What would you do with £50

Last Sunday we were looking at our response to Global Poverty. One of the things that we said, as mentioned in my last post, was that most of us, if not all of us, in church last week come in the top few percent of the global rich list whilst there are billions of people who live on about £1 a day. It is therefore a logical conclusion, given that the world's resources are finite, that those of us at the top of the pile are going to have to get used to living with less, if those at the bottom of the pile are going to have a fair share.

And it is up to each of us to work out what this more simple lifestyle might look like for us. We know, for example, that the world cannot sustain a population who want to eat meat every day. So, whilst you may not want to make the total switch to becoming vegan or vegetarian (immediately) - how about giving up meat for five days a week? With recipes like butternut squash risotto, vegetarian pilau rice, and mixed bean curry you won't miss your meat, you'll feel more healthy, and you'll save money.



Yesterday evening I went to a very interesting session on Love Food Hate Waste, which although presented from an environmental view point ties in with the idea of being good stewards of what God has given us. The campaign itself has shifted its emphasis from the environmental - we can't keep throwing food into landfill - to the financial - the average household throws away about £50 worth of edible food every month. This waste is due to a number of factors such as:

• not understanding the difference between sell by, use by, best before dates etc, 
• not planning properly, so having food going off in the back of the fridge, 
• not storing food properly (e.g. not freezing left overs which could be used in a few week's time),
• cooking too much,
• not making use of leftovers.

And it is not all the fault of the supermarkets and restaurants. Family households throw away the largest percentage of food waste. The problem is at the back of my fridge and your cupboards!

The organisation has a really good website with lots of useful tips and ideas addressing each of the above factors and more - click on the green logo above. Let's become even better stewards of what we have, and stop throwing away perfectly good food. If nothing else motivates you - just think what you could do with the extra cash!

Responding to Global Poverty

If you look at the flag counter at the side of this blog you will see that it gets read in many different places - and depending on where you are reading, and your particular context in that place - you may have a very different perspective on the issue of Global Poverty. Although statistics can be used to prove almost anything they can be a useful tool. On Sunday we looked at some statistics on global poverty. Statistics like the richest 20% of the world's population receive 75% of the world's income whilst the poorest 40% get only 5%. Like statistics that show that most, if not all of the people sat in our church on Sunday were probably in the top 5% in a global rich list. We are not a particularly wealthy church, a lot of people are really feeling the squeeze in the current economic climate, some people are concerned for their jobs - just an average church really, full of normal people... but about half the people in the world live on less than £1.30 a day; just over 1.1 billion people live on less than 65 pence a day...and in that context however poor and powerless we may feel, the global reality is that there are billions of people who have so much less.

But how do we respond to such need? Often we do nothing. Sometimes we doing something, but have a nagging feeling that it wasn't enough. We text 'donate' to some cause or other in response to some disaster or other - sending £5 of aid shooting across the world, and then we get on with our evening meal within the comfort of our own home. Sometimes it just doesn't seem right.

However we practically respond as a Christian our motive needs to be love and compassion - not guilt, or because we feel we should etc. We respond because we want to. Jesus saw needs and felt compassion and then did something. And so if we are growing as a disciple we will want to respond out of love and compassion for those in need.

We also need to recognise that we can't do everything - we can't change the whole world, but we can make a real difference for one person or one community. Therefore I think we need to understand what the need is that God has put on our heart. Are you passionate about Fairtrade, or a primary school is Uganda, or a project for the blind in Brazil? Is Tearfund your thing? Or Christan Aid? Or BMS? But whatever it is I think we need to be passionate about that thing: that means giving, praying, raising awareness, writing to your MP, sometimes it even means going. But it must not be something that we forget about - a flash in the pan. We need to see it through to completion, whilst recognising that the person sat next to us in church might be passionate about something else and therefore can't give their time etc. to 'your cause'.

We also need to appreciate that we are only able to give out of what we have, and not out of what we don't have. If I had £1 million I could do a great deal of good - but I don't. But what about what I do have? And not just in terms of the money in my wallet. Can I use my interests and hobbies in a creative way to raise awareness or money?

Come back in a couple of days to read about the £7 challenge.

How do I find God's will for my life?

A couple of weeks ago at church we looked at the question of making decisions and the will of God. Although there are always going to be exceptions I expect that most Christians believe that part of what it means to be a Christian is that you want to do what God wants - even if we don't always agree on what that is.

So if we want to do what God wants it is necessary to find out what that looks like - not just in a general sense, such as the kind of character we should develop (love, joy, peace, patience...), but also in the sense of what to do with my life, where to live, who to marry etc etc. And I expect that that is where many of us get stuck - because although there are passages in the Bible (such as 2 Samuel 5) where God seems to direct people very specifically and clearly - our experience is often not so specific or clear.

So how does God guide us? I think that there are broadly speaking, four ways in which Christians think about God's guidance.

1) God has a plan for my life (Destination A) and therefore for every decision I take there is a right and a wrong option - if I make a wrong choice at some point this will result in having to move to Plan B - and missing out on the best God has for my life.

2) God has a plan for my life (Destination A) but if I make a mistake God is able to work things out so that I can get back on track and still reach 'A', although it might take a little longer.

3) God has a plan for my life (Destination A) but at a series of points along my life's journey God presents me with a variety of options - all of which are acceptable to God and all of which will still lead to destination A.

4) God has a plan for my life but there are a number of final destinations that are equally acceptable to God, depending on what choices I make at various points in life.

[What (4) is not saying is that we can do whatever we like and make whatever choices we like. It is also allowing that there will be some decisions we face where there is clearly a 'right' choice, in terms of the will of God.]

I'm sure that many of us would like to know exactly what God would have us do - because it takes the responsibility and pressure off us to make a decision. We pray - God tells us.

Romans 12:2, and other verses, makes it clear that doing the right thing comes out of a life that is lived the right way. It follows from having a mind that has been transformed in the way you think about everything - and that transformation comes about through spiritual disciplines such as time in prayer and Bible study - things we find hard to maintain. So there really are no easy answers...

But when we are facing difficult decisions (whether to do X or not) here are a few points to help us determine what God might be saying:

• Have I prayed that God will show me his will?
• Does the Bible allow/forbid me to do X?
• If I do X will God be glorified?
• Will doing X allow me to grow spiritually - or will it hinder my spiritual growth?
• Do I really want to do what God wants?
• Have I spoken to some mature, wise Christians, who I trust?
• Has God given me a peace about doing X?
• Am I trusting God?

Why Christians should not wear polyester

Between now and Christmas we're going to be looking at a range of issues/topics/questions on Sunday mornings that people have raised and expressed an interest in. Some of these issues come out of our Bible reading - such as The End Times; others come out of our daily lives - such as Work or Relationships (two separate topics - not a choice that has to be made!)

Because we are going to be tackling these questions from a Christian perspective we are going to be using the Bible - but that raises a whole range of other questions.

It is not simply a case of reading the Bible and doing what it says. Because there are some things in the Bible that we do obey - such as the command not to lie or steal in Leviticus 19. But there are other things that we are largely agreed on no longer apply - such as the command not to wear clothes made of two different types of material, which is also in Leviticus 19. But who gets to say what things apply and what things don't? When do we allow growing trends within society to challenge an 'out-of-date' teaching - such as slavery or the role of women in the church?

And how/what do we think about the Bible? What kind of book is it? What do we mean when we say that the Bible has authority?

I don't think we read the Bible in order to find verses to give easy answers to the questions we wrestle with. Rather we immerse ourselves in the story about God, in order that we encounter God in the story, and through engaging with that story, we learn how to live in the present - in a way that is innovative and yet consistent with what we find there.

Our first topic, for next week, is Decision Making and the Will of God.

That was lucky

Last Sunday we held our annual church picnic, and due to some unseasonably wet weather this had to be held indoors. Earlier in the morning we had looked at three of the picnics/packed lunches that we read of in the Bible.

In Ruth chapter 2, Ruth has gone out into the area around Bethlehem, to find a field where she will be able to tag along after the harvesters and pick up any left over grain, in order that she might make some food for herself and her mother-in-law Naomi. At this point in the story Naomi and Ruth have nothing - and Naomi is of the view that even God has turned against them.

And yet the narrator of the story alerts us to the possibility of better days ahead by introducing the reader to Boaz, who is a relative of Naomi. And in Ruth 2:3 we read that Ruth ends up working in a field that just happens to belong to Boaz. Some people might want to translate this verse something like: ...luckily for Ruth... or ...by chance... And as the story unfolds Boaz invites Ruth to join his workers and to share their packed lunch - and then to cut to the end of story (SPOILER ALERT!) Ruth and Boaz get married, and will then become the great grandparents of King David.

Clearly this was not a chance encounter, it was not simply lucky, it was not a coincidence. Here we see God working in the background to provide and care for Naomi and Ruth. Here we see God working out his plans and purposes for Ruth and Naomi - even though everything seemed hopeless.