Gordon UMC van
The Rev. Paula Smith (second from left) steadies a cart while volunteers Tim Morgan (in green t-shirt) and Richard Wilson load box lunches for distribution through the Hands of Hope food security program at Gordon Memorial United Methodist Church in Nashville, Tenn. At left is volunteer Matthew Job, 80, who drives the church van for the program. (Photo by Mike DuBose, UM News.)
A United Methodist Insight Column
There’s an old saying that virtue is its own reward. However, the twin crises of the coronavirus pandemic and combatting racism have taught us that public virtue – qualities of individual character and common systems – shapes the health of the community. Two articles from The Conversation, one of United Methodist Insight’s content partners, illustrate the latter point.
Kenneth P. Ruscio of the University of Richmond specializes in the dilemma of leadership in modern democracy. Before you dismiss his topic as unfit for church consumption, consider how closely United Methodist governance mirrors that of the United States, where the church was founded at the Christmas Conference of 1784.
Professor Ruscio’s scholarship rests on an interesting thesis: what qualities and virtues leaders need to preside over a democratic government. In his current article on United Methodist Insight, he offers blunt, perhaps even harsh, judgment: leaders must establish trust with those they govern, based on telling the truth, especially in crisis.
While the professor assesses American governance, thoughtful United Methodists can clearly see parallels between his scholarly work and leadership in The United Methodist Church. Those times when we have flourished despite crisis have been when our leaders – from the smallest charge up through General Conference – have plucked up the courage to tell us the truth. Conversely, the worst episodes in United Methodist life have come when leaders tried to hide the truth, eroding the trust of people in pulpit and pew.
In my estimation, the coronavirus pandemic and anti-racism uprising have brought out the best in United Methodist leadership. Bishops in particular haven’t shied away from tough decisions such as closing churches to in-person gatherings, nor have they glossed over the UMC’s own shameful history of racism and exclusion. Their actions give United Methodists who are concerned about America’s future some excellent examples of how true leaders perform.
Another article from The Conversation focuses on how the coronavirus pandemic has uncovered racially-based health care disparities, one of the intersections between the two crises. Prof. Joseph J. Fins of Cornell University has concluded the situation has proven a “stress test” for the field of bioethics. After months of providing bioethical consultations round-the-clock in New York City, he likens medical care in the pandemic to working on a battlefield.
The images of patients suffering from both COVID-19 and inadequate health – consistently in communities of color and economically disadvantaged communities – prod him to ask why bioethics hasn’t expanded to take in dealing with these public health disparities. Professor Fins’ assessment poses a question not only for hospital chaplains and clergy working on bioethical committees, but for laypeople who serve on health care boards and vote on public policy regarding health care.
I commend these stories to your thoughtful reading.
COVID-19 makes clear that bioethics must confront health disparities
Leaders like Trump fail if they cannot speak the truth and earn trust
Coronavirus out of control
The Wednesday morning word from National Public Radio: “The U.S. has reported more than 3 million coronavirus cases, as of late morning Wednesday, as all but a handful of states struggle to control outbreaks of COVID-19. One million of those cases have been confirmed over the past month — part of a wave of infection that began after many states started to reopen their economies in May.
“The total number of cases also includes nearly 1 million people declared to have recovered. But more than 130,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 – roughly twice the death toll of any other country, according to a tracker from Johns Hopkins University. Most experts believe those numbers vastly underestimate the disease's true toll."
O Lord, grant us wisdom, grant us courage, for the living of these days.
COVID-19 pandemic hits communities of color hard
Northern Illinois Conference has taken a closer look at how hard the COVID-19 pandemic has hit the Hispanic/Latinx community. The Rev. Fabiola-Grandon Mayer writes of the experiences shared during a recent online discussion among Hispanic/Latinx church leaders and Bishop Sally Dyck: “The economic impact of the pandemic has also disproportionately hurt people in the Hispanic/Latinx community. They’re experiencing a higher unemployment rate than the national average because they make up a substantial percentage of the workforce in many of the most affected industries.” Read more from Northern Illinois pastors.
In Nashville, Tenn., a grant from the United Methodist Committee on Relief has helped a historically Black congregation, Gordon UMC, feed people in its neighborhood in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic (see accompanying photo). Gordon UMC's grant is only one of the 146 grants given by UMCOR to aid in coronavirus pandemic relief. Read the story from Linda Bloom of UM News.
Another pipeline closed
In my excitement over the closure of the Dakota Access Pipeline, I overlooked another important environmental victory on Monday: the U.S. Supreme Court also ordered the temporary close of the Keystone XL pipeline through Nebraska while an environmental impact study is conducted. Reports Climate Beat newsletter:
“The triple victories for environmental groups (defeats for big oil), “come at a moment when weak demand for oil, swelling debt, and mounting concerns over climate change are forcing gas companies out of business and oil giants to dramatically downgrade the value of their assets,” HuffPost reported. Multiple experts told Bloomberg Green the developments signal that similar large projects might be all but impossible to build in the future. ‘I would expect this to be a turning point for new investment,’ one said. ‘There is real investor fatigue around this parade of legal and regulatory headwinds to energy projects.’
“As the Climate Beat has argued in the past, the apparent decline of big oil will be a major story for years to come. It will be full of twists and turns, and with each major development journalists should strive not only to cover the events in question but to place them in proper context of their implications for the energy industry and the future of our planet.”
For another look at how the current coronavirus pandemic is linked to the climate crisis, read the CBS News interview with primatologist Jane Goodall, Jane Goodall on conservation, climate change and COVID-19: "If we carry on with business as usual, we're going to destroy ourselves"
Meanwhile, we send up prayers of thanksgiving for the courageous, consistent witness of faithful Christians who have sought to move energy industries to renewable sources, thus protecting vital resources and reducing the threats of the climate crisis.
Media Mentions as of July 8, 2020
Churches were eager to reopen. Now they are a major source of coronavirus cases – The New York Times *
Two COVID-19-ravaged churches take different recovery paths – The Associated Press
Supreme Court says employers may opt out of Affordable Care Act’s birth control mandate over religious, moral objections – The Washington Post *
The price of white evangelical patriarchy – Religion & Politics
*Paid subscription required.
Cynthia B. Astle serves as Editor of United Methodist Insight, which she founded in 2011.