The EGR Volunteers

By John Hammock

Today my thoughts go to the EGR volunteers here at Convention—and all over the country—that have been so tireless in their work to promote the MDGs. It is a testament to their faith and their commitment to the Gospel. It is the volunteers who have led the charge in getting the 0.7% reinstated into the Church budget. It is impossible to name all the people who have contributed to this team effort. But we have had folks working the booth, selling t-shirts and passing out literature on the MDGs and EGR. We have had people testifying for the EGR supported resolutions; we have had volunteers handing out leaflets to delegates as they enter Convention to remind them of tonight’s U2charist. And we have had our EGR members and Board members as delegates working tirelessly to get specific legislation approved.

Today I want to spend a moment reflecting on the volunteer work of the EGR Board. We have a Board meeting today. It will be a short meeting where we welcome Devon Anderson as our new Executive Director. It is hard to believe that we have made a transition of Directors right in the time leading up to Convention! Devon has been front and center in the legislative EGR work at Convention—as has been Ian Douglas and Jeffrey Rowthorn. Dahn Gandell, in addition to being a Delegate to Convention has been tireless in organizing the work at the EGR booth and the U2Charist. Her energy and drive put together much of the EGR presence at Convention—very much helped by Debbie Shew, who spent countless hours at the booth with me day after day. For the first week of Convention we were joined in the booth by Arington Chambliss and in the last few days we have been joined by Board member Gary Cartwright. Yesterday Craig Cole joined us, though he is looking after the Five Talents booth also. And Laura Smith has been in and out—letting us know about what has transpired. Truly the Board members at Convention have been involved—given their time and talents to the EGR work.

I focus on the Board because this is an active board—one that takes time to work on the real issues. As Board Chair it is a pleasure to work with these committed individuals. And here at Convention we see directly the passion of our other volunteers—folks who make all the work possible. I cannot thank everyone by name, though in my next blog I want to single out several of the volunteers that have been so helpful.

With our wonderful booth and our legislative presence, some people may think that we have a large paid staff and a large budget. Neither is true. We have a staff of one and a half and a budget that is about $150,000 a year—for all that we do. And our Board is committed to keeping this a volunteer organization—building a movement for social change and personal transformation. With the help of all our volunteers, the Episcopal Church (TEC) has recommitted itself to the MDGs. Thanks be to God.

Not Just Another Day

We have a big day today. First let me thank you all AGAIN for your fabulous legislative work -- despite the slashing of the budget ($23 million) -- MDGs came out clear and strong. This is a direct result from all of you who showed up and spoke at hearings, as well as everyone out there praying and advocating from a distance. THANK YOU.

We said good-bye yesterday to Jason Long who volunteered all last week for EGR and said hello to our own Mike Kinman. God is good.

Tonight: U2charist--Dahn suggested making the time a bit later for the service with which I wholeheartedly agree. It's Dahn's call. Stay tuned. We'll keep you updated!

Short and sweet--but filled with HUGE gratitude.

Devon

Today is BUDGET DAY

Good morning EGR friends!

Well, today is the day--the budget for 2010-2012 will be revealed to both the House of Deputies and bishops today at 2:30 pm by the Program, Budget and Finance Committee. If you haven't sat in the visitor's gallery at the House of Deputies, today would be an excellent time.

The U2charist flyers are ready to be passed out--again, can I tell you how awesome they look!?! Folks willing to help pass out U2charist flyers to deputies as the come into the convention center this morning please meet Tim and Debbie outside at 8:45 am. We will meet again tomorrow--so tell your friends that are in Anaheim, we would love to have a bunch of people helping. We are still looking for a few extra friends to help at the U2charist itself, stop over to the booth--again, easy work--HUGE impact.

KEEP THE FAITH and keep praying that despite the fact that PB&F had to strip $9 million from the triennium budget, that MDGs prevailed.

See you today in the booth at lunch time.

The view from the Booth

EGR has unveiled a Crabby for Change project--asking people to give up coffee and/or smoking and give the money they save to EGR. As you can see here, the attractive poster of the new campaign has a big crab on it. So, there we were, in the booth, and along comes a priest from Maryland who wants several copies of the poster--not because of the campaign itself, but because of the crab.

He showed me why: his unique business card has a crab on it. Distinctive, so very Maryland--a true crab for change fellow.

On a more serious note a doctor stopped by today. He told the story of a woman in Malawi who was ready to die. She had HIV/AIDS and no medicine. She had to be on a waiting list. The doctor mentioned this to a friend who then gave the small amount of money to tide her over to get the medicine. A year later she is fine, living a normal life. Her son has a mother and is not an orphan.

This is what this whole thing is all about: What one person can do--save a life and family.

Don't forget: The "Virtual Booth" is open!

The 'Virtual Booth' is up.
Daily podcasts, news, and more.

Check it out if you haven't already.






And if you haven't seen it yet--there is a great article by Jerald Hyche up on Episcopal Life Online.
Check it out!

Bishop Jim Adams of Western Kansas said he agreed, but expressed concern for those churches that might not be able to keep up.

"This really caught the imagination of many of my small churches in Western Kansas," Adams said. "They really got behind it and they put that .7 percent in their budgets. They won't be able to do 1 percent. They barely did .7. And they're going to feel like they failed somehow.

An incredible (not quite) first day!

General Convention has not even officially opened yet--but you would hardly be able to tell by the energy and passion heard in today's PB&F Hearing. If you have not had the chance to see the video--check it out here. It is quite a range of voices all standing up giving witness to the world's most poor and vulnerable, and our commitment as a church to the ongoing work with the MDGs. Additionally, this was an exciting and historic witness as it was the beginning of a coalition forming with EGR, ERD and ECW.

A few highlights of testimony for you today, here reprinted with permission not only to share--but for you to please continue to share. PLEASE, share our words with everyone who has ears to hear.

From Kay Meyers, President of the Episcopal Church Women

Episcopal Church Women have been doing and living into the Millennium Development goals since our very inception with the beginning of the domestic and Foreign Missionary Society and the Women's Auxiliary. We have expanded our hearts and minds through participating in recent years in the United Nations Committee on the Status of Women and beginning to attack the cessation of Human Trafficking and Genital Mutilation and other horrifying atrocities.

We are the largest network in the church representing thousands of women in the pews on every level of the church. Our national budget comes mostly from them and 17% of it currently goes to meet the MDGs. AND on top of that, they individually and in parishes, dioceses, convocations and deaneries and provinces give far more in money as well as in time, prayer and energy. We are working toward 0.7% line-item for each entity within the network.

And Devon Anderson, Executive Director of EGR

On behalf of Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation I am standing in solidarity with Episcopal Relief and Development and the Episcopal Church Women to advocate for the top priority of global mission and the MDGs.

There is a great saying of which I am fond: Never waste a crisis. We are feeling the constraints of the global economic crisis on every level of the church. And no one is exempt from having to make heart-wrenching choices. But we also have an opportunity to define ourselves as Christians in the midst of that crisis. We have before us nothing less than a defining moment.

The MDGs have been our #1 budget and programmatic priority for the past triennium. Your leadership in 2006 was the spark that literally set the church on fire. We have started to build momentum. We have started to learn how to translate national goals to local action. Because of this momentum, we should make every sacrifice to invest in building on this initial foundation and sharing this learning for other mission imperatives.

We need your leadership again to model that despite every reason not to, despite every competing interest – it is time to recommit to the poorest of humanity and to keep going at full throttle, and not back away. For these reasons I am asking that MDGs be designated a priority among priorities for the triennial budget.

Thank you.

An Inspiring Word to Begin General Convention 2009

Well, the hours are clicking away, the booth is coming together (further than what you see here!) and the team is so excited as we move towards the beginning of the 76th General Convention of the Episcopal Church.

In preparation--the prayers are ascending, and we are re-reminding ourselves of why we are doing what we are doing. So with that, we'd like to share with you this sermon, from Sabina Alkire. She is currently the director of the Oxford Policy and Human Development Initiative at Oxford University. Her publications include Valuing Freedoms: Sen’s Capability Approach and Poverty Reduction, as well as articles in philosophy and economics.

We hope you enjoy her words as much as we have, and may they help you remember why we do what we do. And THANK YOU, for what YOU are doing.

In the late 4^th century, Basil preached three powerful homilies aimed at stirring his Caesarean congregation to share with the starving, not simply as a gesture of kindness but as a straightforward Christian obligation. Indeed he took a year out himself to work in a refuge with the poor. Why? The context had changed, and in a time of famine and drought, Christians had to respond – not out of guilt, but out of unfeigned love.

Every year, the international financial institutions produce a bureaucratic statistical report monitoring progress on the Millennium Development Goals or MDGs – a set of goals to reduce hunger, put children in school, improve the health of children and mothers, address key diseases such as HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis, provide clean water and sanitation, etc by 2015. It is produced by analysts for whom poverty is not shocking – rather it is their professional speciality. But this year, the cover of the report shows darkening shadows and turbulent boiling clouds. The title is blunt, and not quite so professional. Written in red on a black background, it reads: 2009: A Development Emergency.

Poor people concur with this bureaucratic report. Kevina, a 60-year old woman farmer in Uganda, said, Poverty is a cruel wild animal. If you doze, it eats you up. So people are not sleeping...

On the start of Christian Aid week I would like to talk with you about global poverty and how, as it is evolving, we are invited to respond differently this year – not out of guilt, but because we are people of love.

Imagine for a moment that all of us in this chapel represented the globe. If you were to look around you, you would notice that one in five of us earned less than 83 pence per day, which is the new $1.25 a day poverty line. One in six of us – perhaps an entire section – was malnourished. But as you were looking around, you would notice a long line of people waiting to be re-seated in the poorest section. In terms of actual numbers, the line would contain at least every single inhabitant of England and Wales – and perhaps also Scotland, Ireland and half of Spain – waiting to be seated in the poorest pews.

Where did this queue come from? Poor people’s sloth? No, our financial crisis. A bit of background may be in order.

In 2005, the UK had a ‘make poverty history’ campaign to instigate actions that sharply reduce hunger, illiteracy, extreme poverty, malaria, tuberculosis, aids, and the proportion of child and maternal deaths. Here in the UK, the post offices stocked a ‘rough guide to a better world’ to share how each person could lend their strength to this common goal. Tremendous progress was made – although not at the hoped-for pace. Instead of giving up, in 2007 and 2008, in the face of the fuel and food crises, leaders, including the UK urged for a redoubling of commitment.

In September 2008, crisis struck. The 1929 crash had reduced global inequality. Of course it touched the poor, but it struck the rich countries, and the rich within those countries most. In contrast, insofar as we can tell, the current crisis is not hitting the richest the most.

Neither is it hitting the naughtiest the most. Due to our interconnectedness, countries that had sound policies are now in recession. And while opinions are divided about which individuals bear most responsibility, all candidate culprits share one characteristic: they are wealthy and likely to remain so.

If the crisis is not mainly striking the rich or the naughty, who is affected? People like me watch the numbers – we wait for new poverty numbers to come out each year, praying for progress. Dark clouds are unmistakable. In 2007 854 million people were hungry; by September the number will climb past 1 billion for the first time ever. And according to recent estimates 55 to 90 million people will fall into extreme poverty this year – hence the image of the queue for re-seating in chapel.

So we have a situation in which actions by a small number of elite are resulting in tragedy, poverty and the associated human pain for others. This might be considered a situation of injustice. From the darkened clouds come hoarse grumbles of the prophets.

Further, because of a natural concern with poverty in their home countries, many citizens, churches, philanthropists, and governments are reducing their support for global poverty reduction abroad. Even those such as Sweden who are maintaining the same percentage will give less, because their national income is falling.

So in a nutshell the arc of poverty is widening, and given shrinking responses, will widen further. It is this that causes even a secular bureaucratic report on poverty to be tinged with dread, even alarm. And this is why I ask you to take Christian Aid week this year particularly seriously.

An Episcopalian church movement that supports spiritual renewal and commitment to global poverty reduction calls the present financial crisis ‘God’s defining moment’. But that is not exactly right. God already has defined God’s purpose. Particular aspects of the missio dei or mission of God to humanity do not seem a great mystery. Jesus’ very name, his true essence, means the Jehovah of salvation. And God is drawing all people to fullness of life – to salvation. This includes attending to people’s physical nourishment, health, and understanding as well as loving relationships, vocation, holiness, and prayer.

No – it is not God for whom this financial crisis and the development emergency is the defining moment. It is the Church. And that is you and me, and this our Chapel, and the Anglican leaders gathered in Jamaica who generate email messages with many words. God has defined God’s mission; God is already out there, out there in the queues, among those who have been poor for decades and with those who will tomorrow endure a fast less voluntary than Bono’s, with those whose faith and prayer are stronger than ours, who are being purified and strengthened. It is this active God in whom we are called to abide as branches on a vine, as people of love – each in different ways. It is a defining moment for us because our own identity will be chiselled by how we respond to an evolving situation not of our making, and whether we join the God who is already responding.

The reading from 1 John began with this sentence: Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. The sentence is beautiful and it is forceful. It is worth pausing to reflect how we do this. Yet in the epistle of St John, the sentence also responds to a question, posed in the verse that directly preceded it: How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?

How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help? … The implication is, it doesn’t. Rather we must love in truth and action. Given the changed context, we must love the distant poor, the silent poor among whom God walks, as well as those in our towns and streets.

There are many ways to give and many important debates about what are the best ways which we could discuss over lunch. But any giving boils down to giving time– be this in prayer, volunteering, or one day through your own professional work – or giving money. I heartily commend both. People say that money is not the answer, and I fully agree. But no one says that money is the answer. Money can be spent in many ways. It mainly pays people who do have the time, vocation, skills, attentiveness, and energy to attend to a particular situation full time. We will vary greatly in how we will prefer to give of time and money – some prefer local charities, others campaigns – but the point is to try to abide in God, and join our efforts to what God is already doing.

Magdalen traditionally has been the biggest supporter of Christian Aid - and is active on these issues in many other ways. We are not like Dives, who ignored Lazarus at his Gate. We are not, to quote Martin Luther King, “Conscientious objectors in the war against poverty.”¹ How, this year, will we respond to the poor by abiding in God, and in doing so renew our church?

When I was a student here, I was not very good at dinnertime banter – a trait which continues. On some occasion I was seated next to Tony Smith, then president of Magdalen. This was not a good situation. At all. Being a sacristan I tried to ignite a conversation, with some hint of desperation, using some vague and incoherent enquiry like what his hopes for the Chapel community were. To my greatest relief, he answered with clarity and conviction. He said something like, ‘I wish that they would stand up on the tables in hall [I’m sure about the tables bit], and say how privileged we are, and incite action.’

During Christian Aid week, the chapel community are invited to take some new action in our own small ways – all through prayer, some through donations, some through volunteering, and perhaps even some through standing on tables. Little children, let us love in truth and action.

Re-Commit to 0.7%

Dear EGR Board Members, Deputy Friends, and EGR Leadership:



The 76th General Convention will be a defining moment for the Episcopal Church. In it we can recommit ourselves as a church to the MDGs. We will have the opportunity to choose to deepen our partnership with the world's bottom billion-those that live on less than a dollar a day-or we can choose to back away from them.


At General Convention we can reaffirm, with renewed resolve, the promises we have made as a church to the world's poorest people. Simply, we can lead this effort anew, calling on all dioceses, congregations and individuals to stand with us. Despite progress we have made, we are not finished.

The world needs us--actually, YOU--more than ever.

EGR is embracing General Convention's opportunity with anticipation and joyfulness. Please join with us, inviting our church to face this moment with courage and confidence in the abundance of God.

Put MDGs back in the budget-and back in our hearts

Recommit

Although the MDGs have been our church's number one budget and programmatic priority since 2006, the draft budget coming to General Convention actually cut the MDGs line item. Our highest legislative priority is to reinstate the 0.7% line item for MDGs in the budget for the Episcopal Church. More than this, EGR proposes that this line item be increased to 1% as a cost-of-giving adjustment. EGR will work to reinstate the MGDs line item through two venues: the budget process and resolution D019.

Two other priorities are to:

1. Encourage all levels of our church to address the global economic crisis by dedicating Lent 2010 to prayer, study and action on the MDGs (D018).

2. Establish the first Sunday in Lent as ERD Sunday (A178).

You can view all these resolutions here: http://gc2009.org/ViewLegislation/

Please help! Give your heart to this mission through some simple actions.

Contact your diocesan deputation TODAY!

* Get their commitments to support these initiatives through their votes and testimonies.
* Ask members of your diocesan MDG network and other justice networks contact deputies, too.
* Let us know you've contacted your diocesan deputation and networks. Contact us at e4gred@gmail.com so we can continue to build on your work.

Testify on behalf of the MDGs at General Convention!

* EGR will provide talking points, testifying tips, and connections to our two EGR Legislative Coordinators: Tim Baer and Debbie Shew. We'll also save you a place in line!
* Hearings will be held in several committees, including the Program, Budget and Finance Committee, which sets the budget.
* If you will testify with us, please contact Tim Baer, our EGR Legislation Coordinator at: tbaer@gmail.com. He'll answer questions and provide everything you need.

Follow us on EGR's General Convention Virtual Booth

* We are re-launching our Web site - www.e4gr.org - very soon. For the duration of General Convention it will be known as the "Virtual Booth." Though this site you will be easily linked to ERGs presence at General Convention.
* There you will find easy links to stay up to date on news and events through the blog, Facebook page, and Twitter.
* Participate in the new campaign "I'm Crabby for the MDGs", play virtual Bishop Bingo, or view a noonday speaker.

With your help, we can make a bold and prophetic statement to live the Gospel faithfully through the MDGs, even in this current economic climate when making faithful choices seems to cost us the most. But the bottom billion need us and we have promised them-we have promised God. Thank you for your help in this good and necessary work.


Faithfully, and in God's abundance,

Rev. Devon Anderson, Executive Director
Episcopalians for Global Reconcilliation
email: e4gred@gmail.com
web: http://www.e4gr.org

"This morning's GOE question -- how would you answer it?"

This morning's open-resource question for the General Ordination Exams asks to choose a MDG ...

1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger .
2. Achieve universal primary education.
3. Promote gender equality and empower women.
4. Reduce child mortality.
5. Improve maternal health.
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.
7. Ensure environmental sustainability
8. Create a global partnership for development with targets for aid, trade and debt relief.

and give the biblical and theological foundations for addressing it ... as well as to talk about the
contributions TEC can make toward it and what political, economic, and cultural factors need to be taken into account at the parish and the diocesan levels?

-----------

Be sure and check out this page from the EGR website and also the links above to all the individual MDG pages.

For an excellent exposition of how the MDGs are a natural 21st century incarnation of the mission trajectory of the church, click here and read the Rev. Dr. Ian Douglas' excellent piece Why Should We As Christians Care About the MDGs.

How would you answer this question?

"Our Moonshot" -- by Elaine Thomas

There are two seemingly disparate strands running through my mind these days, but I think some sort of connection is actually there. The first thought is of my niece, Suzannah, who recently returned from a two-year stint as a Peace Corps volunteer in Niger. She primarily worked with the women on health and economic empowerment. In this heavily Muslim country, empowerment of women is a daunting, if not impossible, task. In her first months in Niger, Suzannah was convinced that she would never learn to speak or understand Hausa yet is fluent upon leaving the country. Her genuine compassion and concern for the women of her village is just what the impoverished countries of sub-Saharan Africa need. Not someone to tell them what to do but just to be there, helping connect them with resources they need to climb out of the poverty trap.

However, Suzannah will not be going back to Africa. There was a time when she was pretty convinced that she would go into international development work as her parents had before her. But now, she says she’ll probably stay in the States, devoting herself to women’s issues here.

What happened? Why the change of heart? Shortly after her return to the US, she met up with a woman who had served in Niger twenty years ago. Although they were in different villages, as they compared notes it dawned on Suzannah that the things she was doing and the issues the people of Niger face have not changed in those twenty years. Aid organizations might as well have saved their time, money and energy for all the results they produced. Disheartened, this good and talented young woman will not return to the continent that so desperately needs people just like her.


The other thought occupying my mind? The video from the village of Kogelo, Kenya, Barack Obama’s ancestral home, on the eve of his election as President of the United States. The unbridled joy of these people that one of their own could ascend to the most powerful position on the face of the earth was thrilling to witness. As media reports poured in from around the world, it was abundantly clear that the American voters sent a very clear message to the world about the kind of country we are and intend to be, reclaiming our role as the land where tired, poor and huddled masses are welcome and as a symbol of justice and liberty throughout the world. The hope right now is palpable.

So I think that I can connect the two strands of thought. Where once things did not change or improve, maybe, just maybe things might be different. Maybe, just maybe, the new administration will live out its promises to support the MDGs with full financial commitment, not just words. Maybe, just maybe, we can say to the people of Kogelo, Kenya or Konni, Niger that we share a common humanity and live out those words in action. It’s clear that much of the development money of the past has not been utilized appropriately or effectively. That doesn’t mean that we stop trying. Surely in this time of renewed hope, we can dedicate ourselves as a country to finally making a real difference in helping those in extreme poverty climb onto solid footing.

On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy issued his man-on-the-moon challenge:

I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth.

There are those who say we need to issue a similar challenge to address global climate change.

Well, I’d like to make another proposal.

I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the Millennium Development Goals, before this decade is out, assuring that every man, woman, and child on this planet has the resources and capabilities to be self-supporting, free of preventable disease, with access to education and economic opportunity.

Someone tell Mr. Obama.

"Keeping Promises: President-elect Obama and the MDGs"

Last night, we elected Barack Obama the 44th president of the United States. Early in the campaign, the ONE Campaign asked all the candidates in both parties to go "on the record" about what they would do about the Millennium Development Goals and making poverty history. Here, in his own words, is president-elect Obama's commitment.

Now it's up to us to remind him of it, to hold his feet to the fire to keep it, and to partner with him in it.

For video statements by president-elect Obama on the MDGs and global poverty go to the ONE blog here.

On the Millennium Development Goals
I’ll make the Millennium Development Goals American policy. By the end of my first term I expect to see progress to meeting the MDGs, including reducing by half the number of people living on less than a dollar a day and suffering from hunger, and reversing the number of new HIV infections and malaria cases.

On reversing the spread of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis:
I’ll double annual foreign assistance from $25b to $50b by 2012. I was a co-sponsor of the Lantos-Hyde Act that authorized $48 billion by 2013 for HIV/AIDS, malaria and TB. I support lifting the 33% cap on US contributions to the Global Fund, ensuring at least 4.5 million people are on ARV treatment by 2013, and preventing 12 million new infections.

On eradicating malaria:
I will support the goal of ending deaths from malaria by 2015 by building on the $1billion per year commitment to malaria in the recent PEPFAR reauthorization and dramatically expanding access to mosquito nets that for less than $6 will lower the risk of getting malaria and save lives. I will also expand access to ACTs - at the relatively inexpensive cost of $2 per dose - to treat people who get malaria.

On improving child and maternal health:
I will increase funding for child and maternal health and ensure that increases in other important areas - including HIV/AIDS - do not come at the expense of child health and survival programs. I will expand access to vaccinations, increase research into new vaccines, and expand access to reproductive health programs.

On achieving universal primary education:
Worldwide, an estimated 100 million children - including nearly 60 million girls - are not attending school. By 2010, getting these children into school could cost $10b annually. To meet our share of that sum, I look forward to signing the Education for All Act and will request the funding levels needed to carry it out.

On cutting in half the number of people without clean water or enough food:
More than 1b people lack access to clean water, and that number will increase with the impact of climate change. The US has an obligation to increase access to clean water and sanitation. Through increased funding of up to $1.3b annually and innovative programs like ‘play pumps,’ I will expand access to clean water and sanitation.

"Obama and McCain: Where They Stand" -- by Chris Scott from The One Campaign Blog

From the ONE Blog:

America.gov this week featured two articles outlining and detailing each US presidential candidate’s policies in regards to combating poverty and disease in Africa. Each article features a major campaign surrogate discussing his respective candidate’s plans—Howard Wolpe for Obama, Herman J. Cohen for McCain. Both are rather illuminating and definitely worth the read.

Excerpts below, full Obama piece here, full McCain piece here

A McCain administration would place even more emphasis on promoting private-sector economic development in Africa, Cohen said.

“The Millennium Challenge Corporation is very strong on private-sector [development], and I think you will see the United States Agency for International Development moving to finance even more private-sector activity to help even more Africans themselves become investors,” he predicted. “Now that Africa is becoming more open to the private sector, they need the infrastructure to make it work."

---

An Obama presidency will “greatly facilitate the diplomacy required to try to make some progress on these difficult issues,” such as the humanitarian crisis in the Darfur region of Sudan or the political situation in Zimbabwe.

In the long term, Wolpe said, the central challenge facing Africa is the building of cohesive states. An Obama administration would be particularly focused on helping Africans search for common ground and eliminate conflict across the continent, he predicted. “Unless you can tackle that issue, the prospects for long-term sustainable economic development will be constantly compromised,” he said.

Editor's note: Click here to download "On The Record" -- a one-page compilation of each candidate's exact words, "on the record" statements on the MDGs. Remember, when you vote on Nov. 4, the world's poorest are depending on you using your power to give them a chance.

"Eradicating Poverty: Let's Stop 'Plugging the Holes' So We Can Repair the Foundation " -- by the Rev. John Denson

On Sept. 25, as we highlighted the work we've done and the work left to go on the Millennium Development Goals, I pondered two crises.

The first was one most Americans were pondering: the failures of investment banks on Wall Street and the $700,000,000,000 federal government bailout. As with everyone, I am staggered by the immensity of the crisis and worried about the implications for both the present and the future. Will the bailout succeed? Who will suffer because resources dedicated to the bailout will not be available for those who live on the economic margins of our society?

The second crisis is much less immense, but no less troubling. Last month, I attended a meeting organized by a local New Hampshire state senator to discuss the heating oil crisis and what the state government was prepared to do to help citizens buy enough heating oil to keep their homes warm this winter. In 2007, the average grant given by the state government for fuel assistance was $633. While the hope is to give more this year because of the sharp increase in the price of oil, the reality is that the fuel assistance will not be nearly enough. The 2007 fuel assistance grant would provide approximately 25% of the oil needed to heat a home in 2008-2009. What are people supposed to for the remaining three-quarters of the winter?

As I ponder these crises I am struck by the realization that the responses to each do not really solve anything. Each response attempts to "plug a hole in the dam" but does nothing to repair the various cracks in the foundation that supports the dam and makes it strong. We are hoping to fix the symptoms while we avoid the underlying causes. If we continue this way, nothing will change.

The Episcopal Church dedicated Sept. 25 as a day of prayer, fasting, and witness for the end of poverty in our world. This call relates to the first of the Millennium Development Goals: eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. These goals were adopted in 2000 by the United Nations with the hope that they would be fulfilled by 2015. So, we're halfway there and all we're doing is plugging holes while we avoid the real changes that must be made.

In his book Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope* Brian McLaren compares the "four spiritual laws of theocapitalism" (money worship) with the four spiritual laws of the kingdom of God economy.

Without going into the details of the laws here, let me list some of the characteristics and qualities of theocapitalism (note, he is not indicting the corporations, but the "spiritual ideology" that drives our society):

* Progress is measured by rapid growth in the short-term. One must do everything possible to achieve the highest growth and increased productivity, whatever the cost.

* Happiness and serenity are found through possession and consumption. We need to own more. We need the latest and best product. We consume as much as possible and throw away the rest.

* Competition is good. Some are going to win and some are going to lose. So, make sure you win.

* Freedom to prosper is more important than accountability. There is no moral code here and no sense of responsibility to anyone other than ourselves.

Compare this with the characteristics and qualities of the "kingdom of God economy" advocated by Jesus:

* In place of economic growth, Jesus offers a new economy based on good deeds for the common good. We are called to a higher concern than ourselves. We are called to dedicate resources to the common good, especially to the needs of the poor and the marginalized. Sustainability is more important than growth. For a biblical example, see Luke 12:13-21.

* Happiness comes not through possession and consumption but through gratitude and sharing. Gratitude, McLaren writes, is "an act of defiant contemplation" because gratitude celebrates what you have, not what you don't have. If I am grateful for what I have, I don't need more to make myself happy. And once I'm happy with what I have, I can share it with others so that everyone receives a portion. For a biblical reference, see Mark 6:30-44.

* Salvation comes not through winning but through seeking justice. "Happy are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled," Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:6). The paradox here is that seeking justice for all, not winning the competition, will finally bring true prosperity to all. For a biblical reference, see Matthew 20:20-28.

* Freedom comes through collaboration, through the rich and the poor coming together to build community. As McLaren writes, for Jesus "both the rich and the poor need saving; one needs liberation from addictive wealth and the other, liberation from oppressive poverty. Part of the work of the kingdom of God is to turn them from their ideologies of exploitation and victimization to a vision of collaboration." For a biblical reference, see Luke 19:1-10.

If we are going to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger it is going to take much more than plugging holes to avert a crisis. It is going to take systemic change, change that begins with individuals and communities who choose to live with a different set of values. We need to see ourselves as sustainers instead of consumers, as collaborators instead of competitors, as sharers instead of hoarders, and as justice seekers instead of self-seekers. We need to work not simply for ourselves but for the common good. We need to answer Jesus' call to repent and live in the divine reality he calls the kingdom of God.

Will we make any real change if we do all of this? I don't know. All I know is that we have a responsibility to try.

The Rev. John Denson is an Episcopal priest in Exeter, New Hampshire. He wrote this piece for MDG blogging day on Sept. 25 and blogs regularly at "Living Faithfully in the 21st Century Village."

"Our Baptismal Promise: It's Not 'Politics as Usual!" -- by Elaine Thomas

We held an election in Pennsylvania yesterday. You may have heard something about it. The Democratic warriors trying to score the knockout blow against their opponent. At this writing, it would appear that the primary season is destined to continue. We’ll have the privilege of more weeks of hearing platitudes and promises that they occasionally might mean and perhaps might be able to deliver, though not likely in the grandiose forms in which they are now being presented. It’s all politics, and year after year I hold out hope for something real and genuine, as I do still, not quite hopelessly jaded to the process!

What would happen if you and I did not take our promises seriously, knowing that we might not really have to keep them in the end? If we could promise anything in return for something we desired, knowing that we might not really have to deliver? We’ve all made one big promise in our baptism – we signed on to a covenant, irrevocable and permanent. And even if you were an innocent and unaware infant, those promises made on your behalf are binding, and you renew them every time you witness a baptism yourself. I know a priest who, just prior to the renewal of the baptismal vows in the liturgy, invites anyone who might not be able to keep those promises to leave for that portion of the service lest they perjure themselves before God. Think about that the next time you promise to seek and serve Christ in all persons and strive for justice and peace among all people.

Have we kept our promise? I read in the paper this morning that the UN has reset the number of dead in Darfur at 300,000. Did we keep our promise to them? We observed the 39th Earth Day yesterday, yet continue to rely on fossil fuels to power our lifestyles and live in a disposable society. Have we kept our promise to the Earth? The number of people in sub-Saharan Africa living on less than a dollar a day has not lessened in the 8 years we’ve been working on the MDGs. Have we kept our promise to them?

Frederick Buechner once preached a sermon in which he imagined the characters in Shakespeare’s plays as oblivious and unaware of God’s presence as we seem so often to be. Juliet and Hamlet and Lady Macbeth know only the confines of the four or five acts of their universe and God in the great beyond is beyond comprehension. “If I go forward, he is not there; or backward, I cannot perceive him; on the left he hides, and I cannot behold him; I turn to the right but I cannot see him” (Job 23:8-9) And what if Shakespeare decided to enter the play, to break through the parchment into their limited reality and show his hand? Would that change the evil done to King Lear or prevent the tragedy of Hamlet? Would it make a difference?

Our God did, in fact, break into our existence in the person of Jesus. We did not receive a promise that we would never know pain or suffering or would have all the answers to all the questions. What we received was even better – I will be with you in all the joys and sorrows of your life; I will be with you always, even to the end of the age (Mt. 28:20). And we can do with that what we will, for good or ill. We can do nothing, seeking and serving only the devices and desires of our own hearts. Or we can be the hands and feet of the body of Christ, working to mend this torn creation, to heal the earth and feed the hungry and heal the sick.

And many of us have worked tirelessly to do just that. We have, to the best of our sometimes flat-footed ability, done our best to seek and serve Christ in all persons. And yes, the poor and hungry are still with us, just as Jesus said they would be. Does that mean that our efforts are for nothing? Do we throw up our hands in despair, give up, stop trying?

No, we don’t. We made a covenant. And when we make that covenant with God, we make it with all God’s people, as well. And because we do, lives are being saved because mosquito nets are available to millions of people who need them, sustainable agriculture is feeding those who have known nothing but a life of hunger, relief is provided to those whose homelands are destroyed by war and chaos, AIDS outcasts are brought into community. And all because we continue to say ‘yes’ to the promises we have made.

This isn’t politics as usual, my friends. This is where the rubber meets the road. And we don’t despair because we are people of hope who know that God can take the measly loaves and fish that we have to offer and work miracles. We simply have to be willing to bring them forward. So say it with me brothers and sisters: I will, with God’s help.

Elaine Thomas is a member of St. James in Lancaster, PA where she is a member of the Peace and Justice and Stewardship Committees. She is also the EGR and ERD Coordinator for the Diocese of Central Pennsylvania. Elaine works for Episcopal Community Services in Philadelphia, a social service agency whose mission is to help individuals and families with multiple needs overcome the impact of poverty.

"No Such Thing As Coincidences" -- by Carl Hooker

A couple of months ago I had coffee in St Louis with a man named Mike who is now a prayer partner and is also a fellow diocesan coordinator for EGR. We were discussing a spiritual path journey I wished to take and had been searching out for some time. In the process I discovered he and I shared our EGR involvement as well as he being a member in the order I was contemplating discerning. In that context, and obviously with much detail I am leaving out here, he said to me, "there are no such things as coincidences".

I am something of a news junkie. My Firefox browser 'home page' opens tabs for CNN, the New York Times, Reuters, Episcopal Life and of course the EGR Blog. I read these sites after I finish my morning ritual for the online economics classes I teach. I also read while eating my breakfast and lunch in my office, 5 days a week and a bit less but also on Saturday. I tend to ignore the Internet world on Sunday. I print the ones that fascinate me to pdf format and then file them away in my documents database on my Mac (DevonThink is the name, sorry no Windows version). Why do I save these things? It is not like I am ever going to read them all again. I do write an occasional paper, and now a regular blog piece, so maybe they will survive; it is not like digital space is as precious as the shelves for my books, and surely I am not killing trees to print them, this must be a good thing.

I imagine sometimes that in 10 or 12 years when one of my grandchildren has an assignment for school and I get hit up for some insight I will readily be able to pull Obama's speech on race from a week or so ago, or better yet link them up with the video. So when I come across a piece like this one from Reuters, I also pdf print it, file it and then think about it. Go ahead and read it, I will wait.....

So what am I to do with this new-found knowledge? 4% of Americans donate to political races apparently, to the tune of $1 billion so far for the presidential cycle. Several African countries have a lower GDP than $1 billion and maybe a portion of the political money could have been spent on a more noteworthy and humanitarian endeavor. Wow, that is a lot of guilt to carry around. I tell you what I am going to do about it, I am going to somehow rant about it, point out the injustice and get a little worked up.

So I do all that, formulate what I want to say, commit it to the screen in my Google Documents pages, save and close. Open it up later to proofread and realize..... I have not made any contributions to any of the candidates at this point, but neither have I sent any money to help work the MDG's this year. I feel a lot more guilt about the latter than the former, but I am taken down a few pegs. It has to be one of these common reasons I keep telling myself as I make a list:

• I just have not had time to write the check.

• Maybe I can blame it on the wide number of potential locations for the donation, I mean hello, there are tons of places I could send a check to that will put it to good use, so many to choose from, which one(s)?

• Maybe I can blame the economy, we are after all in a recession (I am an economist - trust me; if it walks like a recession and quacks like a recession, then it probably is a recession) =;>)

• I just do not have the resources right now.

So I spend all this time thinking first about the huge waste of money for one thing and not enough for the other, my head spins several times before I finally get quiet enough to hear God. You see I am putting my socks on the other morning and since that is such an automatic thing at my age my mind is clear and I hear in my mind, "rebate check". It takes me about 2 seconds to figure out the "voice" means I should do something with my upcoming rebate check. No more reason to put it off, no more excuses, done deal. And to think I started off by evaluating the article based on the abuses of politics and ended up seeing the proverbial three fingers that were pointing back at me. Don't you just hate it when that happens? You climb up on a great old soapbox, ready to preach the vileness and corruption of sin you see all around you and humility creeps in while you are putting on your socks. So I delete key what used to be on the screen and write this.

Afterthought.
My current understanding is that about $167 billion will be sent out in rebate checks, 0.7% is $1.2 billion, probably roughly equal to the amount that will have been spent on the campaigns by the time the rebate checks have all been dispersed. Mike was right, "there are no such things as coincidences".

Editor's Note: -- EGR is right there with you, Carl. Look this week for the launching of our Give It For Good Campaign ... a movement to take your economic stimulus check and choose compassion over consumption. There are different levels of commitment so everyone can participate -- even if you really need the check to put food on your table. Give It For Good is still gearing up, but you can see the "work in progress" home page and even take the Give It For Good pledge before the official launch date of April 2.

Choose compassion over consumption. Take your stimulus check and Give It For Good.

Carl Hooker is an economist employed in an academic healthcare system. He is an EGR diocese coordinator in the Diocese of Missouri and currently studies in the diocesan school for ministry.

"What One Congregation Can Do" -- by Laura Amendola

Our parish, St. Paul's, Duluth Minnesota has taken on the Millennium Development Goals with a vengeance. I cannot believe how one little spark ignites a group of people into a blazing fire. I was blessed with the opportunity to travel to the United Nations in 2005 and then to Boksburg, South Africa in 2007 to study the MDG's with emphasis on political advocacy. I worked hard and came back armed with knowledge. However, as happens with many people who become consumed with a mission I burned out. After being elected in October, 2007, as a Lay Deputy to the 2009 General Convention, I decided it was time for me to take a sabbatical from the church. I have cut myself out of committee meetings, Sunday services, and the like. However, I went to a Sunday service a few weeks ago and found to my surprise the MDGs represented everywhere. There are children's programs taking place to teach the MDGs. We have a 12 Baskets Project that happens every Sunday right before Eucharist to keep the MDGs present. And last week our parish held a phenomenal "Stone Soup Lunch".

When people ask me "what difference do you make in the world, you are only one person?" I can now answer them with a story of my church who fed off of my enthusiasm, and when I could no longer step up to the plate they were able to step in.

And together we will change the world.

Laura Amendola is a small business owner in Duluth, MN, delegate to the 2006 Anglican Observer Leadership Conference and official TEC representative to the Toward Effective Anglican Mission conference -- a worldwide Anglican Communion conference on the Millennium Development Goals in Boksburg, South Africa in March 2007. She is also an EGR board member.

"Start Small and Stay Committed" -- by Meredith Bowen

A couple of weeks ago I was watching the 11 o’clock news here in Ohio. There was a huge breaking news story about a group of horses discovered in a field south of Cleveland. The horses had been abandoned, and were starving in the snow. It was a terrible sight. There was an instant out-pouring of money (thousands of dollars), donations of food and shelter, medical care and permanent homes for these abandoned horses. People were outraged that this had happened.

Don’t misunderstand me, I am an animal lover through and through. I don’t want animals to suffer. I have been to the pound one too many times myself and brought home yet another dog in need of a loving home. So please don’t misconstrue my frustration for a lack of concern for horses in need. But please! When was the last time the current situation in the Sudan made it onto my 11 o’clock news? Or the plight of children in sub-Saharan Africa – where a child is orphaned by AIDS every 14 seconds?

What if a news crew stumbled upon a field in Ohio filled with starving PEOPLE? What would be the response? Why can’t we have as much empathy for people starving in the third-world as we do for horses starving in our own backyards? Why does having an ocean separating those who have from those who have not alleviate our responsibility to do something about it? Where is the outpouring of cash and concern for people who don’t have anything to eat?

Why are these horse’s lives worth more than those of human beings struggling each and every day to feed their children enough to live another day?

I don’t think that anyone would argue that the horse’s lives are worth more. But our actions speak much louder than our words.

I do appreciate the MDGs but I am finding it increasingly hard to get people to feel passionately about them. Maybe we are approaching this the wrong way. Perhaps a top-down approach is too overwhelming – too much for people to bite off and chew along with the complications of their own lives. Perhaps, if each parish, each family, each person became active and impassioned about ONE project or ONE child or ONE area of the world it would be a way to get the ball rolling.

One field of horses was just enough to get people interested and involved – enough to help people feel connected and empowered to make a difference. During this time of Lent, perhaps we should each take on something instead of giving something up. Stay committed to a project each and everyday despite temptations to stray from the goal. A dollar a day, five dollars a day. One less meal out each week. These small contributions over the course of Lent could add up to a lot for a child in need, a family in need, a village in need.

Start small and stay committed. Get larger in scope and dedication only after a period of success. Don’t let the MDGs overwhelm you or those around you into inaction.

Meredith Bowen is a law student at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. She spent last fall in Arusha, Tanzania doing an internship at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Meredith has volunteered in Tanzania with the Rift Valley Childrens Village (an orphanage) as well as with the Anglican Diocese of Mount Kilimanjaro and the Diocese of Tanga. Started the African Orphan Education Fund to award scholarships for secondary school and university.

How do you know what you are?

by Laura Amendola

I must confess that my reflection comes from a sermon my dear priest, Bill Van Oss, preached last Sunday that has stuck with me and caused me to contemplate in the past few days. He spoke on Sunday about his daughter who is around six years old. This amazing little girl, Luisa, was having a conversation with another young girl in the backseat of her dad's car on the way to a birthday party. As they passed a church, Luisa asked her friend what church she attended. Her friend looked a little confused and said she didn't have a church. Luisa replied with a question "What do you do on Sunday mornings then?" Her friend said she did nothing on Sunday mornings. Luisa replied back with yet another astonishing question.

"Then how do you know what you are?"

Now, of course, Luisa was speaking about what denomination her friend was. Being a priest's child and all, I assume she's well aware even at a young age that there are many colors of God's mosaic such as Catholics, Lutherans, Jews, Muslims, etc. But her question floored me. I grew up without a church. In fact, our family was very against the whole God thing, and it wasn't until I was in my early 20's that I felt a longing for a relationship with God. My heart ached for that little girl in the backseat of the car, and it brought me to tears on Sunday. How do we know what we are if we don't have a mirror in front of us to look into? People like Lusia who are bold enough to ask tough questions are such a mirror.

I strongly believe that the Millennium Development Goals are a defining point in our Christian lives. Our Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori, sums it up best when she says that the MDG's are our eight promises to a broken world. This world is broken because not enough people are asking the tough questions that long to be answered. "How do we know what we are?" is a question that makes me ponder what is it that defines me as a 25-year-old Christian who lives a decent life and doesn't have to think about things such as extreme poverty, dirty drinking water, or the inability to have an education.

A few years ago, someone asked me in so many words "How do you know what you are?" The question terrified me. However, with a supportive community, and a leap of faith I decided to find out who I was. The MDG's became a very strong promise I've decided to make in my realationship with the rest of this broken world. It has defined how I've chosen to live my life. Who I've decided to surround myself with. Where I've decided to donate time, talent, and treasure. And most important, it has helped me create a life that doesn't have me in the center, but instead has God.

I encourage you all this day to take time throughout your busy schedule to think about what you are. Maybe even be bold enough to ask someone else what they are. I know one little girl who does this. And one day she's going to change someone's whole life with that question.

Laura Amendola is a small business owner in Duluth, MN. Baptized in 2003, she was introduced to the Episcopal Church shortly after she was introduced to Christianity and has "absolutely fallen in love with the Church and the journey it has brought me on." Laura was a delegate to the 2006 Anglican Observer Leadership Conference and official Episcopal Church representative to the Toward Effective Anglican Mission conference -- a worldwide Anglican Communion conference on the Millennium Development Goals in Boksburg, South Africa in March 2007. She is a member of the EGR board.

Tomorrow: Jenn Morazes

Why should the CHURCH advocate for the MDGs?

by Lallie Lloyd

Here’s my big question: why should the church advocate for the MDGs? Put the emphasis on “church” not “MDGs” in this question, and you’ll hear it the way it echoes in my head. I’m not asking if a world in which the MDGs are achieved will be closer to the biblical vision of God’s just reign. Of course it will, and perhaps that is reason enough.

I’m asking about the nature and purpose of the church. What we pay attention to when we’re together, what our preachers teach from the pulpit and what lay people do the rest of the week.

For the better part of five years my faith and work have been challenged and strengthened by two groups in the Episcopal Church: EGR and the Standing Commission on Domestic Mission and Evangelism (SCDME), which reports to General Convention as one of the bodies that guide church policy and practice.

SCDME’s purpose is to reflect on trends in our church and recommend actions so we become a more healthy and growing faith community. It meets a few times a year and includes people of vastly diverse life experience: age, class, ethnicity, gender, geography, nationality, race, sexual orientation – the twelve of us cover almost every spectrum one can imagine. We are all baptized into the ministry of the laity; some are also ordained to the ministries of priest and bishop.

Here’s what I’ve learned from SCDME:

(1) The Episcopal church is in decline. As measured by the number of people who come to worship, all but four dioceses were smaller in 2005 than in 2000. Our domestic dioceses were more than eight percent smaller in 2005 than in 2000. We are hemorrhaging people.

(2) When we focus on what we have in common – the love of God as made known in the life and ministry of Jesus – we come to love people with whom we disagree on things we hold dear.

Christians aren’t called to capitalism or socialism, to parliamentary or representative democracy. Paul doesn’t say the world will know us by our resolutions, but by our love; Jesus doesn’t tell us to agree with one another; just to love one another.

I think the MDGs will be accomplished when ordinary lay people doing their work in commerce, education, manufacturing or whatever make connections between God’s vision for a just world and what they do in their daily lives.

I know a pediatric neurologist who supervises international training programs for a major teaching hospital. He helped arrange for doctors to work in a South African AIDS clinic alongside seminary students. When a seminarian asked a patient, “Where do you see the face of God?” the doctor cringed, but the patient smiled and patted the doctor’s arm, saying “Because my sister here has not forgotten me.” The young doctor tells this story as a moment of transformation.

Can a declining church turn itself around by focusing on the MDGs and a vision of global justice? Would my neurologist friend have made this connection without the advocacy for the MDGs that is a vibrant part of his congregation? We belong to a declining church. Can we afford to have preachers advocating issues that divide worshippers? Are the MDGs a case in point, or are they inherently different? When priests and bishops take positions on issues, even ones with apparently clear moral imperatives, can they simultaneously model and teach us to love people who see the issue differently? What do you think?

Maybe being a faithful Christian in these times means caring more about the MDGs than about the institutional survival of the Episcopal Church (or any other denomination). I’m not sure; that’s why I have this big question.

Lallie Lloyd is the author of "Eradicating Global Poverty: A Christian Study Guide on the MDGs" for the National Council of Churches and chair of the Standing Commission on Domestic Mission and Evangelism.

Tomorrow: Sarah Bush

An Age of Hope And Promise. A Time to Say "Yes" to God's Mission.

by the Rev. Jay Lawlor

We live in an age of tremendous hope and promise. You may not feel it when you look at our world – but we live in a time of grace and we only need to realize grace’s full potential.

Bono, lead singer of the rock group U2, once commented that if the sleeping giant – which is the Church – would wake up to the reality of the new leprosy which is AIDS; it could bring tremendous healing to the world. If it did not, it would be irrelevant. A stinging comment, to be sure, but one that is spoken in truth, with love. Bono’s comment is a reminder of not only the influence that people of faith can still have in our world, but of our responsibility as people who should be committed to God’s vision of how the world should be. Bono is holding the church’s feet to the fire and challenging us to BE THE CHURCH.

Well, the good news is that the sleeping giant has awoken…and is even beginning to stir.

This is important because it matters what people of faith say. It matters even more what people of faith DO…reconciliation requires a change of attitude in relationship with others. The concept of reconciliation is primarily relational and its being relational is rooted in conversion, forgiveness and making whole that which is broken.

Reconciliation calls us to bear one another’s burdens across the divides of culture, religion, gender, socio-economic status, geography and every other barrier that humanity constructs in keeping us from being in right relationship with God, each other and our environment.

Engaging reconciliation is engagement with none other than God’s Mission in the world. The mission of restoring everyone to right relationship with God, each other and all of creation.

And at the heart of reconciliation – as proclaimed by all the world’s religions – is justice for the world’s poor…caring for the sick, the hungry, the homeless, and all those left vulnerable by the pride and greed of our world.

The poor and vulnerable are suffering greatly in the absence of true reconciliation:

The scourge of extreme poverty in our world today is more than a tragedy…it is a sin. In a world abundant in wealth, resources and technical know-how – enough so that all may have abundant life – millions die needlessly each year.

What does God say to us? How are we to respond?

There are over 2,000 references to poverty in the Bible – God, obviously, has a lot to say on the matter.

The Gospel According to Matthew gives a clear message in the scene of the final judgment as Jesus call to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, welcome the stranger, clothe the naked, take care of the sick, and visit those in prison. Jesus tells his disciples that in caring for those in need we are caring for Christ himself. These passages from Matthew are also the only place where Jesus is explicitly judgmental with respect to how we respond -- or don’t respond -- to the needs of the poor.

Jesus is following in the great Jewish tradition of the prophets and the Jewish scriptures where the central message of the Hebrew texts is on distributive justice. This is justice rooted in communal obligation and generosity toward those in need.

Our Muslim brothers and sisters have similar teachings in the Koran where one is to give away wealth out of love for the near of kin, and the orphans, and the needy, and the wayfarer, and the beggars, and for the emancipation of the captives.

In fact, all the world’s religions share in common the care for the poor and vulnerable – no matter whom they are or where they live.

It is in our scriptures and in our lives of worship and prayer. The term for the Christian liturgy comes from leitourgeia in Greek which first meant for the sake of the public good. Liturgy serves as both adoration of God and service to the world that is distorted by pride and greed – especially in the midst of extreme poverty -- where we sustain the comfort of the prosperous few at the cost of God’s common resources and life for the poorest people on the planet.

For Anglicans – and many other Christians – the liturgy of the Mass / The Holy Eucharist / Holy Communion is central to our lives of faith. It is not only participation in Christ’s presence that spiritually nourishes the participant, but is for the sake of making God known in the world. One of the Eucharistic prayers from the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer reminds worshipers that they come to receive Holy Communion not for solace only, but for strength; not for pardon only, but for renewal.

Each of us are called by God to be renewed so that can then send us into the world to carry out God’s Mission of reconciliation…It is mine, it is yours, it is ours together.

It matters what people of faith say because we are God’s ambassadors; God’s voice on behalf of the poor and oppressed. It matters what we do because we are God’s workers. And we are called to the work of reconciliation in the world to bring an end the scourges of extreme poverty.

I do believe that we live in an age of hope, and of promise, and of grace. We have not lived up to grace’s full potential, but we can. For the first time in human history we have the resources, the knowledge, and the technology to actually end extreme poverty.

We live in an age of hope, promise and grace because of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Projects successfully implementing the MDGs are bringing life to villages in Africa and some of the other poorest regions on our planet. They are bringing the age of hope, promise and grace to the poorest people on our planet as they bring more clearly into focus God’s vision of abundant life for all.

Yet our wealth, resources and technology are not being shared generously enough. The Millennium Development Goals offer a concrete plan. The MDGs have established a covenant for action to end the scourges of extreme poverty. But to fully honor the covenant; to fully implement the plan, we need to provide the resources. There is more than enough – if we care to share just a little of the abundant wealth and resources with our brothers and sisters in need…our brothers and sisters who are pushed over the edge of life into death because of their poverty…and our wealth.

This is an age of hope and promise. This is an age of grace. We are called to realize grace’s full potential. It is up to us. We can do nothing, or we can embrace God’s Mission and literally and measurably make this a more just world where extreme poverty no longer brings death from hunger and preventable & treatable disease.

A world where clean water flows for all;
A world where education is available for all;
A world where we become better stewards of our environment;
A world where every person’s dignity is respected;
A world where new global partnerships replace division and strife.

A world where hope and promise and grace abound and there is life abundant for all people, for all of God’s creation. We can do this, if we are willing to say ‘Yes’ to joining God’s Mission of reconciliation.

The Rev. Jay Lawlor is a priest and economist who has worked with Jeffery Sachs and the Earth Institute on the MDGs. He is currently living in North Carolina and founding an interfaith nonprofit aimed at getting faith communities involved in the Millennium Villages Project.

Tomorrow: Reynolds Whalen