Lent 5

Readings:

Jeremiah 31: 31-34  A new covenant written on the heart

Hebrews 5: 5-10 Christ the High priest like Melchizedek

John 12: 20-33 Whoever serves me must follow me

In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

At the Annual Meeting on Wednesday we did the essential housekeeping: elections, review of the past 12 months and a good look at our finances. We also explored some areas we might tackle in the future – the environmental issues in particular and the idea of becoming an Eco-congregation. We have some ready made openings already but we also have to work at becoming more ‘green’. Still, we do not seem to be that enthused about this collectively as yet. It’s not that we think global issues are unimportant but somehow the timing is not yet right. And it is entirely appropriate that we should ask if we have the time, and indeed energy, for this major undertaking of saving the planet?

Well, that same mood of hesitancy is there in today’s Gospel. Jesus himself suggests he is not ready to face his massive task of saving humanity and the planet either! John 12 verse 27 reads: Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say – “Father, save me from this hour”? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name

More than once during this Lent we have reflected on the obvious insight that if we wish to be disciples of Jesus we must be like him in the way we worship God and that means the way we live our lives. Tony reminded us last week that this includes a genuine welcome for everyone, no exceptions.

We have also pondered what ‘taking up our cross’ might mean in terms of addressing some of the world’s big issues.

Just at the moment we have a prime opportunity to achieve much by doing just a little because the g20 summit will be taking place in London on 2nd April. Our first commitment is to pray and with considerable urgency. But to do this effectively we need to be well informed about the g20 summit itself and the wider global challenges. So here’s my 30 second run down of what the g20 are doing: The map on the back of your pewsheet has the g20 member countries shaded in the darker colour these nations account for 85% of the world’s economic consumption – perhaps more noticeably look to those places which are white on the map who have no say at the summit and who pay most of the world’s debt.

This week’s summit is really to sort out the global economic mess created by the near collapse of the banking and other financial institutions in the rich developed countries. There are 3 commitments the 20 nations are asked to make:

1. Take whatever action is necessary to stabilise financial markets to enable families and businesses to get through the recession
2. Reform and strengthen the global financial and economic system to restore confidence and trust [= bring in some consistent and stronger regulation of financial institutions than before]
3. Put the global economy on track for sustainable growth [the key word here is sustainable]

We’re in a crisis but in the same way that international co-operation helped pave the way to a period of prosperity after the Second World War, so there is a similar opportunity here to create a better world order. The vision is to establish a global deal in which all countries have a part to play and all will see its benefits.

I should perhaps point out here that there have been a lot of preparatory meetings and a lot of work already done behind the scenes so this week the leaders have a good idea of who thinks what and why. The point is can they all strike this global deal when they actually meet?

The global recession is the focus of the summit but these same nations have already committed themselves to the Millennium Development Goals: 8 aims agreed in 2000 to tackle some of the most pressing injustices and make a real impact on them by 2015.

I suppose by now we should know these 8 Goals by heart! I am sure though, that even if we have not got them off pat we will recognize these 8 as key issues which do come up regularly here at St Michael’s:

1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger: Nearly 1 billion people live on less than $1 per day. In Africa, the poorest continent, nearly half the population are in this category and 80% are on less than $2 per day: 1 in 3 are malnourished.
2. Achieve universal primary education. Children as young as 3 are sent out to work by their families in order to survive. Girls are often made to work so that their brothers can receive an education to try and lift the family out of poverty. The lowest literacy level for women is in Afghanistan at 14% where the level for men is 50% and it continues to fall.
3. Promote gender equality and empower women. Where women prosper economically, families have a better chance of survival. Many girls have no access to secondary or higher education. Most women must marry and give up any hope of education.
4. Reduce child mortality: 10.6 million children under 5 die each year. Most of these are preventable. The most common causes are diarrhoea (treatable by simply and cheap rehydration packs), malaria (nets are also cheap to supply and effective) and malnutrition
5. Improve maternal health: The risk of dying in childbirth in sub-Saharan Africa is 1 in 13, in the industrialized nations 1 in 4, 085. Causes of the high mortality rate for women are a shortage of trained midwives, Female Genital Mutilation which increases obstructed and prolonged labour, malnutrition means many women are too exhausted physically.
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases: many women have no control over when or how they have sex. Many African men believe they may rid themselves of HIV/AIDS by having sex with a virgin – this is one of the factors which has led to an increase in child trafficking. Many women who have only ever had sex with their husbands are infected with HIV/AIDS. Drugs are not readily available to most of the sufferers because of the commercial interests of American and British pharmaceutical companies
7. Ensure environmental sustainability: this is Fr Edilberto’s plea. The major western companies still see environmental audits as a ‘luxury’ as one of them said about the Ethiopian hydro electricity project this week. 1.2 billion people have no access to clean water. The average journey to a water supply in Africa is 6km and some children are spending up to 6 hours a day simply collecting water for their family. Companies are putting pressure on the global south to privatize water supply so it can be charged for instead of being a public service
8. Develop a global partnership for development: a primary aim for the g20 Even with the spread of the Fair Trade campaign it is still true that only 15 cents for every $1 spent in a supermarket ever reaches the ordinary people who grow tea of coffee in the world. What do we do when we don’t find FT tea or coffee on the shelves? Bug the manager and leave without a purchase? We can do without for a while – there’s probably a FT outlet nearby in any case... 1 in 6 of the UK population supported the ‘Make Poverty History Campaign’ and yet only Norway has managed to honour the promise made by the UK government and others to lift Overseas Development Assistance to 0.7% of Gross National Income.

Well, all very interesting but does it have anything to do with Passiontide and today’s Gospel reading? Here’s a quotation which suggests it does:

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. The world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children... This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron."

Words delivered by the former U.S. President, Dwight D. Eisenhower, in a speech on April 16, 1953.

Depressing though it is to think that not much has changed in 50 years, the goals set in 2,000 were ambitious but also achievable – leading economists and scientists backed the plans to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.

And OK we are not the g20 and don’t command the billions of dollars which despite the recession are still at the fingertips of those world leaders. But until the day we decide to run as Prime Minister this is not our calling. But what we have to do is work out what is within our grasp and it’s more than you might think. British Summer Time has begun, Easter is nearly here, Spring is springing – this is a good time to think about life: God’s life, our own lives, our neighbours’ lives – those near and those far away. In our first reading Jeremiah, usually so despondent, sends a message of hope that God’s covenant will be written on the hearts of his people.

Here are some words of a modern prophet

"God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house… God is in the silence of a mother who has infected her child with a virus that will end both their lives… God is in the cries heard under the rubble of war… God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives, and God is with us if we are with them."

- Bono (Lead Singer U2) - An extract from his speech at 54th Annual National Prayer Breakfast, Washington DC. US, 2006

Jesus begins in doubt but ends in hope and with a prayer: ‘Father glorify your name

As we spend the next two weeks mapping out the footsteps of Jesus towards the Cross and the Tomb, let us also walk with all our brothers and sisters suffering injustice in our world. As we do so may we walk by and with the Holy Spirit and take to heart these words of Augustine of Hippo from the 4th century: Pray as though everything depends on God Work as though everything depends on you.

So let us pray: Rise up prayer ending with the words on the pewsheet: Father, help us to rise up. For who will raise a voice and reach out a hand to conform this world more to your plan, if not us your people? As your Church worldwide let us rise up – in prayer, in speaking out and in demonstrating your way of life – that out of the ruins of this current crisis might rise up a hope for a better world. In Jesus’ name. Amen

from the prayer written by Joel Edwards, International Director of Micah Challenge www.micahchallenge.org.uk