Pancakes, Lent and Fairtrade Fortnight

Happy Pancake Day! May you enjoy the very best pre-Lenten treats with your free range eggs, organic lemons and fair-trade sugar!

We had a fascinating discussion on the nature of social justice and the part it plays in our lives at the Bohemia last week. If you missed it, you can read the discussion notes on in the post below. Do share your ideas in the comments!

No gathering this week, but with the start of Lent, we wanted to plug two campaigns that you might choose to get involved with over the next few weeks. Both represent interesting opportunities to interrupt our busy lives and think about how our choices affect others. See below for details – let us know if you take one of them up!

Our next gathering is next Wednesday (20^th) at Coffee Republic and will be about Fairtrade ahead of FT Fortnight the week after. Its sure to be a good one, so get it in your diary now. Get it in your friends' diaries too – the more the merrier!

40 Days of Water

Help provide clean water to people in Africa this Lenten season by making water your only beverage for 40 days!

Give up something this year for Lent that will change the way you think about water and change the life of someone in Africa. While you give up your morning coffee, soda at lunch, glass of wine in the evening, etc. Keep a track of what you would have spent on that drink, and at the end of 40 days, donate the money you saved to Blood:Water (or WaterAid!) and provide clean water to communities in Uganda.

While you give up your morning coffee, soda at lunch, glass of wine in the evening, etc. keep track of what you would have spent on that drink, and at the end of 40 days, donate the money you saved to Blood:Water Mission and provide clean water to communities in Uganda.

Find out more: http://40days.bloodwatermission.com/ 

40 ACTS

Lent is usually about 'giving stuff up', isn't it? What if you could add something transformational to the traditional?

What if you could give up chocolate and give the money to your favourite charity?

What if you could turn the TV off and spend more time helping your neighbour?

What if your Lent, this year, was a preparation for a lifetime of big-heartedness?

Find out more: http://www.40acts.org.uk/

What is social justice?

At our gathering at The Bohemia last week, we discussed what we understood by the term 'social justice' and how it fits into the life of a Christian. These were the discussion notes we used to inform that conversation.

What do you think?

What is social justice?
"Social justice is what faces you in the morning. It is awakening in a house with adequate water supply, cooking facilities and sanitation. It is the ability to nourish your children and send them to school where their education not only equips them for employment but also reinforces their knowledge and understanding of their cultural inheritance. It is the prospect of genuine employment and good health: a life of choices and opportunity, free from discrimination."            

Mick Dodson, Annual Report of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander

In the Bible, the concept of social justice is described using the Hebrew word tzadeqah, meaning to be “right with God and therefore committed to putting right all other relationships in life.”

Tim Keller, Generous Justice

"We often dismiss injustice, poverty, trafficking, homelessness and hunger as the result of poor social, economic, or political policy. It is vital for us to understand that injustice grieves God and is contrary to his will and purpose... [Our efforts to eradicate injustice] is not simply social service or social action; it is the wider work of redemption...

The only true transformation happens from the inside out. It is the transforming presence of the Kingdom of God in the world that ensures the true presence if justice... at both a personal and community level."

Strickland & Roberts, Just Imagine – The Social Justice Agenda

Q: What strikes you about these descriptions of social justice? How do they compare to your own understanding of social justice?

Justice, mercy and faithfulness
"What does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?"

Micah 6:8 

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees – hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law - justice and mercy and faithfulness."

Matthew 23:23 

"For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness [justice] and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit."

Romans 14:17

Q: Does this ordering of the three elements of our relationship with God surprise you? 
Q: Do we get the balance between justice, mercy and faith right in our own lives and church? 


What’s the difference between justice and mercy?
"Mercy is like the ambulance at the bottom of a cliff, ready to help those who fall. Justice builds a fence at the top of the cliff to protect them from falling in the first place.

Mercy wipes the tears from the eyes. Justice asks, 'Why are you crying?'

Mercy welcomes the hungry to gather round God's banqueting table. Justice addresses why some are under the table aching of hunger while others are sitting on top of the table aching from gluttony.

Mercy seeks and saves those lost in darkness. Justice asks, 'Why is it dark? Who is keeping it dark? Who is benefiting from this darkness? Is it I, Lord?"

Brad Jersak, Can You Hear Me?

A prayer for the would be activist
May God bless us with discomfort at easy answers,
half-truths and superficial relationships,
so that we may live deeply in your heart.
May God bless us with anger at injustice,
oppression and exploitation of people,
so that we may work for justice, freedom and peace.
May God bless us with tears to shed for those who suffer from pain,
rejection, starvation and war,
so that we may reach out our hand to comfort them and turn their pain to joy.
And may God bless us with enough foolishness
to believe we can make a difference in the world.

Franciscan Benediction