THINK : FAST

Whilst we are updating our site I though I would pass on to you an important message from the Bishop of London. Do please pass this on!

Martin



THINK : FAST

Be hungry for change for the world's poorest people

Kofi Annan and Gordon Brown spoke to thousands of us in St Paul’s Cathedral 3 years ago about the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). You will be aware of these eight targets for eradicating extreme poverty by 2015. Many London churches and others have been involved since in trying to make them a reality. Details of the MDGs can be found at www.un.org/millenniumgoals/.

But earlier this year, UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon issued this warning: “We are at the mid-point of a great campaign to end world poverty, set forth in the MDGs. Too many nations have fallen behind. We need fresh ideas and fresh approaches.” He pledged to mobilize national leaders in a drive to meet the MDGs and has convened a summit at United Nations HQ in New York for 25 September. Gordon Brown spoke again in July to a group of us including delegates to the Lambeth Conference. He stressed the need to hold national leaders to the promises thy have made.

Gordon Brown is going to the New York summit. There is a clear need for a co-ordinated high-profile preparation for this meeting. We need to enlarge the room for manoeuvre so that sympathetic politicians can move in the direction they know is just in the spirit of the Micah Challenge - “to do justice, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with our God” (Micah 6:8).

We shall all have our own ways of heightening awareness in preparation for the summit on Thursday 25 September. There will be a special Eucharist – A Time for God’s Creation - at St Paul’s Cathedral on Sunday 14 September at 6:00pm to which all are welcome. We propose that the period between then and the summit should be one of special prayer and reflection on the fight against world poverty, including a day’s fast. I myself shall fast on Wednesday 24 September, and would be delighted if others were able to join me. On that day we will issue a public message to the Prime Minister to fortify him as he prepares for the summit the following day.

To inform our observance of this period, we are planning a range of suitable educational material, and I am grateful to the Micah Challenge organisation for taking this on. This will be made available over the coming weeks, and we hope that some helpful wider publicity will be generated.

I am pleased that other Christian leaders in London have agreed to participate in THINK : FAST; and we are extending the call to our colleagues in the wider Church, to those of other faiths, and indeed to all people of goodwill in the community.

Richard Chartres
Bishop of London


COLLECT

Heavenly Father,
whose Son Jesus Christ came to bring good news to the poor,
to heal the broken-hearted, and to set free those who are oppressed:
give grace to Gordon Brown and the leaders of all the nations,
that, being so hungry for justice for your poorest people,
and fired with passion for their raising up,
they may be renewed in their determination to fulfil the promises they have made to them;
that the chains of hunger, disease and inequality may be broken;
and that all humanity may know life in all its fullness;
through him who came that we might have the same, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

PRAYER FOR CHILDREN

God our Father,

You sent your Son, Jesus Christ, to live on earth, to show us how much you love us. Because you love us, we know that you want all your people to be happy and healthy.
We also know that there are so many very poor people in the world,
and that we live in a rich country.

We pray for our Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and the leaders of other countries, that they will keep the promises they have made to help the poorest people in the world, to make sure they are better fed, better educated and healthier.
We make our prayer through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.