Eliminating extreme poverty with compassion and justice
When I was young, Jim Reeves used to sing a song with the words:
“This world is not my home, I’m just a-passin’ through
My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue
The angels beckon me from heaven’s open door
And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore”
Now, I understand what the songwriter was trying to say, but I can’t say that I agree with him. This world IS our home and we have the opportunity of making it a better place for future generations.
Beach village in Sri Lanka devastated by the Tsunami
I want to change the world! I have a vision of a world without extreme poverty; a world where everyone has the same opportunities that I have had. But I realise that I cannot do that on my own, and in any case, as an aim, changing the world is a bit vague. The world consists of people: we can only change the world, one person at a time.
So, this article is about one young lady whose life has been radically changed through a family in England who cared enough to sponsor her through Karuna Action, and a partner organisation in Sri Lanka. Buddika was brought up in a small hut built on the beach in Sri Lanka. Why build a house on the sand? Homes are built on the beach because poor people cannot afford to build anywhere else!
Without help, Buddika’s life would have been very different. [Read more...]
When I was in my teens, several things influenced and shaped my life. This carol was one of them. The angels were announcing the beginning of a new era which would affect every man, woman and child. The world would never be the same again!
It came upon a midnight clear,
That glorious song of old,
From angels bending near the earth,
To touch their harps of gold:
“Peace on the earth, goodwill to men
From heaven’s all-gracious King.”
The world in solemn stillness lay,
To hear the angels sing.
The language is somewhat poetic but speaks of an event so significant that the angels just had to announce the birth of Jesus, the son of God. But the priests in the temple didn’t hear the angels. Herod in his palace didn’t hear them. Only some simple shepherds heard the news, and heard the angels praising God that this event would have such a momentous effect which would eventually result in a peaceful world. [Read more...]
Mo (Mohamed) Farah
In the Olympic Games that have just finished we saw an outpouring of patriotism hopefully channelled in the right direction. In the United Kingdom, we cheered as our athletes achieved success and won medals of gold, silver and bronze. Because I have always held a worldview, I thought that I was not particularly patriotic, but I found myself screaming at the television set when Mo won the 5000 metre race after having already been awarded a gold medal for the 10,000 metre race.
But patriotism can have a negative effect. It divides people into “us and them”. It can cause us to consider other people as less important, or even inferior, to us. In crying out, “British Jobs First”, what seems like patriotism looks more like selfishness and racism. [Read more...]
Our Wonderful World from space
I am very aware that we live in a world full of suffering, hardship and poverty. Yet there is hope, there is room for optimism. We live in a truly wonderful world. I have a passion to eliminate poverty and so there is a tendency to be pessimistic about a world with almost insurmountable problems. And yet when I look at God’s creation and understand that He has a plan for this world, hope and optimism bubble up. I declare myself an optimist with dreams of a better future, but with my feet realistically standing in the present. [Read more...]
Vision refreshed (Sunset in North Devon)
When I was in Sri Lanka in April this year, I had quite a lot of time to myself to prayfully consider my own future, and the future of Kingscare/karuna Action. I decided that it was the correct time to lay down my responsibility for running the charity on a day-to-day basis [Read more...]
When Kingscare was formed in 1988, I had a clear vision of how we, as a Christian community, could make a real impact upon the lives of people living in extreme poverty throughout the world. Having a vision, is terribly important to me as a person. Without it, I might as well have continued working in the computer industry, earning good money. [Read more...]
