Monaro Christian Forum
“We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people.”
Rev. Martin Luther King Jnr.
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Of the 6 billion people that live on earth, 3 billion live on less than $2 a day
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The 3 richest people on earth control more wealth than the 600 million poorest
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Rich western nations take 14 times as much money in trade from third world nations as they give in aid
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Less than 0.01% of the money taken from the poor in unfair trade could save the sight of 30 million people
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Through simple wastefulness and greed, the pollution produced by the world’s rich nations is warming the earth so much that the himalayan glaciers are melting, threatening the water supplies of 1/6th of the earth’s population.
As Christians, our scriptures tell us that God sides with the poor and oppressed, that He doesn’t even allow a sparrow to fall without good reason, and that His followers speak for the powerless - those who effectively have no voice. They will give up reputation to stand for a people or stop an unjust war, will give up comfort to preserve even the small things of their God’s creation, and will lose friends and support, defending both single mothers and unborn children. The issues are not simple, but because the Bible claims that God is love, we are told that we cannot even begin to understand Him until our hearts break and our worlds revolve around the same things as the heart of God.
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“Things have come to a pretty pass when religion is allowed to invade public life”
Lord Melbourne, in opposition to William Wilberforce’s Bill for the Abolition of Slavery
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“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 him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.”
Isaiah 58: 6-8
“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)
“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’”
Matt 25:34-40
Oh, what’ll you do now, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, what’ll you do now, my darling young one?
I’m a-goin’ back out ‘fore the rain starts a-fallin’,
I’ll walk to the depths of the deepest black forest,
Where the people are many and their hands are all empty,
Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters,
Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison,
Where the executioner’s face is always well hidden,
Where hunger is ugly, where souls are forgotten,
Where black is the color, where none is the number,
And I’ll tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it,
And reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it,
Then I’ll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin’,
But I’ll know my song well before I start singin’,
And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard,
It’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall.
Bob Dylan (Hard Rain)