IN RESPONSE to the impact of climate change and growing unrest and instability around the world, the Church Mission Society has launched a campaign, Lament for Lent.

The campaign urges Christians to take the time to lament properly the climate crisis, persecutions, war, and racism, so that they can learn to lean more deeply on God.

It was inspired by words from the Roman Catholic Archbishop Christophe Munzihirwa, of Bukavu, Congo, who was assassinated in 1996. He said: “There are things that can be seen only with eyes that have cried.”

The free six-week resource, “Only with Eyes that have Cried”, draws on theologians such as Emmanuel Katongole and Walter Brueggemann, and also on experiences from CMS mission partners such as Ruth Radley, in South Sudan. It studies lament as part of resistance, as part of activism, and as an ingredient in hope.

The theologian and missiologist who wrote the course, Dr Cathy Ross, said: “There is much to lament in our world, and we need the space and the permission to do so. We need to take time to lament violence, war, racism, exploitation of women, and trafficking, the state of our planet, and the climate crisis.

churchmissionsociety.org/lent2020.