday.com/article/church-of-englands-first-ever-green-lent-campaign-launches/134166.htm

The campaign gets underway on Ash Wednesday on 26 February with a vigil outside Westminster Cathedral at midday that will then process to Westminster Abbey and Parliament Square…

The 40 days of action will continue through Lent with a focus on “lament for the climate change and ecological crisis”, and prayers for leaders to take urgent action. 

The CCA said that some of its members may engage in civil disobedience to pressure government to commit to net zero carbon emissions by 2025. 

Nick Cooper, Christian Climate Action member, said: “This is about system change triggered by personal growth. We invite everyone to journey with us into the wilderness of Lent and encounter the ‘quiet voice’ so often hidden from us in daily life.

“We need desperately to hear that sacred voice calling us together as a global community, to share what we have left, learning to live simpler more connected lives, and find the courage to take up civil disobedience in the face of an ever more desperate climate and ecological crisis.

“We need to take courage and stop denying the power that we hold as one sacred and interconnected body.”

https://www.christiantoday.com/article/christian-climate-protesters-launch-40-days-of-action-during-lent/134256.htm

The 40 days of action also have the support of other Christian environmental groups including Operation Noah as well as our own Dr Ruth Valerio, global advocacy and influencing director of Tearfund, who is also the author of Saying Yes to Life, the companion book for the Church of England’s first ever green Lent campaign. 

[Go to http://news.lwccn.com for more Lent action suggestions, including a study program based on Saying Yes to Live, Carbon Fasts and more.]

Saying Yes to Life has just been published by SPCK (UK) with lots of online resources to support it. Ruth is a great communicator, and in the book she imaginatively draws on the Days of Creation (Genesis 1 – 2.2) in relating themes of light, water, land, the seasons, other creatures, humankind, Sabbath rest and resurrection hope to matters of environmental, ethical and social concern. Foundational to the book are what it means to be human and, in particular, to be a follower of Jesus during Lent. Voices from other continents are heard throughout, and each chapter ends with discussion questions, a prayer, and specially commissioned art to aid action and contemplation. The book has already been described as “practical, stirring and liberating”. 

You might have to be in the UK to get a hard copy* but it is also available as an ebook. Buy it, read it, and let us know what you think! [*UPDATE FROM RUTH: No, copies should be available in various places through Amazon very soon.]