Quenching Our Thirst

Scripture: “…while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, ‘Let anyone who is thirsty come to me.’” – John 7:37 NRSVUE

Last month, I was invited to lead a lesson at Club 45, a weekly gathering of 4th and 5th graders at Newlonsburg Presbyterian Church in Murrysville, PA.  Rain was on the forecast for the evening (fitting that our topic was water and hydration). I ended up with a room fuller than usual with young people.  Many of them have sports practices (which is why I picked hydration as our topic) that often meet at the same time as Club 45, but since it was raining, their practices were canceled.  This resulted in a very high energy evening, as many of them are used to burning off their energy at practice. I was left enthusiastic but exhausted! 

After a quick introduction, I started the lesson by asking the students the following questions:

• Do you think it would be a good idea to give small children, animals, or plants soda or a sports drink?  What would happen if we did? 
• What are the differences between the healthy watered plant and the unhealthy plant? (I included the image with this message).
• What do you think might happen to our bodies if we stopped drinking mostly water and drank soda, fruit drinks, and sports drinks instead? Or if we simply stopped drinking much at all? 

My reflection question for you – how would you respond? 

Water is what human beings, animals, and plants were designed to drink. Drinking water is what helps us stay healthy!  For example, water helps to regulate our body temperature and to moisten tissues in our eyes, nose, and mouth.¹  It protects our bodies, organs, and tissues; carries nutrients and oxygen to cells; lubricates our joints; and lessens the burden on our kidneys and liver by flushing out waste products, among other things!  Likewise, for plants, water is an essential nutrient and, in fact, comprises up to 95% of a plant’s tissue. Water is required for a seed to sprout, the carrying of nutrients throughout the plant, transpiration (which keeps the plant from overheating), and so much more!²

Drinks other than water often have added ingredients that get in the way of water’s ability to do what it’s supposed to do for us.  (Want some hydration tips?  Be sure to check out our health highlight section in this newsletter)!

 Sports drinks certainly have their place; as an active long distance runner, I use them on long runs. However, they are generally not necessary for exercise lasting less than an hour. For this level of exertion, water will suffice.  (For more information on how to utilize sports drinks appropriately, click here. For information specifically for children, click here).   

As for soda-coke-pop, consider reserving it for special occasions and instead quench your daily thirst with flavorful alternatives.  For example, if you haven’t tried fruit/vegetable/herb infused water, I encourage you to do so. Check out our recipe link for some ideas — the Club 45 youth gave the three samples we shared with them (orange/lemon/lime, tangerine/blueberry, and cucumber/lemon/mint) a huge thumbs up!  Also, if you’d like a healthier soda alternative, check out that recipe as well. That, too, received the youth’s approval!   

In addition to quenching your physical thirst this summer, I also want to encourage you to be attentive to hydrating yourself spiritually.   

If you’re anything like me, you tend to push yourself pretty hard through the fall-winter-spring seasons of life and you always look forward to the slower summer months, when you not only physically slow down (which makes it easier for you to care for your physical hydration needs) but also find it easier to carve out more time to spiritually hydrate yourself (through prayer, “sipping” on good spiritual books, enjoying time in God’s creation both by yourself and with others, etc.). 

Likewise, I challenge you to discover and practice new ways of making mind-body-soul hydration part of your daily routine this summer.  And, if you are willing, we’d love for you to share some of your spiritual thirst-quenching recipes with us! 

Peace,

Karen H. Webster

HSHC Co-founder/Executive Director

¹Allie Wergen, “Water: Essential for your body,” September 29, 2022, Mayo Clinic Health System, accessed at https://www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org/hometown-health/speaking-of-health/water-essential-to-your-body.

² Jodi Richmond, “How Plants Use Water,” WV Extension, March 1, 2021, accessed at https://extension.wvu.edu/lawn-gardening-pests/news/2021/03/01/how-plants-use-water.

Fruit-Infused Waters

Radical Change Requires Radical Trust

Spring is in the air!  However, unlike any other year that I can recall, the destructive impact of the wind is hard to ignore: old-growth trees damaged in California, deadly tornadoes in the South and Midwest, and many flights delayed or canceled due to high winds, with those that are able to take off experiencing significant turbulence.  These examples (plus many others that are impacting our world) have been linked to climate change, a very real, intimidating, and anxiety-laden issue that is becoming increasingly hard to ignore.  

While it may be tempting to despair, I want to share with you a reflection I offered last month at a workshop that Karen and I held at Columbia Theological Seminary’s “Just Creation: Shalom for Our Common Home” national conference:   

Research published in 2016 suggests that, in some regions, anthropogenic¹ climate change due to Industrial-era activity began in the 1830s, which is earlier than previously thought.²  We know that scientists were already calculating the greenhouse effect in the 1890s and that concern about anthropogenic climate change increased throughout the latter half of the 20th century.³  This is not to say that the link was clear during this whole timespan; it was not until 1880 that formal weather monitoring stations were widespread enough to give a more accurate picture of global temperature trends.4   

It is incorrect to say that nobody saw this coming.  However, as we also know, there have been significant and sustained efforts from various people and entities to stop this climate science from translating into meaningful action (globally, nationally, and personally).  As a result, we find ourselves past the point where smaller, more incremental changes are reasonable.  Only radical change will do.

According to the IPCC’s (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) report, “If, by 2030, we cut our carbon emissions in about half – and, by 2050, we don’t emit any more carbon emissions than the planet can absorb each year – scientists predict that we can avoid the worst threats of climate change.”5

While this kind of change can feel daunting and will require worldwide efforts – the more widespread implementation of green technologies and the development of new technologies (such as carbon capturing and fusion) – individual and community actions are also important.  

 If you are like me, it is easy to think that the problem is too big, or it is too late, for my action to be meaningful, or that the changes we need to make are more drastic than I want to make.  However, the Bible has many examples of God asking people and groups to make radical changes:

• Noah, who built a boat and gathered animals despite no evidence of a coming flood (Gen. 6:11-22).
• Abram and Sarai, who, despite any suggestion that they had ever heard of God, picked up and left Haran and went to Canaan when God told them to do so (Gen. 12:1-5a).
• Mary, who assented to the angel Gabriel’s request even though it perplexed her (Lk. 1:26-38).
• The disciples, who left behind their families and livelihoods when Jesus called them to follow him (Mk. 1:16-20, 2:13-14).
• Saul, whose conversion was so unexpected and abrupt that people didn’t trust it to be genuine (Acts 9:1-30).

These biblical characters didn’t see immediate and obvious results after making these changes; they often had to wait for quite a while to perceive the fruits of their change, if they ever saw them at all.  However, they trusted that their changes would make a difference far beyond their cognizance.  In other words, radical change requires radical trust.

This great cloud of witnesses, as the author of Hebrews calls them, who acted out of such radical trust, can be our inspiration as we consider the radical changes we ourselves are called to make as stewards of God’s creation.

The changes we need to make in our daily lives to address climate change require the faith that they will make a difference.  For example, when we are intentional about changing how we eat, particularly making more whole-foods, plant-based choices, this allows us to:

• Respond positively to the food systems that are responsible for 25% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.6
• And this can provide communities of faith the opportunity to explore and incorporate more biblical plant foods into their diets.  
  • Eating this way positively impacts our personal health and the health of the planet and it also connects us to our rich Christian heritage as people of faith.  
  • By eating biblical plant foods, we can simultaneously act to preserve our cultural heritage, while also helping to sustain the environment as a legacy for generations to come.

This, then, really isn’t that radical at all; it is actually rediscovering an interesting, enjoyable, and frequently overlooked part of our common heritage.

While what we learned at the conference was difficult, it also gave us both hope that we are not helpless in the face of climate change, which is a message we tried to communicate in our presentation.  The radical trust we are called to have may not be easy for us, but God is even more radically trustworthy.  This way, radical trust in a radically trustworthy God is what will help you, me, and our churches live in the faith that the changes we make today will create a better tomorrow.  

Peace,

Travis Webster

HSHC Co-founder

¹ “Scientists use the word “anthropogenic” in referring to environmental change caused or influenced by people, either directly or indirectly.” https://www.usgs.gov/news/earthword-anthropogenic.

² Abram, N., McGregor, H., Tierney, J. et al., “Early onset of industrial-era warming across the oceans and continents,” Nature 536, 411–418 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature19082.

³ Abram, McGregor, and Tierney, “Early onset of industrial-era warming across the oceans and continents,” Nature 536, 411–418.

4 Abram, McGregor, and Tierney, “Early onset of industrial-era warming across the oceans and continents,” Nature 536, 411–418.

5 MIT Climate Portal, “What Can Be Done About Climate Change?”, https://climate.mit.edu/what-can-be-done-about-climate-change, viewed March 10, 2023. Summarized from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Special Report, Global Warming of 1.5°C (https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/).

6 Hannah Ritchie, “Food production is responsible for one-quarter of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions,” Our World in Data, November 6, 2019, https://ourworldindata.org/food-ghg-emissions.

Quick, Easy, Tasty Coleslaw Recipe with 4 No-Oil Dressing Options

• This is also great using shredded broccoli and carrot. 
• We enjoy adding some chopped apples and a handful of raisins to this salad.
• This recipe includes a cashew-based dressing, which is excellent.  However, we’ve also provided 3 other no-oil dressing options that are nut free.

Recipes (Healthy for You and Your Budget)

• Creating your own vegetable broth is quick, easy, reduces food waste, and can save you money!
• Other ways to utilize fruit and vegetable scrap (plus, another kitchen scrap vegetable broth recipe): How to Use Food Scraps to Reduce Kitchen Waste

3 Ways to Spread Good Health in Our Communities of Faith

• Be contagious in worship by designating particular Sundays to highlight and explore various aspects of health (mental, emotional, physical, relational, spiritual, environmental, and more!).  There are many health-awareness calendars online that can help guide you.  For some examples specific to the United States, click here.  For some international options, click here.  

• Be contagious in educational opportunities by offering health-oriented studies.  Something we have discovered, both in our research and through leading classes in congregational settings, is that there is a general lack of understanding of the body from a biblical and theological perspective, which significantly impacts how we treat our bodies (individually and collectively).  Since Christianity is rooted in the embodiment of Christ, and given current social movements as they relate to body image, body positivity, body shaming, etc., we think this topic is extremely relevant and foundational for congregation health ministry initiatives.  Here are a couple of books that we find to be helpful in exploring this topic:
  • Embracing The Body: Finding God in Our Flesh and Bone, by Tara M. Owens
  • Reclaiming The Body in Christian Spirituality, edited by Thomas Ryan
  • Body: Biblical Spirituality For the Whole Person, by Paula Gooder

• Be contagious in mission and fellowship events.  Does your congregation already provide yoga classes?  Exercise groups?  A food pantry?  Fellowship opportunities?  A lot of times, it is easy to think of these, and similar pursuits, simply as events that take place at the church or ministries supported by the church.  However, many of these activities are already improving the health and wellbeing of the congregation and/or the community.  Therefore, one strategy we want to encourage congregations to consider is exploring and defining a theological basis for health (in your context) and then tying these already existing health ministries into that theology.  Your congregation may find that they don’t necessarily need to add many new programs and/or events; rather, it is simply a matter of being more intentional about the why of what you are doing.

Would you like some more ideas?  Have stories about what has been successful in your congregation?  We’d love to hear from you!  Click here to contact us.

Peace,

Karen and Travis Webster

HSHC Co-founders

* Please note: following any of the links in this post will take you to sites containing third-party content.