Water for everyone

What is too big for God?

Chritian Aid poster
"Ending poverty is too big a task", it said..

It's no bigger than eradicating smallpox.
It's no bigger than liberating Europe from the Nazis.
It's no bigger than putting a man on the moon.
It's no bigger than bailing out the banks.
It's no bigger than abolishing slavery.
It's no bigger than ending apartheid.
It's no bigger than bringing down the Berlin Wall.
It's no bigger than creating the internet.
It's no bigger than digging a tunnel to France.

It's a big ask, but I really believe it is possible. In fact I know it's not just possible - It is in fact promised. There will be a time when there is no more sin, sickness and suffering, and incredibly we are invited to be partners in bringing it about. Kingdom come.

Andy Flannagan, 28/07/2009

Praying beautifully. Krish Kandiah

Voting ethically

All of us are at different places on the political spectrum. Votewise Now will not tell you how to vote, just help you vote according to your conscience. Careful thought and deliberation are needed to make informed decisions. From Jubilee Campaign

The General Election Quiz: Are YOU ready to vote?

The power of compassion

In the wake of the devastating earthquake in Haiti, many people have been asking the inevitable question, "Where is God?"

C.S. Lewis asks this question in his book A Grief Observed. "Meanwhile, where is God?... When you are happy, so happy that you have no sense of needing Him, if you turn to Him with praise, you will be welcomed with open arms. But go to him when your need is desperate, when all other help is vain and what do you find? A door slammed in your face, and a sound of bolting and double bolting on the inside. After that, silence."

There was a time when, in the presence of those who suffer, I would blurt out pre-rehearsed lines or sophisticated apologetic solutions that hung in the air like lead balloons and had little or no impact on the recipients.

Then it was my turn to be on the receiving end. Lying desperately ill in hospital, many visitors came and went. Bible verses galore piled up at my hospital bedside. Don’t get me wrong - the fellowship was a blessing. It’s just that I couldn’t make sense of my suffering. Then a distinguished senior clergyman whom I worked with came to my bedside, said nothing, but held my hand and wept. Something broke inside me, and I wept to. It seemed to me that somehow God was validating my suffering. His tears joined with mine.

Compassion is a powerful thing. How come we are so poor at demonstrating it?

So much of the world’s suffering is self-inflicted. But God save us from indifference! As the white spot fades on the TV, and images of Haiti, and the slaughter of innocents in Iraq, disappear from our screens, the truth is that the suffering of this fractured world doesn’t disappear. It goes on and on.

You and I must never give in to compassion fatigue, or become de-sensitised to the pain of God’s world. God give us back our tears, and grant us the naivety that compels us to compassionate acts of mercy over and over again. Maybe our own brand of suffering can be salvaged and turned into something more powerful than we could ever hope for.

Where is God in our suffering? I don’t know all the answers, but I do know that a God of love has put me here for such a time as this.

Eddie Lyle, Open Doors, from his blog
http://www.opendoorsuk.org/news/eddies_blog.php#050210

BBC - UK fair trade's Gateshead origins

BBC - UK fair trade's Gateshead origins

Tim Hughes on prayer, justice and mercy

From Tearfund website