A summer break

Wednesday's cafe session and our community BBQ last night were our final gatherings before the summer break. Thanks to everyone who have come along and taken part in our sessions since January - here's a short reminder of all that we've been up to over the last seven months.

We'll see you again in September for more and better!

IF, the UN and a mysterious request

Great to see lots of you at our gathering last Wednesday and special thanks to Natalie and Ian for the fascinating ideas and insights on Fairtrade and ethical consumerism.

At that session, Victoria highlighted the Enough Food... IF Campaign and challenged us to arrange a meeting with our local MPs to raise the campaign with them. Following that discussion, Victoria has identified some resources to help us with that challenge. These include a briefing note to share with your MP (and handy for reminding you what the campaign is about too!) and a longer Executive Summary. 

Victoria and I have set up an opportunity to meet with Theresa Villiers on Saturday 9th March for those living in Chipping Barnet, while Dave is speaking to Mike Freer's office for those in Finchley & Golders Green. We'd like people to come along with us and will be preparing for those meetings at our next pub session (this coming Weds, 8pm at The Catcher in the Rye, Finchley Central).

Two other things to flag: 

Firstly, that our esteemed member Ann-Marie is speaking at the UN in the coming days. We're very excited that our local Network has such a wide reach! If you're the praying type, do remember her this week.

Secondly, hang on to your plastic tubs (of the sort that fruit and veg sometimes come in) and bring them along to the next cafe session, where they'll be put to good use...

See you again soon!

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/

Food, glorious food!

Food plays a huge role in our society. Eating together is a sign of hospitality and friendship, popular (and sometimes colourful) chefs are celebrated in our media, and programmes like Come Dine With Me and the Great British Bake Off are hugely popular.

Food is something that we love and often take for granted. We learnt this week that vast amounts of food is being wasted by consumers in the developed world. Meanwhile, we know that there are many people around the world - 870 million according to the World Food Programme - who go to bed hungry day in, day out. This inequality is truly shocking.

Over the coming few months, we will be looking at food and how it relates to justice. We will be exploring a range of topics - from hunger in the developing world to grow you own in the UK, from Fairtrade and unjust trade barriers, to Foodbanks and poverty closer to home.

Both the Old and New Testament of the Bible speak regularly about the issue of food justice, including guidelines to benefit those in need at harvest time, to strong words for those who seek to cheat the hungry out of their resources and those who embrace religion but lack a heart of compassion for those in need. We will be looking at some of these verses as we learn about the facts and seeing how faith and justice are inextricably linked.

Other charities are also focussing on the issue of food at this time, so we will be looking to get involved with Tearfund's new campaign, the Live Below the Line challenge and other opportunities to make a practical dent in this injustice.

It all begins this Wednesday at Coffee Republic from 7:30pm. We're kicking off the series with a guest speaker from Friends of the Earth and a practical activity to have a go at. As you can probably tell, we're really excited about this new theme and the gatherings we have planned, so we hope to see you at Coffee Republic or the Bohemia soon.

Oh, and to anyone fasting this week as part of the St Bs week of prayer and fasting, you might think its a little inconsiderate of us to be doing all this talk of food while you're trying to avoid it. But just consider this, as God says through the prophet Isaiah (58 v6-7):

"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter — when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?"

So there you go. See you on Wednesday! 

Our Spring/Summer programme is here!

The new year is upon us and with it comes an exciting new theme for Justice Matters: 

Food, glorious food. 

From the joys of urban bee keeping, to the importance of Fairtrade, meat-free Mondays and the Live Below the Line challenge, there's something for everyone to get their teeth into.

Join us every first Wednesday in the month at The Bohemia pub (N12 9QH) from 8pm and every third Wednesday at Coffee Republic in North Finchley (N12 9QR) from 7:30pm. 

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See you at a gathering soon!

Sam and Victoria, Sara, Lizzie and Elaine