Saying Yes To Life: The Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lent Book 2020

By Ruth Valerio

SPCK Publishing, Dec 2019, 224 pp, paperback and e-book.

Ruth worked for A Rocha UK for many years before moving to Tearfund, and oversaw the launch of Eco Church. She has dedicated ‘Saying Yes to Life’ to Peter and Miranda Harris and Chris and Susanna Naylor, three of whom tragically lost their lives in October. A Rocha staff were also involved in providing stories, examples and advice for the book, and there are many references to our work – with some links below.

‘As people of faith, we cannot just say what we believe. We are obliged to live out the life that Christ calls us to live, to care for our neighbours, for the creatures and the creation that God has so generously given us.’ – Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby

This is the challenge set out in Saying yes to life: the Archbishop of Canterbury’s Lent book 2020, written by Tearfund’s Director of Global Advocacy and Influencing, Ruth Valerio.

It draws on the days of creation (Genesis 1) to explore what it means for us to be made in the image of God and entrusted to look after what he has made. It features voices from around the world, prayers and discussion points to help you reflect over Lent.

This book will encourage you to go deeper with God in the lead up to Easter.

Order your copy from SPCK Publishing

A Rocha resources for Saying Yes To Life

1. Light

• The work of God’s fingers
• God of all ecosystems
• Where is my home?

2. Water

• Water in God’s purpose for creation: A river runs through
• When you pour love into a river
• Water justice in South Africa: Countdown to Day Zero: The Cape Town water crisis and what it tells us
• Resource pack: Water Justice

3. Land / trees

• Resource pack: The Tree of Life and the Life of Trees
• Loving where we are
• Mangrove Theology: getting stuck in and putting down roots
• Learning from communities close to the land: Learning creation care in Oceania
• Resource pack: Just Food
• Creation care in Lebanon
• Living on the margins
• Places of knowing God and nature

4. Sun, moon and stars / eschatology

• What’s the future for planet earth?
• The Bible on the beginning and the end: Obsessed with beginnings and endings
• Finding words for the end of the world
• The thinning of life
• God’s future: rural paradise or heavenly city?

5. Birds and sea creatures / oceans

• Why care about microplastics?
• A Rocha’s microplastics toolkit
• The Bible, Biodiversity and God’s priorities
• Caretakers of the deep
• Theology of plastic
• Bird by bird, person by person
• The Sustainable Development Goals and abundant life: What will it take for all to live an abundant life?
• Jeremiah: a bird’s eye view of the Middle East

6. Land animals, including humans

• The Bible, Biodiversity and God’s priorities
• Why conservation is a Gospel issue
• Resource pack on biodiversity: What a wildly wonderful world!
• Adam and the image of God: Adam meets Lynn White Jr
• Are humans the virus species?
• Extinction Rebellion, Eco Anxiety and Christian Faith
• Human population: Be fruitful and multiply?
• Should we save endangered species?
• Can we have abundant life without trashing the planet?
• Feeding the world and farming God’s way
• Suffering in the natural world: Nature, red in tooth and claw?
• Job: humbled and healed by nature

7. Sabbath rest

• Sabbath for all creation
• Sabbath rhythms: Relish, redeem, rest, by Laëtitia Bapst
• Sabbath simplicity
• Shopping till collapse: gifts and gratitude in a culture of over-consumption
• Holy Saturday: Sabbath Rest of Suffering, Silence and Stillness, by Soohwan Park
• Sabbath simplicity, by Leah Kostamo