I’ve spent the last few weeks staying awake at night trying to work out what to say to you all this morning, and I told Anthea this funny little story about myself this week, and I want to take the chance to tell it to you all now.
When Lilli was born it was under General Anaesthetic by emergency c-sect at 3:20am on Feb 22nd 2006. I woke up in recovery at about 6:30am not really knowing or understanding what had happened until Jeff came in to tell me we had a beautiful little girl. Soon after the nurse came in and said I could go up to my room and stop in and see Lilli on the way… and so with four drips in my arm and a very woozy head, I was wheeled in my hospital bed, into the Neo-Nats of FMC. This is where the story gets a little bit odd.
You see, when I got to neo-nats Lilli was in the humidicrib, and they have these huge arm holes so you can reach in and touch the babies. Unfortunately, She was so little that her face and her body was hidden behind the arm holes in the crib… and all I could see was Lilli’s legs, and do you know what I did? Nothing. I just laid there. Jeff was all like “isn’t she gorgeous?” and I said “yeah she is!” but I had no idea… she could have been a turtle with human legs for all I knew… I have been trying to rack my brain to remember what I was thinking exactly, but all I can remember is thinking “ummm I should probably tell someone I can’t see her”. Its funny now, but back then I had no emotion what so ever about this baby with the little legs in the crib.
A few hours later the nurse brought Lils in for her first feed, and I got to see her and hold her. I suddenly realised how reliant she was on me. I still wasn’t anymore coherent, but I understood that she needed me. Suddenly there was a reason to feel connected to this could-be-turtle-baby-with-the-little-legs. Suddenly I realised that I was responsible for her. Suddenly I realised that the amount I cared for her would impact her more than anyone could imagine. Suddenly I was connected and I cared.
You see, it is for this reason that I tell my story. I don’t think that it’s until we, as mortals, can see clearly or know that we are, or rather could be, responsible for something and as such connected, it’s not until then that we begin to care. And it’s not until we truly care that we chose to act. Its not a personality fault, it’s just a human trait. Allow me to help you to connect…
---WATCH VIDEO---
Luke 4: 16-21: To Set the Burdened Free
16 -21He came to Nazareth where he had been reared. As he always did on the Sabbath, he went to the meeting place. When he stood up to read, he was handed the scroll of the prophet Isaiah. Unrolling the scroll, he found the place where it was written,
God's Spirit is on me;
he's chosen me to preach the Message of good news to
the poor,
Sent me to announce pardon to prisoners and
recovery of sight to the blind,
To set the burdened and battered free,
to announce, "This is God's year to act!" He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the assistant, and sat down. Every eye in the place was on him, intent. Then he started in, "You've just heard Scripture make history. It came true just now in this place."
Did you know that this is just one of over 2300 references in the bible to poverty and social justice and responding to the poor? That’s actually more than the references to prayer & atonement or Jesus’ resurrection. It is the poorest people in the world who are suffering most at the hands of unfair trade. So what might ‘the good news’ mean for them? The verse is just one that talks about liberation of captives, protecting the weak, & the coming of justice so that all can be included in God’s Kingdom.
Fairtrade has this aim at its heart – a just system which frees producers from exploitation, enabling them to lift themselves out of poverty.
So what exactly is Fairtrade and Why should we care?
Proverbs 13:23 “The fields of the poor may produce abundant food, but injustice sweeps it away.”
Fairtrade is about better prices, decent working conditions, local sustainability, and fair terms of trade for farmers and workers in the developing world. By requiring companies to pay sustainable prices, Fairtrade addresses the injustices of conventional trade, which traditionally discriminates against the poorest, weakest producers. It enables them to improve their position and have more control over their lives. You see, small producers in developing countries are disadvantaged in the global market. Circumstances mean that they usually sell on the local market to a middleman for a very low price (and for anybody wanting to know God’s opinion on the unscrupulous middleman and their actions against impoverished farmers just read the start of Amos 8). The middleman transports the coffee and cocoa and sells it to the processor who will later export it. Such farming has become increasingly uneconomic especially when the small producer is competing on a global market with large scale agribusiness and unfair trade subsidies to Northern markets. Millions of people unable to make a living have moved to cities where many have ended up fighting for their daily survival. No one should be condemned to such poverty.
In recent decades the fair trade movement has grown rapidly, offering small producers greater control over their own futures and a decent livelihood. Small growers have founded cooperatives in order to maximize the benefits for their families. These cooperatives have strong relationships with groups like Trade Aid that ensure a fair exchange. Not only do they receive a better price for what they produce but the whole community benefits from the fair trade premium. It is estimated that some 5 million people - farmers, workers and their families - benefit from the fair-trade label. It could help many more. We need to share the message.
Fair trade ensures a better deal for impoverished producers in developing countries through:
• A fair and stable price for their products
• Long term trading relations and advance payments
• Investment in local community development
• Environmentally sustainable farming methods
• Support in gaining the knowledge and skills needed to operate successfully in the global economy
Yesterday marked the start of Fairtrade Fortnight 2010. The theme this year is “The Big Swap” and it asks us, for two weeks to try to swap something we purchase for the equivalent fairtrade item. It gives us a fantastic opportunity to be more responsible, and in turn as a church community we can protect those that Jesus asks us to protect and we can learn about the life of those people owning or working on non-fairtrade plantations. It is asking us to be Ethical and Spiritual Shoppers.
2 Samuel 23:13-17:
13 -17 One day during harvest, the Three parted from the Thirty and joined David at the Cave of Adullam. A squad of Philistines had set up camp in the Valley of Rephaim. While David was holed up in the Cave, the Philistines had their base camp in Bethlehem. David had a sudden craving and said, "Would I ever like a drink of water from the well at the gate of Bethlehem!" So the Three penetrated the Philistine lines, drew water from the well at the gate of Bethlehem, and brought it back to David. But David wouldn't drink it; he poured it out as an offering to God, saying, "There is no way, God, that I'll drink this! This isn't mere water, it's their life-blood—they risked their very lives to bring it!" So David refused to drink it.
This is the sort of thing that the Three did.
This is an example of making ethical choices. Although he so wanted to drink water from the well of Bethlehem, he refused it, because he knew the risks that had gone into fetching it far outweighed its value. He recognised the costs seen by the eyes of God, which were far greater than those implied by the simple vessel of water before him.
As part of Fairtrade fortnight I am asking you to see these costs, and consider making your choices with this wider perspective in mind. Now some may object that Fairtrade products cost more, as indeed they often do. But the question then becomes: who pays the price if we don’t? As the rich in relative terms, (and those of us sitting here this morning are amongst the 10% wealthiest in the world), Jesus reminds us in Luke 12:48 that we have a responsibility: "where someone has been given much, much will be expected of him."
More than anything I yearn for people to understand God’s complete calling; To apply the teachings of Jesus to more than just their words and their actions, but to their lifestyles. It may not be easy, but I implore you to feel connected to the impoverished, so that you can care more deeply for them… so that you may desire to act it out in your lifestyle.
To that end, the elders and I have agreed to offer a heap of fairtrade products for sampling after church during morning tea. You see, most importantly, the point of “the big swap” is to demonstrate that there is really nothing extra we need to do to go fair-trade, no special trips to special shops, it’s really no hassle… it’s merely about taking one packet out of our trolley in the supermarket and replacing it with a different packet … So out the back we will have tea and coffee and chocolate for sampling (three of the most common fairtrade items), and I have sample price lists and options for three of the most common places to purchase the items – and you may be surprised at the options. You can also see the packaging for yourself so you can learn how to pick out the fairtrade products.
Please - Feel connected, so that you can care, so that you can act.
The return to neighbourhood
3 years ago
