Green shoots at Easter

Has anyone else got green shoots appearing from the tubs of soil and seeds we planted last week? So often at JM we look at issues that demand concerted engagement over the long haul to bring about meaningful change, so its refreshing to see a tangible outcome from our recent efforts to experiment with growing our own food within mere days of taking action.

It was equally encouraging to hear that our combined efforts to lobby Government to deliver on the commitment to allocate 0.7% of GDP to resource international development. Clearly, this announcement was part of a much wider and long-running campaign to make this pledge a reality, but it was nonetheless exciting to have been engaging with our local MPs on the issue one day and then to have seen it actioned the following week.

The sight of those green shoots sprouting from the dirt reminded me of a video I produced a couple of years ago to accompany a talk I gave at St Bs on the parable of the mustard seed. In the video, as in the parable, the dominant image is of weeds breaking through concrete, reclaiming ruins, bringing new life and colour to abandoned objects and forgotten places. This, says Jesus, is what the Kingdom of God is like - the transformation of our broken and corrupt systems, a restoration of right relationships, the dawn of a new hope.

This is what Christians celebrate at Easter - that through Jesus' death and resurrection, we are restored into right relationship with God, one another and the world. On that first Easter Sunday, the Kingdom of God went from an idea to a reality and it has continued to seed and spread throughout the world ever since.

When the hungry are fed, the poor cared for, prisoners comforted, the lonely befriended, the outcasts included and the stranger welcomed, that is the Kingdom of God.

When slaves are freed, labourers fairly treated, when women are valued as equal, that is the Kingdom of God.

When the thirsty are given access to safe clean water, when farmers don't have to sell their crops for less than they cost to produce, when young girls aren't subjected to mutilation, or forced to sell their bodies for sex, when companies in one part of the world don't exploit workers in another party of the world just because they can, that is the Kingdom of God.

Justice Matters is an expression of that same redemptive insurgency; our small effort to play a role in the creeping global transformation.

If you are around Finchley over the Easter weekend, why not pop into one of the Easter services taking place at St Barnabas Church and find out more about God's heart for social justice and how far He went to make a better world possible. 

Otherwise we'll see you again on the 18th April for our next gathering, at which we'll be hearing about Foodbanks with exciting guest speakers from both the Chipping Barnet Foodbank and the Trussell Trust, creator of the UK's largest Foodbank network. Plus we'll talking about taking up the Live Below the Line challenge again... 

So, lots to look forward to - have a good Easter weekend and see you soon!

A busy weekend

What a busy weekend!

A number of us went to visit Theresa Villiers, MP for Chipping Barnet, on Saturday morning to discuss the IF campaign. We meet someone else in the waiting room who was also there to talk to her about the campaign, so we made friends and went in together - always networking and recruiting new members!

Theresa was familiar with much of what the campaign is trying to achieve and made positive noises about the issues we raised. Perhaps most pleasingly, when we raised the matter of the Government committing to allocate 0.7% of GDP to international aid, she smiled and told us that the first person into her surgery that morning had been complaining loudly about the amount of money Britain gives away in aid to developing nations, so it was encouraging to hear the five of us voicing our support for ongoing generosity.

On Monday morning Lizzie and Dave went to have a similar conversation with Mile Freer, MP for Finchley and Golders Green, which sounds to have been equally productive.

In addition to that, Elaine hosted the Sing for Water concert at St Bs in Saturday night, where several local choirs performed in support of the work of WaterAid. It was a great evening, with some memorable performances, including an appearance by our own Victoria and Mr Mike Dore. Thanks to all who came along and supported.

This week is a second Wednesday week, so if you have a 2to4 Group, you might want to meet up with them. If you don't, why not invite someone else from the community over for a drink and a natter?

Oh, and don't forget to hang on to plastic trays in preparation for a week Wednesday, when we'll be looking at food chains and grow your own.

That's all for now. Enjoy your week and see you soon!

Sing for Water - This Saturday

A short reminded that Sing for Water - An evening of song in support of WaterAid, is taking place THIS SATURDAY at St Barnabas Church. 

Come along and enjoy and eclectic mix of song from North London choirs, including:

London Youth Gospel Choir

Barnet A Level Music Centre Choir

Queen Elizabeth's School Choir

Vocalis, Mill Hill County High School

The Rowantree Choir, Enfield

Jubilo, St Barnabas Church

Doors open at 7pm. Refreshments available.

Tickets: £7.50 on the door / £5 for under 16s.

For further information contact northlondonwaids@hotmail.co.uk

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/

Sing for Water!

Before Christmas, some of us spent a day dressed up a toilets in Brent Cross shopping centre to raise awareness and funds for the water and sanitation charity, WaterAid (who themselves came to speak to Justice Matters in one of our very early gatherings in November 2011). 

In March, Elaine has organised another fantastic opportunity to support this great charity and this important cause. Details in the poster below - we hope to see lots of you there!

JM Weekly Update

Hello friends

Its that time again - the third Wednesday in the month, which can only mean that it's time to get together for another cafe session. This will be our final session in the Rough Guide to being an Ordinary Radical season (though not the last session of term, don't worry! More on that below.) As trailed last week, this week we have Ash Chafe coming to speak on his experience of life as an ordinary radical living on Strawberry Vale - be sure to come along and hear what he has to say! 

That's 7:30pm this Wednesday at Coffee Republic in North Finchley. Come early, grab a coffee and a pasty and meet someone new.

Don't forget that we gave you two challenges last month - to adopt a new ordinary radical habit and to invite someone along to this session. We look forward to seeing how you've done! In all seriousness, we are eager to see JM grow further - we want to fill Coffee Republic with members (and Raj's till with enough takings that we can further reduce our room hire costs), so please do get out and spread the word!

Speaking of getting out, some of us spent yesterday out of our comfort zones at Brent Cross. Read more about what we were doing and why in the post below.

I'd also like to flag up another opportunity to do something practical - we are partnering with The Bohemia to provide gifts and Christmas dinners to some of the older people of Finchley. The idea is simple: buy a gift for an older lady or gent, bring it along to our next pub session (5th December) and we'll spend the evening wrapping them up. There are more details below. This is an excellent opportunity to support a local business, invest in our community and raise our visibility, not to mention to bring festive cheer to some senior citizens. We'd love for all of you to get involved with this, so get thinking about what you might give...

That's all for now - have a great week, y'all!

Sam and Victoria, Elaine, Sara, Lizzie

Dressing up as a toilet at Brent Cross

Me and Victoria (sans toilet costume)

Yesterday, I did two things I've never done before. Ahead of World Toilet Day on the 19th November and encouraged by the Justice Matters spirit of getting involved, I went along to support Elaine and others raise awareness and funds for WaterAid.

I've never stood in a public place and collected for a good cause before (at least, not since my junior school days, when I once spent an afternoon helping to pack people's food shopping while dressed as a bear for Children in Need. There are no pictures, I'm afraid.) To push me further out of my comfort zone, I was dressed as a toilet. (Again, I'm sorry to say there are no photos of me thus attired).

Tina, Elaine (sporting the toilet costume)and Victoria

As we learned when WaterAid came to speak at JM last year, 2.5 billion people around the world live without access to clear water and sanitation. It's not exactly a glamorous subject, but imagine for a minute not having a toilet to use when you need it. This injustice results in the deaths of 2,000 children every day from water-borne diseases. In fact, more children in the developing world die from diarrhoea than measles, AIDS and malaria combined. It also causes health issues for women who hold on until after dark, so no one can see them go, only to face the threat of assault from being out alone at night.

I don't know how much we raised yet (I'll post an update when Elaine tells us), but I'm pleased to have had the opportunity to be involved in tackling the indignity suffered by too many of our neighbours. We will be finding more opportunities like this for members of Justice Matters to put their passion into action and live out  the lessons from our Rough Guide to being an Ordinary Radical. I hope that many more of you will join us next time we step out of our comfort zone to "seek justice [and] defend the oppressed".

Outside John Lewis - clearly popular with ethical shoppers!

Call to action - World Toilet Day

All this term we've been talking about stepping out and being more radical. In that spirit, on Saturday 17th November, we are going to put our dignity aside for the sake of the 2.5 billion people who still don't have access to adequate sanitation (that's nearly two fifths of the world's population) to mark World Toilet Day. But don't worry, our indignity will be nothing compared with those who don't have toilets - we will just be wearing them!

We'll have a fair amount of freedom in the shopping centre and will be eye-catching in our costumes. Hopefully our enthusiasm for the cause will make it possible to engage people in conversation or at the very least, raise a smile and get them digging in their pockets. We will supply you with t shirts, balloons, stickers etc and also be able to give you some useful, thought provoking facts.

The day will start at 10am and we'd be thrilled if you could join us and support this venture, even if it's only for a short time. According to the Brent Cross management it's possible to raise really good sums of money and the more on team the better.

Please contact me (Elaine) on 07932 646 496 to let me know when you can come so I can arrange where to meet you.

Go on - be brave and join us standing against poor sanitation.

October Update

Its the start of a new month and another chance to get together and explore what it means to "learn to do right [and] seek justice". We had an excellent first session of our new theme, with practical tips on reducing your water impact from Dave Farnworth and inspiring real-life stories from Wendy, who challenged us to consider what disturbs us and find out how to get involved in solving it. For her, that has meant stepping out in faith to work alongside clubbers, addicts, sex workers and trafficked women. In each case, it was about stepping out and being willing to embrace opportunities and connections. What would embracing an opportunity to step out mean for you?

Our pub gatherings this term will compliment the theme of the cafe sessions, looking at how we can develop Justice Matters sessions to be even better at equipping and encouraging its members to be effective, ordinary radicals. The first of these will be this Wednesday, so make sure you come along and add your ideas to the mix. More information about the session is available in the post below.

That's all for now - have a great week and see you at The Bohemia on Wednesday.

Reduce you water impact

At our cafe session on 19th September, Dave Farnworth shared some excellent practical tips on ways to reduce your water impact. Why not give one of them a go?

• Use a 'hippo' or expanding crystals to reduce the water used in flushing the loo
• Know where your stop cock is
• Get an eco shower head and timer to reduce the water you use in the shower 
• Use a directional head spray on kitchen tap
• Use water gel granules for hanging baskets / potted plants (reduces watering by up to four times)
• Use 'Ecozone' magnets or similar to reduce limescale in your washing machine or dishwasher
• Consider using a water meter - you can always have it uninstalled after a year if its not cost effective

For more information:

• www.veoliawater-savewatersavemoney.co.uk
• www.waterwisely-savewatersavemoney.co.uk
• www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/cut-water-bills

If you have a practical tip to share, drop us an email or add a comment below!

November update

Last Wednesday we had our first informal gathering of Justice Matters - a discussion of the Occupy protest camp and the way St Paul's Cathedral responded to it. This was an experiment for us, an effort to build more regular get togethers into our pattern with a view to encouraging a deeper sense of community and participation among members outside the monthly formal sessions. We had a good turnout and some interesting discussion. We anticipate to book in more of these less structured get togethers over the coming months, sharing ideas and our lives over a drink or two, so get yourself along to one soon.

Next week is out main event for November, and we are very excited about it. We have not one but two guest speakers joining us for the evening to talk on the subject of water and sanitation in the developing world. Tim Pegg spent two years working with MedAir first in Afghanistan and then Madagascar, delivering water and sanitation projects to people in extreme need. He's going to tell us some stories from that experience, and then Ali from WaterAid will talk to us about how we can get involved in this important area of need.

I'm sure you'll agree that sounds pretty good, so do come along - you could even bring a friend or two. If you're on Facebook, the event page is here. As usual, join us from 7pm for food. The talks will kick off at 7:45. See you there...