Ethnic churches feed neighbors
Neighborhood residents wait to receive food during a distribution at First United Methodist Church in Flushing, N.Y. (Photo by the Rev. Thomas Kim, UM News.)
A United Methodist Insight Column
The merry month of May has sprouted with announcements of opportunities to engage in creation care.
First, there’s an important webinar, “Preparing Your Congregation for Climate Disasters” at 6:30 p.m. (EDT) Thursday, May 13 sponsored by the ecumenical group Creation Justice Ministries. Resilience – the ability to meet challenges and rebound after disasters – has become a key tactic in the creation care movement, so this webinar should be a good first step in preparation a congregation to meet climate change effects both for its own sake and the welfare of its communities. Click here to register. There will be more workshops in the near future:
- June 22: Resilient Oceans: Climate Action & God's Marine Creation
- July 20: Climate Migration & Climate Hospitality
In addition to the webinar, download the Church Resilience education package for tips on how to integrate creation care into a church’s mission and ministry.
Second, Creation Justice Ministries is among faith-based groups that have endorsed President Biden’s “30 x 30” plan to conserve 30 percent of the nation’s land and water resources by 2030. Its board president, Rev. Rebecca Barnes, has issued a statement on the proposal on the group’s website. You can download the federal report here.
Finally, the Interfaith Task Force on Climate Change has gathered a report on creation care actions by faith-based organizations in advance of the United Nationas worldwide climate change conference Nov. 1-12 in Glasgow, Scotland. sponsored by the United Nations in November. The results from a survey of 73 organizations will be discussed in a short information workshop on faith-based climate action will be virtually held on 2 p.m. Central European Time or 9 a.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday, May 26. Click here to join the meeting on the day it occurs.
COVID Care for Mental Health Awareness Month
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and recent studies have shown that everyone is feeling the long-term effects of the coronavirus pandemic on our collective mental health.
The Lily newsletter published by the Washington Post reported: “More than 4 in 10 adults in the United States reported recent symptoms of an anxiety or depressive disorder during the pandemic, and more people reported unmet mental health needs. And the people affected most are younger adults, people of color, essential workers and unpaid caregivers — often the people with the least access to care.” The Lily offers a big list of mental health resources. Don’t forget that there’s a spiritual component to mental health, so consult with your pastor, spiritual director or a trusted friend in the faith if you feel your ties to God have frayed during the pandemic.
In another COVID-related analysis, David W. Scott of UM & Global writes of similarities between how the coronavirus pandemic has altered global health partnerships and the changes wrought in mission relationships:
“NPR recently published a thoughtful piece by Abraar Karan, a physician who has worked in global health for his career. The piece reflected on what the coronavirus pandemic had revealed about the sorts of partnerships that characterize global health work between the West and the global South. While the piece is about secular global health work, the moral issues that Karan raises are worth considering as United Methodists and other Christians re-think mission partnerships in a pandemic-altered world. Karan's critique is best captured in the following passage:
"’The work that we [Americans and Europeans] do in global health is often done at our convenience – if for any reason we opt not to go, impoverished countries and communities must continue the work either way. The work that to some of us is more academic is a matter of survival for residents of those communities. ...’
"Ultimately, some part of the U.S. and European participation in global health is just that: participation rather than equal partnership. Yet the power dynamics have for centuries leaned heavily and falsely toward the Western entity as the commanding leader— or more accurately, the brutal colonizer."
Dr. Scott writes: “Substitute the term ‘mission’ for ‘global health’ in the above passages and contemplate what the import of this insight is for international mission partnerships.”
White Evangelical Protestants Resist COVID-19 Vaccine Most
Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) reports that white evangelicals are the top resisters to getting coronavirus vaccinations that will help reduce the worldwide pandemic. PRRI’s newsletter reports:
“In a recent analysis for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Sophie Carson looks at the latest vaccine hesitancy data from PRRI and IFYC. Carson notes that the survey shows that ‘28% of white evangelical Protestants considered themselves hesitant about getting [a COVID-19] vaccine, and another 26% flat-out refuse.’ According to Carson, white evangelicals coalesce around several issues as reasons not to get the vaccine, including ‘the use of cell lines from aborted fetal tissue in vaccine development and testing,’ and ‘the prospect of overreaching government control or mandates, especially in the form of vaccine passports.’”
Media Mentions as of May 10, 2021
Philippines Church Leaders Urge Stronger Pandemic Response by Gladys P. Mangiduyos, UM News
Ethnic churches collaborate to feed New York neighbors amid COVID-19 by the Rev. Thomas E. Kim, UM News
EXPLAINER: What’s behind the clashes in Jerusalem? – The Associated Press
A Pennsylvania lawmaker and the resurgence of Christian nationalism – The New Yorker *
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Cynthia B. Astle serves as Editor of United Methodist Insight, which she founded in 2011.