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O Canto Senhor - O sing to the Lord, Sing God a new song! To this rousing and inspiring Brazilian version of the well-known Psalm, we assembled at Hilmorton to begin our joint study with our friends from Blakenall Heath on Saturday 12 May. The event had been postponed from March, when bad weather at Blakenall Heath had prevented it being held. Today was very different: the sun shone in a cloudless sky, the trees were green, the blossom festooned them. Joy was in the air. The theme of the day was Just Living… Wanting Justice and Living Justly. We were helped in our exploration by Sue James, the Hertfordshire organiser of Christian Aid, and Leao, a Brazilian who will shortly be ordained as a Methodist minister at the completion of his studies at Queen's College Birmingham. While much of our study was focussed on the Third World, and Christian Aid's work there, we also hoped to point up the problems of injustice and inequality in our own country. We studied the parable of the landowner, who planned to build
new barns to store his wealth, but died before he could do so (Lk 12 v13-21),
and thought about what we want and what riches God wants us We examined the story of the "Persistent Widow" (Lk 18 v1-8) by enactments of modern parallels in Radlett and in Blakenall Heath - Radlett based on an (imaginary) dispute over a planning application, and Blakenall Heath on the true example of the community's search for a Community Health Centre in which the Local Authority told the community to find a site, then raised objections to every suggestion, and finally, when a site that was feasible was identified, said that in any case there was no money for the project….
After lunch, and a short musical interlude, where Leao taught us two Brazilian songs, which he accompanied on his guitar, Sue explained to us what the Jubilee 2000 petition had achieved. In Uganda, debt forgiveness has resulted in the Government being able to devote much greater resources to education and health care. As a result, many children are now in schools who otherwise would not be. On average, 150 postcards sent to the Chancellor put one additional classroom in a school in Uganda! Because the foreign debt of Brazil is to commercial lenders, rather than governments, it has not benefited from Jubilee 2000. But it has similar problems. While it is rich in natural resources, the disastrous economic policies of the military junta, which ruled from 1964 to 1985, have left the country with a vast commercial debt. We then discussed what we could do in Blakenall Heath and in Radlett to respond to this need. In Radlett we need to do more to tell other people d about Christian Aid, encouraging more people to become Christian Aid collectors - at present we cannot cover every street in Radlett. We also need more people to join the One World Committee, to work actively to raise awareness of issues of poverty and injustice. As St James wrote: "Faith, by itself, unaccompanied by action, is dead." (James Ch2 v 17) Some people attack Christian Aid because they say it is too politically involved. Other people say that these complex problems are best left to Governments. Yet other people say that this does not work because governments are often corrupt. At the end of the day, surely, all have a role. Charities can do things that governments either cannot do, or are bad at, and tell people about issues when local agencies fail to, or suppress information. Honest government is needed to achieve justice and prosperity. And commercial organisations, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Trade Organisation have important roles - and need to be scrutinised, and criticised, as well as encouraged to act justly. Our congregations include many people whose work gives them power and influence in finance, commerce and government administration. Exercising this power in a Christian way is one of their responsibilities. But we all have a duty to inform ourselves and to respond in whatever way we can. By our actions, we can make a difference. |
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Then we heard from Leao about the struggles of landless
peasants in Brazil, where half the land is owned by 2% of the population. A
particular example was Zaires, who Leao had visited in April. He had been helped
by the Landless Rural Workers' Movement (MST), which is supported by the
Catholic Pastoral Land Commission, Protestant Pastorals and Christian Aid. MST
brought together 40 families like Zaires' and established the "Nova
Esperanca" tea growing cooperative on unfarmed wasteland. The cooperative
has basic health care, sanitation and education. The picture shows Zaires in
front of the house he was building. Now he has finished it! The tea is sold to Europe
through fair trade schemes. MST is also campaigning for Government Land Reform,
to release land to people who want to cultivate it. The World Bank has a
different solution - to give the Brazilian Government money to buy the land from
the present owners. Leao described visiting the Cooperative in April with
catholic priests, for the blessing of the new houses. Leao pointed out that in
Brazil, support of and ministry to the poor is a fundamental part of the
Christian message of Salvation.