Churches Weekly Newsletter, 15 May 2022
Linger for a moment with the (above) statement by Christian Aid that 'For the first time in a generation, global poverty is rising'. We can see how that looks when we place the stories of Zimbabwean Jessica Mwedzi alongside those of people we know using our local foodbanks, and of today's news reports that two in five people in the UK are buying less food because of the rapid rise in the cost of living. As we understand that hunger here in our villages and towns is caused by changes in government economic policies and business trade practices, we likewise realise that Jessica's family's hunger is also the consequence of deliberate decisions made by powerful people outside their community over the years, which have increased inequality and contributed to the literally burning issue – global heating – which affects us all.
Whilst there is still a big overall wealth gap between Zimbabwean people and ourselves (inviting our charitable giving), this Christian Aid Week there may just be more of a sense that we are all in this together; and that whilst people like Jessica will benefit from our charity, people like us could learn from her, in the way she has applied herself to using what small resources she has (drought-resistant seeds) to produce a harvest of valuable food for her family. Self-sufficient growing is not new, of course – our local Sustainability Group have long been exploring it, and it was widely practiced in the UK within living memory - but it's increasingly part of conversations here, and in towns and cities and across the world. You may have practical wisdom to share with your neighbours about this from years of practice – or you may be looking to learn.
The prophet Jeremiah wrote in a situation where his people had been devastated by imperial attacks, followed by famine and deadly pestilence sweeping thought the land. His book is an 'honest and raw expression of a national crisis, which affected individuals in very concrete ways'* He expresses the people's traumas having been' uprooted and torn down, destroyed and overthrown' – but then introduces to them the idea that it is time to 'build and to plant' (Jeremiah 1).
Trying to think of how to 'change the world' for the better for both Jesica and ourselves may overwhelm us. But digging a plot, planting some seeds, yielding a modest crop. It's not only a practical way to respond to our present crises, but it's a prophetic one also.
* Juliana Claassens, 'An Infinite Present' in Jione Havea (ed), Doing Theology in the New Normal: Global Perspectives, p.266-7.
