Soohwan, a native of South Korea, has spent over two decades of her life outside Korea, for instance in Bangladesh, Thailand and Canada. She worked among the poorest of the poor, and directed multi-cultural training programs, global human resources, and consulting projects concerning leadership in Christian nonprofit organizations before responding the call to go to Fukushima, Japan in March 2011. After forming a consortium of international Christian NGOs and local churches in Fukushima to create holistic disaster response to the unprecedented triple disaster (earthquake, tsunami, and ongoing nuclear crises), Soohwan continued the relationship with churches in Fukushima. In 2015 she founded Global Learning Consortium to create effective partnerships ‘bathed in prayer’ among local churches, Christian organizations and academic institutions for long-term sustainable impact in post-disaster Fukushima. She facilitates prayer retreats, writes, lectures and speaks at conferences on social justice and spiritual formation. Her primary focus these days is to reflect deeply on how to shape single-mindedness out of single-heartedness against multi-tasking, overachieving, anxiety-driven lifestyles. She obtained a BA in Education at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, Korea and a Master of Christian Studies at Regent College in Vancouver, Canada. Soohwan and her husband, Jonathan Wilson, live in Vancouver where they are part of a vibrant local congregation.
The grand drama of Easter took place as a three-day-event around the special Shabbat during Passover. Holy Saturday is the least remembered day of the Easter Mystery: after Good Friday and before Easter Sunday. Yet all of Jesus’ claims and actions regarding Sabbath point to this climactic place in time.
As I spent time in homes and churches in Cape Town, talking to ordinary residents, faith leaders and a few politicians and experts, I found myself reflecting on the issues this water crisis reveals, so here are a few personal thoughts as a result of many conversations and wide-ranging reading.
Advent and Christmas remind us that the Christ-child came to bring peace. We remember that we need peace with God, and we remember that we need peace with our neighbor. But does Christ’s birth have anything to do with bringing peace between us and animals – does the advent mean goodwill to manatees?
Biology professor R. Alexander Pyron argues that ‘The only reason we should conserve biodiversity is for ourselves, to create a stable future for human beings.’ At the heart of this is a belief that humanity is the sole species that matters, and possesses not only the creative technological capacity but also the moral will to solve all of its own problems. This is the neo-religious myth of human progress, rooted in neither science nor logic.
With most of the population now living in cities, Harvest festivals can seem archaic and quaint. At its worst Harvest can simply be a longing for a mythical rural idyll that never really existed, yet I believe we need to celebrate Harvest today more than ever. Here’s why.
It is easy to get increasingly technical about the year in, year out, work of nature conservation. So, from time to time it is good to be reminded, in an entirely different register, of what we are dealing with, of what creation is.
I recently returned from a lecturing visit to Hong Kong, Beijing and Yanji. Speaking about environmental sustainability to students and professors in three such very different contexts got me thinking afresh about China’s place in the world and its significance. My thoughts here are inevitably personal and subjective.
What do we mean by ‘abundant life’? Both Western and Eastern cultures tend to value ‘success’ in terms of prosperity, wealth, health, long-life, security, freedom and mobility. The pursuit of these goals is putting increasing pressure on the natural environment, and also on social and economic stability.
Recently a couple of us attended the Conservation Optimism summit in London. I went with an open mind, but concerned that this was simply an exercise in papering over the cracks: what room is there for optimism when 58% of the world’s wildlife has disappeared within my lifetime? I’ve been asking myself about hope, optimism and what gives us the ability to keep going even when things are bleak.
Sabbath has an image problem. Victorian strictness, long church services, overwhelmingly negative ideas: ‘Don’t do that … especially if it’s enjoyable!’ How far this is from God’s plans for Sabbath!
