We have all experienced times of crisis, whether we have confronted difficulties, made hard decisions, or gone through significant changes. How we face a crisis varies from person to person; where people turn in times of crisis also varies.
Hurricane Mitch was the worst natural disaster in the Western Hemisphere in the twentieth century according to the United Nations. I had just been there with a church group a few months earlier. So, I wrote a new hymn, “The Storm Came to Honduras,” to the tune passion chorale (“O Sacred Head, Now Wounded”).
On that Friday afternoon in late August, I had just finished outlining the church’s events for the upcoming program year, color-coding everything with permanent markers in our denominational calendar. I reread my sermon, printed it, and turned off the computer. The phone rang not an hour later.
I try to do one task a day. One day I am painting the paper, finding the right colors, letting it dry. On another day I’m ready to rip it up. Sit and rip, and rip and rip. I rip into similar shapes and sizes, finding a rhythm, making a pile of the pieces.
How does it feel to live amidst climate change? The climate crisis evokes many emotions in people, and it is very natural to feel distressed by it. Terms such as “climate anxiety” and “climate distress” give names for difficult feelings, but more important than the choice of words is the basic fact that people recognize the psychological impacts of climate change.
Sometimes it seems like every day brings a new crisis: another mass shooting, another war, another famine, another statistic on childhood poverty, another political wedge, another divisive Supreme Court decision. Take your pick.
Every good superhero has an origin story. Over the last year and a half, one of my emerging heroes is Doug Kaufman, the executive director of the Anabaptist Climate Collaborative.
The phone rang in my seminary office on a cold March Monday afternoon. The associate pastor of a nearby church spoke in hushed tones, almost whispering. A staff member had failed to appear for a weekly staff meeting, prompting a call to the police for a wellness check.
The artwork featured in this issue was created by Steve Prince, director of engagement and distinguished artist in residence for the Muscarelle Museum of Art at William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. He served as artist-in-residence for the 2023 Montreat Worship and Music Conference.
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