By: Jocabed R Solano Miselis

There is no climate justice without justice for all creation.

Every year, thousands of people from all over the world gather at the COP on climate change. COP29 is the Conference of the Parties, an annual meeting of countries that have ratified the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). At these conferences, decisions are made to combat climate change, such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions or adapting to the consequences of global warming.

As part of the delegation in Panama and the delegation of the World Council of Churches, participating in COP 29 was an opportunity to make an impact for my faith not only as a citizen in Panama, but as a citizen in the world.

Personally, faith in Jesus moves me to make an impact for indigenous territories, in local government and at an international level. For me, a faith that lives in solidarity, walking the realities of vulnerable peoples, is an impact of daily life intertwined with national realities and that involves announcing the good news and denouncing injustice.

There was significant the disappointment at COP29 due to the lack of commitment from the so-called “rich countries” from a capitalist perspective. From a Gunadule perspective, however, one is rich when we know how to relate to the land, when we cultivate it and learn from it. There is both respect and reciprocity.

A new global target for climate finance was agreed on at COP29, setting a goal of $300 billion annually by 2035 from a range of sources, including public and private funds. This target replaces the previous target of $100 billion and seeks to mobilise greater resources to help developing countries meet the challenges of climate change. However, many critics argue that the agreements reached at COP29 were not ambitious enough to limit global warming to 1.5°C, as set out in the Paris Agreement. Despite the new financial commitments, some consider that the proposed action was not sufficient to address the urgency of the climate crisis.

The Presidency of this COP 29 managed to reach a decision on articles 6.2 and 6.4 of the Paris Agreement, an agreement that will pave the way for carbon trading between countries and the creation of a regulated global market. The implications of this adoption should be addressed in urgent dialogue with the most vulnerable communities, such as the Indigenous Peoples, since much of this regulated market seeks to create a market in indigenous territories. Some critical points of article 6 of the Paris Agreement in the context of Carbon Markets from indigenous perspectives include the loss of lands and territories: Emission reduction projects, which support carbon markets, often involve the acquisition of indigenous lands, which violates their ancestral rights and way of life. Forced displacement: These initiatives can lead to the displacement of indigenous communities from their traditional territories, affecting their livelihoods and their cultural connection to the land. Violation of customary rights: Carbon markets can undermine indigenous peoples’ customary rights over their lands and natural resources, failing to recognise their role in the sustainable management of these. Lack of participation: Indigenous peoples are often not consulted in a free, prior and informed manner about projects that affect their territories, which violates their fundamental rights. Culturalisation: Projects can impose external development models that are not compatible with indigenous peoples’ worldviews and cultural practices, eroding their cultural identity. Unequal benefits: The economic benefits generated by carbon markets are often not shared equitably with indigenous communities, who bear the greatest environmental and social costs.

Other General Reviews

• Double counting: There is a risk that emissions reductions are counted twice, both in the country that generated them and in the country that acquired the carbon credits, undermining the environmental integrity of the system.
• Loss of ambition: There are fears that carbon markets could undermine national emissions reduction efforts as countries could become overly reliant on purchasing carbon credits rather than implementing more ambitious mitigation measures.
• Lack of transparency: The complexity of carbon markets and the diversity of mechanisms established in Article 6 can hinder transparency and accountability.
• Negative social and environmental impacts: Emissions reduction projects can have negative social and environmental impacts if not implemented with appropriate safeguards.
• Unequal distribution of benefits: Benefits generated by carbon markets may be concentrated among a few actors, rather than distributed equitably between developed and developing countries.

Reflecting on the Article 6.4 agreement, Olga Gassan-Zade, former chair of the Article 6.4 Supervisory Body, told Carbon Brief that it remains to be seen what difference the mechanism will make: “Only time will tell whether it will be able to mitigate large-scale effects or become another expensive toy to support the agenda of some parties.”

Personally, I believe that it is necessary to work on the education and training of faith communities, of Indigenous Peoples, of vulnerable communities, regarding these agreements and the implications they will have for peoples in the world. Our work as followers of Jesus, who are in favor of life, should lead us to work for seeking peace and justice. The neocolonialism that is present and threatens life should be denounced. Likewise, we should also be shrewd to work as daughters and sons of light prepared for these realities that are adopted at an international level. It is necessary to guarantee and respect the rights of indigenous peoples, women, children, society in general, promote climate justice, establish social and environmental safeguards, prioritize rights-based approaches, and strive for effective participation. Transparent, intercultural dialogue between governments, companies, civil society and indigenous peoples is necessary to address these criticisms and ensure that carbon markets become an effective tool for climate action. Since the root of the issue lies in economic systems—specifically capitalist and neoliberal models that are directly complicit in causing climate change—the greatest criticism is how these systems can offer solutions when they are responsible for the planet’s collapse. Drawing from our faith in Jesus and even from indigenous wisdom we seek proposals to permeate society with resilient systems—systems that have endured and offered alternative ways of communal, reciprocal, and supportive living, grounded in mutuality with the Earth. It is necessary that the applications of these alternatives of life be manifest in our ecclesiology, theologies and missiology. Furthermore, through faith in Jesus, we recognize and love God as the Creator. Consequently, we are called to love His creation, as taught in the Bible.

This theological creed, which we embrace as Christians, is affirmed by Minister Marina Silva in an interview.

Conversation with Jocabed Solano & Brazil’s Environment Minister Marina Silva at COP29

I also think that it is important that we continue to raise youth, indigenous peoples, children, and members of the church in general to influence these spaces. To do this, we must begin at local, national, regional and international levels by learning about the agreements that have been adopted over the years at the COPs, understanding the language of the documents, and preparing ourselves to make a concrete impact. We must also share stories—both positive ones of resilience, as seen in projects and community efforts, as well as negative ones, such as the devastating effects climate change and biodiversity loss on people’s lives.

Our pastoral ministry must embrace these dimensions. In my advocacy journey, I have participated in diverse dialogues and initiatives: speaking with the Brazilian Minister of Environment about the Church’s role, collaborating with a Methodist pastor leading negotiators in Korea, participating in discussions on with “land use,” in the food pavilion on the subject of food sovereignty, as well as in the faith pavilion on two occasions: once, in the science pavilion, on indigenous knowledge and science, and then in the indigenous pavilion on stories of hope, life narratives against extractivism towards the land. I have also dialogued with university students on the importance of advocacy and the profession in these spaces. Additionally, I have supported negotiations on agriculture, contributed to meetings for document submissions for upcoming workshops on the agriculture platform, advocated for integrating indigenous knowledge into state-level strategies, and accompanied efforts related to Article 6 and bilateral discussions.

Finally, personally, my hope is grounded in the recognition that the Creator loves His creation and that the power of His resurrection is mobilizing many people. Through their struggles, resistance, and resilience, they are offering alternative narratives to those that promote the destruction of the earth. This hope is expressed in concrete actions that bring life. Recognizing that evil will not prevail (Psalm 1:6) inspires us to continue raising our voices, proclaiming justice and confronting injustice. We long for the renewal of all creation and eagerly await total reconciliation found in Jesus.

I extend gratitude to the World Council of Churches for inviting me to be part of their delegation as part of the Indigenous Peoples’ Reference Group. Thank you to the Indigenous Memory team, to the Tearfund youth network, to the Indigenous Climate Change Caucus, to the Environment Ministry of Panama for accrediting me, to the Creation Care network and to Freedom and Justice in Lausanne for your prayers and support. To all my friends and family, thank you for for taking care of me and your encouragement in this work.

Editor’s note: This work is a translation, and has been minorly edited for clarity.By: Jocabed R Solano Miselis

There is no climate justice without justice for all creation.

Every year, thousands of people from all over the world gather at the COP on climate change. COP29 is the Conference of the Parties, an annual meeting of countries that have ratified the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). At these conferences, decisions are made to combat climate change, such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions or adapting to the consequences of global warming.

As part of the delegation in Panama and the delegation of the World Council of Churches, participating in COP 29 was an opportunity to make an impact for my faith not only as a citizen in Panama, but as a citizen in the world.

Personally, faith in Jesus moves me to make an impact for indigenous territories, in local government and at an international level. For me, a faith that lives in solidarity, walking the realities of vulnerable peoples, is an impact of daily life intertwined with national realities and that involves announcing the good news and denouncing injustice.

There was significant the disappointment at COP29 due to the lack of commitment from the so-called “rich countries” from a capitalist perspective. From a Gunadule perspective, however, one is rich when we know how to relate to the land, when we cultivate it and learn from it. There is both respect and reciprocity.

A new global target for climate finance was agreed on at COP29, setting a goal of $300 billion annually by 2035 from a range of sources, including public and private funds. This target replaces the previous target of $100 billion and seeks to mobilise greater resources to help developing countries meet the challenges of climate change. However, many critics argue that the agreements reached at COP29 were not ambitious enough to limit global warming to 1.5°C, as set out in the Paris Agreement. Despite the new financial commitments, some consider that the proposed action was not sufficient to address the urgency of the climate crisis.

The Presidency of this COP 29 managed to reach a decision on articles 6.2 and 6.4 of the Paris Agreement, an agreement that will pave the way for carbon trading between countries and the creation of a regulated global market. The implications of this adoption should be addressed in urgent dialogue with the most vulnerable communities, such as the Indigenous Peoples, since much of this regulated market seeks to create a market in indigenous territories. Some critical points of article 6 of the Paris Agreement in the context of Carbon Markets from indigenous perspectives include the loss of lands and territories: Emission reduction projects, which support carbon markets, often involve the acquisition of indigenous lands, which violates their ancestral rights and way of life. Forced displacement: These initiatives can lead to the displacement of indigenous communities from their traditional territories, affecting their livelihoods and their cultural connection to the land. Violation of customary rights: Carbon markets can undermine indigenous peoples’ customary rights over their lands and natural resources, failing to recognise their role in the sustainable management of these. Lack of participation: Indigenous peoples are often not consulted in a free, prior and informed manner about projects that affect their territories, which violates their fundamental rights. Culturalisation: Projects can impose external development models that are not compatible with indigenous peoples’ worldviews and cultural practices, eroding their cultural identity. Unequal benefits: The economic benefits generated by carbon markets are often not shared equitably with indigenous communities, who bear the greatest environmental and social costs.

Other General Reviews

• Double counting: There is a risk that emissions reductions are counted twice, both in the country that generated them and in the country that acquired the carbon credits, undermining the environmental integrity of the system.
• Loss of ambition: There are fears that carbon markets could undermine national emissions reduction efforts as countries could become overly reliant on purchasing carbon credits rather than implementing more ambitious mitigation measures.
• Lack of transparency: The complexity of carbon markets and the diversity of mechanisms established in Article 6 can hinder transparency and accountability.
• Negative social and environmental impacts: Emissions reduction projects can have negative social and environmental impacts if not implemented with appropriate safeguards.
• Unequal distribution of benefits: Benefits generated by carbon markets may be concentrated among a few actors, rather than distributed equitably between developed and developing countries.

Reflecting on the Article 6.4 agreement, Olga Gassan-Zade, former chair of the Article 6.4 Supervisory Body, told Carbon Brief that it remains to be seen what difference the mechanism will make: “Only time will tell whether it will be able to mitigate large-scale effects or become another expensive toy to support the agenda of some parties.”

Personally, I believe that it is necessary to work on the education and training of faith communities, of Indigenous Peoples, of vulnerable communities, regarding these agreements and the implications they will have for peoples in the world. Our work as followers of Jesus, who are in favor of life, should lead us to work for seeking peace and justice. The neocolonialism that is present and threatens life should be denounced. Likewise, we should also be shrewd to work as daughters and sons of light prepared for these realities that are adopted at an international level. It is necessary to guarantee and respect the rights of indigenous peoples, women, children, society in general, promote climate justice, establish social and environmental safeguards, prioritize rights-based approaches, and strive for effective participation. Transparent, intercultural dialogue between governments, companies, civil society and indigenous peoples is necessary to address these criticisms and ensure that carbon markets become an effective tool for climate action. Since the root of the issue lies in economic systems—specifically capitalist and neoliberal models that are directly complicit in causing climate change—the greatest criticism is how these systems can offer solutions when they are responsible for the planet’s collapse. Drawing from our faith in Jesus and even from indigenous wisdom we seek proposals to permeate society with resilient systems—systems that have endured and offered alternative ways of communal, reciprocal, and supportive living, grounded in mutuality with the Earth. It is necessary that the applications of these alternatives of life be manifest in our ecclesiology, theologies and missiology. Furthermore, through faith in Jesus, we recognize and love God as the Creator. Consequently, we are called to love His creation, as taught in the Bible.

This theological creed, which we embrace as Christians, is affirmed by Minister Marina Silva in an interview.

Conversation with Jocabed Solano & Brazil’s Environment Minister Marina Silva at COP29

I also think that it is important that we continue to raise youth, indigenous peoples, children, and members of the church in general to influence these spaces. To do this, we must begin at local, national, regional and international levels by learning about the agreements that have been adopted over the years at the COPs, understanding the language of the documents, and preparing ourselves to make a concrete impact. We must also share stories—both positive ones of resilience, as seen in projects and community efforts, as well as negative ones, such as the devastating effects climate change and biodiversity loss on people’s lives.

Our pastoral ministry must embrace these dimensions. In my advocacy journey, I have participated in diverse dialogues and initiatives: speaking with the Brazilian Minister of Environment about the Church’s role, collaborating with a Methodist pastor leading negotiators in Korea, participating in discussions on with “land use,” in the food pavilion on the subject of food sovereignty, as well as in the faith pavilion on two occasions: once, in the science pavilion, on indigenous knowledge and science, and then in the indigenous pavilion on stories of hope, life narratives against extractivism towards the land. I have also dialogued with university students on the importance of advocacy and the profession in these spaces. Additionally, I have supported negotiations on agriculture, contributed to meetings for document submissions for upcoming workshops on the agriculture platform, advocated for integrating indigenous knowledge into state-level strategies, and accompanied efforts related to Article 6 and bilateral discussions.

Finally, personally, my hope is grounded in the recognition that the Creator loves His creation and that the power of His resurrection is mobilizing many people. Through their struggles, resistance, and resilience, they are offering alternative narratives to those that promote the destruction of the earth. This hope is expressed in concrete actions that bring life. Recognizing that evil will not prevail (Psalm 1:6) inspires us to continue raising our voices, proclaiming justice and confronting injustice. We long for the renewal of all creation and eagerly await total reconciliation found in Jesus.

I extend gratitude to the World Council of Churches for inviting me to be part of their delegation as part of the Indigenous Peoples’ Reference Group. Thank you to the Indigenous Memory team, to the Tearfund youth network, to the Indigenous Climate Change Caucus, to the Environment Ministry of Panama for accrediting me, to the Creation Care network and to Freedom and Justice in Lausanne for your prayers and support. To all my friends and family, thank you for for taking care of me and your encouragement in this work.

Editor’s note: This work is a translation, and has been minorly edited for clarity.

In our last Pollinator issue, we drew your attention to critical reflections on COP29—the 29^th annual United Nations Climate Change Conference, the key global summit addressing challenges and issues of climate change of our time, by climate scientist Dr. Katharine Hayhoe and a statement from the World Council of Churches on COP29.

In relation to that, we offer here some links from the participants of the Christian Climate Observers Program (CCOP2024@COP 29), carefully compiled by Samuel Chiu.

CCOP is a joint program by 15+ Christian organizations, providing immersive discipleship and training at the annual UN Climate Conferences (UNFCCC COPs) for young Christian climate advocates, scholars, and ministry leaders. This year at COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan, CCOP had 25 participants from 12 nations, plus 7 leaders providing guidance, teaching and logistic support.

You can find a collection of their reflections, blog posts, interviews and so on here: CCOP2024 Team Members – Reports, Blogs, Articles, Reflections. This publicly accessible page is an ongoing collection, with new links to be added when received from the team in the next couple of months.

We hope these aid your awareness, consideration and prayerful reflection of the COP happenings!

In our last Pollinator issue, Dave Bookless wrote about COP16, the 16^th global gathering on biodiversity. Now COP29—the 29th annual United Nations Climate Change Conference – has just finished. It was an important meeting, thought disappointing and disturbing in many ways. Here are two immediate and thought-provoking pieces. We will have further in-depth reflection from LWCCN members in our January issue of The Pollinator.

In this issue, we feature two thought-provoking pieces on COP29:

1. The first, by climate scientist Dr. Katharine Hayhoe. Katharine provides a summary of the outcomes and gaps at COP 29. She critically examines the balance between the bold pledges for coal phaseouts, and the frustrating lack of progress on fossil fuel commitments.

2. Then, news from Jocabed Solano, a theologian and activist, from the indigenous Gunadale natio in Panama. You would be familiar with Jocabed—we published her interview in relation to COP16 in our previous issue! She has shared this statement from the World Council of Churches on COP29.

Jocabed pictured here with Samuel Chiu (part of A Rocha Canada) at COP 29.

On the heels of the webinar, we bring you further news that:

LWCCN is excited to be a part of the Christian Climate Observers Program (CCOP) at the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP 29) in Baku, Azerbaijan, November 10-23rd.

CCOP is training the next generation of UN climate observers from a Christian and missional perspective before and during the conference. Participants will share CCOP credentials and gain access to the COP 29 conference grounds where you will be able to attend meetings, briefings, workshops and any events open to those with official observer status. 

Learn more and apply by 23 July 2024

Dates: Choose one; same program:

    Nov. 10-17 (or)                                  

    Nov. 15-23   

Location: Baku, Azerbaijan

Application deadline: July 23, 2024

Room & Board: lodging and breakfast provided at CCOP Base Camp, site to be announced.

Cost: $850 USD; participants are responsible for their own roundtrip travel. We have some scholarships available for those who require financial assistance to attend, particularly students and those from the Global South. We are still working to make the fee lower than the above-mentioned figure as much as possible, through our ongoing efforts of lodging selection and fundraising. We will announce the actual amount of the fee at the final stage of the application process when you confirm your participation at CCOP-2024, sometime in mid to late September.

The WEA Sustainability Center’s co-director, Dr. Chris Elisara, has launched a new initiative entitled Faith for Cities.

This groundbreaking initiative, funded by the Templeton Religion Trust (TRT), is poised to harness the transformative potential of diverse faith traditions, collaborating with secular partners to champion urban development that fosters thriving communities for all. With urban populations projected to reach 68% of the global populace by 2050, the challenges and opportunities of urbanization are more crucial than ever. Faith for Cities aims to be a strategic initiative that provides a significant platform for the global Christian community to organize itself and impact the development of cities to ensure that they are environmentally sustainable, socially just, and conducive to human flourishing.

Elisara is leading a workshop on Faith for Cities on 5^th December at COP28. If interested and attending COP28 sign up to attend the workshop at the link on the Faith for Cities homepage, or click here.

We bring you news from our friends at Tearfund/Renew Our World! There is an exciting new resource, with our very own Revd Dr Dave Bookless as the lead author.

Note that they are looking for co-publishers in translating and publishing this for wider reach and use!

“We’re launching Making a World of Difference at COP. This is our resource for church leaders, giving a Christian understanding the climate crisis, the nature crisis, and the signs of the times. It’s short and accessible and we hope it helps equip church leaders in many places. The lead author is our Board member Revd Dr Dave Bookless, Director of Theology for A Rocha International and Catalyst for Creation Care for the Lausanne Movement, with contributions from over 20 others from around the world.

‘I love this booklet and warmly commend it for three reasons: first, it is short and very easy to read and get your head around; second, it keeps making you stop and think by asking searching questions again and again (ideal for church and student groups); and third, it combines great biblical teaching (that I wholly agree with!) with lively and inspiring examples from all round the world, to help you not just think again, but choose to go and do likewise.’

Chris Wright, Global Ambassador with the Langham Partnership

It will be available in English, and soon after in Croatian, French, Portuguese (with Brazilian and European versions), Spanish, and Thai, with a few more languages on the way after that. We’re looking for co-publishers interested in translating and publishing Making a World of Difference online, in print, or both, on a non-commercial basis. Please do get in touch if you might be interested. You can contact Ben Niblett at ben.niblett@tearfund.org”

There were a number of Creation Care organizations present at COP27. Most of us, however, weren’t able to attend. The following follow up summaries are available – some are reports, some are links to post-COP webinars.

The Christian Climate Observers Program (CCOP) sent out daily reports; all are accessible here if you want a day-by-day recap of what it was like to be at COP27. (Remember, this program is run every year – it’s not to early to let them know if you want to be part of the team for COP28… in Dubai!

It’s not a faith-based report, but EcoWatch has a good summary of the accomplishments and disappointments coming out of COP27 here. Also check the Guardian’s very good Explainer which outlines the outcomes from COP27.

If you’d like a video from someone who was there, check JRI’s President Mike Morecroft’s report here.

For a slightly different take, check out SAT-7’s COP27 reporting on this page. SAT-7 is a Middle East based Christian television outlet, and this reporting is helpfully geared toward that audience.

An impressive number of Christian organizations attend the United Nations COP climate conferences each year, and many of them will be sending regular updates from COP27 so the rest of us can keep up to date with what is happening on the ground in Sharm el Sheikh, and pray intelligently about issues as they arise.

For regular updates, here are some of our partner organizations with the links to sign up:

TEARFUND – They will house COP27 information on their Climate Landing page (a good page to bookmark permanently!), and specific prayers for COP can be found here. If you still use Twitter in this Elon Musk era, Tearfund’s Action twitter feed is here.

CHRISTIAN CLIMATE OBSERVERS PROGRAM (CCOP): The Christian Climate Observers Program (CCOP) will bring a team of 36 emerging Christians leaders to the COP27 UN climate summit in Egypt this November 7 – 19.  COP27 is the annual UN gathering where world leaders negotiate how to solve the climate crisis.  The CCOP is a mentoring and training program designed to empower Christian leaders to take the next step forward in climate advocacy within their spheres of influence.  You can follow along with what’s happening at the COP by signing up for their daily COP newsletter.  To learn more about CCOP you can visit the website: http://www.ccopclimate.org/.  Applications for next year CCOP cohort open June 1, 2023. 

Note: CCOP is a collaborative effort by mostly North American creation care organizations and Christian Universities.

CLIMATE INTERCESSORS: This group meets throughout the year for monthly online prayer meetings about the climate crisis. These folks have solved the time zone problem by holding each meeting four different times. Their next meeting is on Nov 8, and will focus on COP27. Here is their latest newsletter, and the schedule for the upcoming meeting is as follows. (These folks have solved the time zone problem by holding each meeting four different times – no excuses!):

Join our global zoom prayer meetings on
Tuesday, November 8

10h00 GMT (18h00 SGT; 21h00 AEDT: 23h00 NZDT)
13h00 GMT (8h00 EST; 5h00 PST; 21h00 SGT;  Wed: 24h00 AEDT)
20h00 GMT (15h00 EST; 12h00 PST;; Wed: 4h00 SGT; 7h00 AEDT)
20h00 EST (17h00 PST;; Wed: 1h00 GMT, 9h00 SGT; 12h00 AEDT)Zoom link for all meetings:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/3908003224
Meeting ID: 390 800 3224

And finally, the John Ray Initiative will be offering a post-COP webinar by their President and IPCC lead author Mike Morecroft at

8 – 9:30 pm UK time on November 17.

Registration is here (Free but the Zoom link only available after registering.) (Please note: as of this writing, just 29 places were still available. You have been warned!)

If you are not yet familiar with the work of Climate Intercessors, we encourage you to check them out. They are “a global network of people whose prayers are as real and urgent as the climate crisis,” and they hold online prayer events on the 2nd Tuesday of every month, conveniently timed for different time zones around the world. Being convinced that for all of our activism, few of us pray as much as we should, this is an initiative we whole heartedly recommend.

In addition to the monthly prayer event, their monthly prayer reminder is a gem. Here’s a portion of the latest from Lowell Bliss:

Over a decade ago, I had a strange, but encouraging encounter with Scripture at the first faith-based conference on climate change that I had ever intended.  On the Thursday of the conference, during a coffee break, I was chatting with Allen Johnson, director of Christians for the Mountains, an organization engaged in the struggle to stop mountain top removal coal mining in Appalachia.  Allen was talking about the lack of alternative jobs for coal mining families in West Virginia, and then he said this—and it cut me to the quick— “So they have no other choice but to keep making bricks for Pharaoh.”  Allen was comparing his beloved Appalachians with the Israelites still in bondage in Egypt.  So much of the world—including our economies and many of our politicians—seem enslaved to the fossil fuel industry.

I woke up on Friday morning aware that our agenda for the conference that day was “Creating a Pathway for Mobilizing Christians for Climate Action.”   It was 2013, and in the U.S., we felt stymied.  I also woke up with Allen’s statement bouncing between my head and my heart.  As well, I woke up to my regular routine at the time—which was to grab my Bible (using the New Living Translation at the time) and do some reading which would include a randomly chosen psalm.  That day—randomly—I landed on Psalm 77.  The words Red Sea, Moses and Aaron jumped out at me.  So did that word “pathway”—the very thing we were looking for that day as a conference.  

When the Red Sea saw you, O God,
    its waters looked and trembled!
    The sea quaked to its very depths.
The clouds poured down rain;
    the thunder rumbled in the sky.
    Your arrows of lightning flashed.
Your thunder roared from the whirlwind;
    the lightning lit up the world!
    The earth trembled and shook.
Your road led through the sea,
    your pathway through the mighty waters—
    a pathway no one knew was there!
You led your people along that road like a flock of sheep,
    with Moses and Aaron as their shepherds (Ps 77:16-20, NLT)

Here are four quick thoughts on this passage:

1. The possessive pronoun for the pathway out of slavery, the pathway that delivers from violence, the pathway through trouble waters, refers to God.  It is “your” road, O God, which led Israel through the Red Sea.

2. And who is our God?  Our God is so mighty that when the Red Sea saw him, it trembled and quaked to its very depths.

3. And yet, God’s pathway is described as “a pathway no one knew was there!”  Whereas on that Friday morning, we climate activists may have used that phrase as lament and frustration, the psalmist here uses it for worship.  God sees and knows what is obscure to humankind.  He is never baffled.

4. But where do human leaders fit in?  The final verse begins with the pronoun “You.”  The psalmist is still speaking to God so this second-person pronoun refers to him and to his leadership–“You led your people along that road…” –but the sentence doesn’t end without mentioning Moses and Aaron and without conflating their labours with God’s: “You led your people along that road like a flock of sheep, with Moses and Aaron as their shepherds.”   We co-shepherd.  We co-led.  This surely means that we never give up in searching out pathways, however obscure they might be to us.

One of the best comment pieces we have seen after the COP26 meetings in Glasgow last November comes from Kuki Rokhum who works with EFICOR in India. Kuki is a veteran COP-attender (unlike your editor, who has managed to not attend any COP meeting up to now!) and does a good job of expressing why, after so many conferences, she continues to be encouraged, particularly by the increasing (and increasingly visible) response of the church. (For a whole list of other evaluation articles, click here.)

Here is a portion of what she had to say (click here for the whole piece):

So why was this COP different and what gives me hope and why am I more hopeful?
The biggest difference this year was that it was a meeting that was organized in the midst of a global pandemic – a pandemic that has changed lives and obviously impacted the way in which COP was conducted and also dictated a lot of the logistics at the venue. The usual hub and noise of COP with civils society organisations actively engaged seemed to be missing to a certain extent. The ‘hybrid’ or exclusive online sessions meant that technology had to be of the highest quality and that many speakers and participants did not have to travel all the way to the venue thus avoiding even more carbon footprint.

This was also a different COP as the ‘world’ had an extra year to prepare for it as it was postponed from 2020. The biggest advantage of this was the anticipation and talk about COP26 on many media platforms before it happened. The social media world was inundated with posts about the event which was a welcome change to previous years where very little is known about the event at all in popular media…

In previous COPs, we had some Christian engagement – I remember addressing a group of church leaders at a church breakfast event in Lima talking about why we should be interested in the COP happening in their city, there were similar but small scale events in Paris and Bonn too. Glasgow was completely different. It was so encouraging to see Christian young people across the world and especially in the UK taking this up and making their voices heard…

I have had the privilege of speaking in churches or Christian events in previous COP venues. This was the first time that I found myself ‘extremely busy’ speaking at many church events speaking, leading prayers, joining in worship – all related to COP. And I was not the only speaker – there were several others who were equally or even busier than I was. When the team that I was travelling with arrived by train to Glasgow we arrived at St. George’s Tron church – right in the heart of the city. That church became a hub for so many services and events related to the COP. Most events fully booked! There were so many networks and groups working together to inform and engage with people from all over the world. It was exciting to see how much better we had become at working together. I am hopeful as there so many more churches who have realized that creation care is an issue of Christian discipleship and are committing and calling for more action.

Read the whole piece here.