CHARITY AND SOCIAL ACTION - EASTER 2009

CHARITY AND SOCIAL ACTION - EASTER 2009
By PROF. DR. ZAC VARGHESE, LONDON

²If I feed the poor they call me a saint; when I ask why they
are poor they call me a communist.² - Archbishop Helder Camara

We often find that it is far easier to encourage people to donate for
charitable causes than to work directly with people who are in need. Comic
Relief's TV extravaganza has raised a record 58 million Pounds for charity
on Friday 13th March 2009 - despite the worst economic meltdown in the
United Kingdom and the world-wide recession. But the people who become
really dependent upon charity are not helped at all in most situations.
Manning a soup kitchen or shaking hands with AID victim is more difficult
than giving few pounds to such a cause. It takes a courageous and insightful
group of people to discern the difference between real need and the people
who use charity as a crutch to get through an unfortunate life. In much the
same vane charitable giving also has a publicity and propaganda angle;
certain marketing strategies may call for Œopen-plate¹ or list-based giving
as practised in some churches. How much of a resource is to be given to
those who need immediate help and how much is to be devoted to long-range
causes of poverty and injustice? Should our compassion extend to deeper
causes of the poverty?

Asking these questions and finding answers are always keeping in line with
the continual call of Christ to each of us. Jesus, as liberator and rebel,
confronts establishments that bring oppression to people. Some times charity
is used to keep people in a dependent and subservient state. People who are
being helped have no escape route; they become enslaved to the system.
Managers and handlers including government agencies who supervise poor
people¹s establishments and orphanages become their masters and do not hear
their cry and need for liberation. When do we take up injustice issues with
longer-term effects? We are torn by the impulse either to give food directly
or to cultivate a farm or build a house or provide treatment for a sick
person or to change unjust systems that cause the hunger and other problems.
Couldn't we be involved by helping the needy by both sets of actions,
whether by handing out money directly or by challenging the system? And
isn't it safer to do the former? Isn't it wise to take the safer option? If
we satisfy the hungry, don't we receive praise, encourage others to join our
ranks, and become better Christians? And if we penetrate into the causes of
hunger don't they call us communists? It certainly not a question of either
or. Let us continue the first-aid of direct giving as much as possible,
while we raise people's consciousness to penetrate into the second level of
humble service in challenging the system, which creates these deprivations.

Initially, we see the people in need and we respond to them immediately
since our humanity demands it. A crying infant needs his milk immediately,
not a week from now. The old adage about giving a fish and teaching someone
to fish is not applicable somehow in some situations any more. What if the
fish are dying from pollution or stocks are diminished by factory ships
owned by global corporations? So when must we do more? However, this should
not be taken as an excuse for not giving for the immediate first stage of
direct help to the needy person in front of us or on the television screen.
The first stage is temporarily satisfying but we should also see issues
emerging that could be handled through democratic processes and thorough
political actions. We can influence others to ask deeper questions as well
after providing the first-aid; we should not be afraid of the consequences
and should see this as God¹s work as well for the planet and the
environment. We should see that a check list of Œcheque book charity giving¹
is not sufficient in these situations.

We read how Jesus drives out the money changers from the Temple, confronts
the power of the establishment for their attitudes, and prepares his
disciples to work for justice for all under threats. It is very significant
to note that St. John has placed this event at the beginning of Jesus¹
ministry, while synoptic gospels place this revolutionary incidence in the
last week of Jesus¹ ministry. St. John is possibly giving emphasis on how
Jesus challenged the commercialisation of religion from the beginning of his
ministry. We see the call to justice as a deeper calling and deeper
commitment for establishing kingdom values. Therefore, in the first stage we
must feed those who are starving and offer the homeless shelter because ³It
is in the shelter of each other that people live.² But just as Jesus both
fed the hungry and challenged the system, so should we.

Charity without establishing justice is unrealistic. However, commitment to
social justice issues alone without some empirical direct works of mercy is
not complete and often lacking in sensitivity. Our lack of understanding the
complexity of issues involved, the failure of others to understand us, and
our aloneness may erode our initial enthusiasm. Our resolution should be to
see both stages as necessary for the transformation of the world. But it is
much more: social and political involvements are more demanding. We do not
just feed people from the level of our own affluence and abundance; we
should assist people on a level where their own participation is utterly
important. We do not just work for the poor; we work with the poor in
solidarity with them. During the Lent period we should reflect on two
events: first, we should look inside ourselves and see the transfigured and
risen-Christ; secondly, we should look out and see the Earth with all its
problems and potential possibilities through the grace of risen-Christ. This
vision allows us to remain enthusiastic about the kingdom experience within
ourselves. Lenten discipline teaches us to see this bigger picture and
controls any tendency to focus too narrowly on our ego-centred needs at the
exclusion of everything else.

Christ, the perfect person incarnate, comes among his own and his own people
do not receive him. This actual rejection does not change his mission in any
way. Jesus is not bothered about his acceptance by the hierarchy or the
establishment; he goes on feeding the people when hungry and healing the
sick when asked for and directly challenging the system when necessary. Let
us go with Jesus to Jerusalem to understand his broader mission; this may
help us to deepen our own compassion, which reaches beyond assisting people
who are hungry or homeless; we may begin to make a first attempt to look
into the causes of hunger and homelessness. Our sense of mercy opens the
door for political and social action within a participatory democracy: we
see and interact with people in need in our own neighbourhoods and then
throughout the world; we enter more deeply and publicly into their suffering
through a growing solidarity; we begin to experience the pain and
humiliation they suffer.

We need a very special sensitivity to see the needs of all creation and
taking the basic steps to alleviate those needs. An engaging spirituality in
the face of these challenges will be of help in confronting and not fleeing
from the terrible tragedies. Resurrection spirit gives us the encouragement
to risk getting angry at the aggressors, the polluters, people who cause the
damage and desolation. A shallow compassion overlooks the oppressor and
focuses only on the one suffering, as though bandaging the effect will treat
the cause. Paying for few dialysis treatments or supplying few kidney
machines may not have any impact on underlying chronic end stage kidney
disease, but simple measures of controlling blood pressure, reducing salt
intake or treating diabetes in the community would have a much greater
benefit. Looking after mostly bourgeoisie illness of obesity, diabetes and
heart disease may divert the money needed for research and development for
diseases pandemic in 80% of the world population due to HIV and AID,
starvation, and sanitation. A God-centred deepening compassion combines both
mercies for the victims and righteous anger at the culprits who are
preventing available resources reaching the suffering humanity. Compassion
becomes a balm that soothes and heals; it is also a laxative that starts
deeper things moving; may be it is ultimately the glue that holds us
together as human beings.

Let us look more deeply into the question of who this Jesus is at this
Easter: namely someone who can be both merciful and angry at the same time,
and is willing to express either emotion when necessary. Jesus may cry over
Jerusalem, but Jesus also becomes angry with those who cause its impending
destruction. Now as we walk with Jesus in the palm-laid streets and approach
the Passion Week, we experience the compassion of a suffering Jesus. This
experience should give us a radically compassionate commitment for social
justice; a radically compassionate and transfigured person should become an
agent for social action. This discernment is not to become mere bystanders
of global issues concerning all created things; the discernment is to
involve, engage, and focus our attention to at least one of the issues as a
ŒSimon of Cyrene¹ on our Calvary visit on this Good Friday.

source:
http://www.lightoflife.com/LOL_Article_CharityAndSocialActionEaster2009.htm

A paper God

Commentators have frequently compared the credit crisis of today with the economic crisis of 1929, just before the Great Depression. Yet almost no one speaks about the deeper causes of the economic crisis: the eagerness of banks to give, year after year, huge amounts of credit to speculators and all kinds of speculative funds, with an enormous worldwide growth of financial markets and new financial products as an unavoidable consequence.

In recent years there has been a staggering increase in the amount of money being invested by investors worldwide—and most of it has been put in highly speculative markets in the financial, rather than the “real,” economy. What does this distinction mean? To oversimplify, the “real economy” is the part of the economy that involves making, selling, and buying goods and services, from groceries to shoes to doctors’ visits to garbage collection. The financial sector, in contrast, involves the buying and selling of money as a product in its own right.

On its simplest level, this involves the trade in loans or bonds (someone borrows money and pays back more money in the future), the buying and selling of foreign currencies, and the buying and selling of shares in the stock market.

But these money-for-money transactions didn’t stay simple. Year after year, speculators’ bank accounts grew enormously. And this new, financial-sector money—call it “debt money” or “credit money”—was mainly used for more speculation. One popular kind was options or “futures,” bets about the expected future price of a currency or commodity.

Other kinds of new, complicated financial “products” were also invented. You could, for instance, invest in large pools of mortgage loans (these “securities” sold so well that banks started handing out mortgages in an extremely reckless manner). Another example: credit default swaps, an insurance-like arrangement whose buyer gets money if a bond issuer can no longer pay his debt. These were not called “insurance” to avoid the sensible regulations placed on insurance.

Statistics about the growth of “debt money” are not public information (this is itself a telltale sign of how financialization has been hidden from public view), but recent estimates suggest that, for a full decade, the volume of debt money has increased four times faster than the growth of the so-called real economy. Economist Herman Daly recently calculated that the amount of paper exchanged for paper is now 20 times higher than the amount of paper exchanged for real commodities.

But now the enormous balloon of collective speculation has burst, people have lost confidence, and the real economy is deeply threatened.

Greed and magic

Underneath it all lies the driving power of greed, which motivated not only private speculators and investment funds but also the once-reliable banks. In the new order, banks fully engaged in speculation themselves, making huge profits.

But is greed the only factor? Consider that money and magic have something to do with each other. Making printed money—or now, electronic, “virtual” money—confers power, as if by Faustian magic. It opens doors, giving the money-maker more control over investments and the power to acquire ever-greater material wealth and luxury.

But money does something even more powerful: It can set people and markets in motion. Expectations climb higher and higher. Year after year, the financial markets have grown more rapidly than the “real economy.” Money turns into a kind of compass for all—a guide that seduces a society to follow wherever it leads.

Idolatry

In all this, one senses idolatry at work. The essence of idolatry is that high expectations, combined with fear, narrow your consciousness, restricting your focus down to pursuing the right interaction with your “god.” You delegate power to your idol, allowing it to take the lead, and it inscribes within you patterns of obedience to itself.

Compare this with how, in recent years, financial markets were given control over the real economy—and, indeed, public policy. At last, declared the president of the German Federal Bank some years ago, politicians had been brought under the “discipline” of the financial markets.

One way by which markets exert control over governments is by investors’ constant threat to leave: Global capital unceasingly ricochets around the world, driven by its quest for maximum short-term financial gain in a climate of changing expectations. In what is sometimes called “the new Big Brother syndrome,” governments lower their taxes on capital and burden their economies with huge social spending cuts, just to remain acceptable in the eyes of this new, ever-watchful overseer. But Big Brother is a fickle master: At the least rumor, such as a possible devaluation of a country’s currency, capital can abandon a particular country wholesale and do it literally overnight, like a herd of animals that has just heard a shot. Many countries, especially in the global South, live in constant fear of what a sudden speculative capital exodus might do to their economies.

And in the economies of the North, we can observe the harsh dominion of the financial markets in another way: in the rigorous demands of hedge funds and other entities looking for large, quick returns. Having used (usually borrowed) money to gain control of companies in the real economy, these speculators force those companies to merge, sell out, split, and restructure, with the sole purpose of increasing short-term financial rewards.

Clearly, an idol has arisen, bringing with it fear, even terror. We put our trust in the financial markets to save and guide our real economies. But now the idol has started to stagger and crumble, as idols usually do—and because of that the world is now pulled toward a deep recession. How profoundly Mammon, this financial god, has betrayed us!

Speculation and global warming

And that betrayal also extends to the planet’s ecosystem: What happens in the financial world helps drive, via its effects on the real economy, climate change and environmental degradation in our world. Rich countries’ drive to become ever-richer materially has caused us to intensively use fossil fuels and produce greenhouse gas emissions, to devastate landscapes, and to kill off biodiversity. And China and India increasingly are following the same model.

All of this is profoundly aggravated by the pressures financial markets exert, as they focus primarily on short-term profitability and shareholder gains, instead of on long-term investments. As a result, companies—and governments—have paid less and less attention to climate change and other environmental concerns, especially where environmental protection would reduce profits. If we live and move in a financial climate of money and greed, then the actual climate almost always suffers.

The financial world is also linked to environmental damage on a spiritual level: A superficial view of human well-being deeply hampers potential solutions to today’s problems. The assumption is that greater material prosperity, underlined by money, will give us all that we need. This modern understanding suffers from a profound lack of shalom, the Hebrew word meaning wholeness, well-being, and peace.

No wonder: The reduction of happiness to material goods, a reduction promoted by massive advertising campaigns, is a symptom of following a false shepherd in pursuit of seeming life. But Jesus is the Good Shepherd, and “the sheep follow him because they know his voice” (John 10:4). In this text, Jesus also uses the word “abundance”: “I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly” (John 10:10). On an environmental level, life must first be preserved for us to be able to enjoy it in abundance!

What then might following the Good Shepherd look like in the midst of today’s economic, environmental, and spiritual crisis?

A way forward

Citizens, banks, institutions, and other economic actors must assume, rather than renege on, their responsibilities—not only for fairness and transparency, but also for equity and sustainability. Governments must demand nothing less; in the short term, they must demand it of mortgage-holders, banks, automakers, and other economic actors as a condition of so-called bailouts.

Perhaps the most effective approach would be to begin where the problems began, namely banks and mortgage-holders. The main problem was that banks lent and gave credit in an extremely careless, speculative manner, without holding nearly enough money in reserve. Government support to banks should never be given without an agreement, in writing, that lending practices return to the principles of healthy banking. Bonuses for senior executives should be abolished or at least severely restricted. Banks and other mortgage-holders, including those who pushed relatively poor people into seemingly cheap mortgages, should get government support only if they eliminate adjustable-rate mortgages, in which interest payments escalate after an initial “teaser” period. If existing mortgages are also converted to fixed rates, at least a segment of homeowners would be able to keep their homes, and it could help to restore confidence in the economy.

In the middle and longer term, the national and international monetary system must change on a structural level. There has been an obvious failure of financial oversight by the U.S. Federal Reserve and the International Monetary Fund (IMF)—an almost complete lack of regulation of speculation, not to mention speculative movements of global capital. The IMF’s founding document still gives it the ability to regulate destabilizing international capital flows—although in recent decades its policies have actually encouraged, rather than discouraged, capital stampedes.

The primary task of a newly structured IMF should be to create and maintain stability and fairness in the world’s monetary order. The growth in the financial economy must serve the growth of the real economy, not the other way around, and heavy restrictions must be placed on speculation. Where today’s IMF is controlled by the world’s rich countries (in practice, it is run by the U.S. Treasury Department), in a restructured IMF the countries of the South need to have a real say in decision-making, and the United States must be subject to the same rules as other countries.

A new vision of shalom

Like all economic crises, the current one involves a slowdown in economic demand. But is there any reason to concentrate only on increasing consumption in wealthy countries? Of course not! Ever-higher levels of material consumption ruin the environment. More­over, many poor countries still suffer under enormous debt burdens which profoundly hamper their economic development. Why should we bail out Western banks but not assist poor countries in their efforts to rid themselves of these debt burdens and to increase public and private spending to meet basic needs? The IMF has the mechanisms to do this (by, for example, granting a special allocation of so-called Special Drawing Rights).

If the wealthy countries of the West support this effort by reorienting their own economies toward global solidarity and sustainability, then the current crisis could come to an end to the benefit of all—at least in terms of shalom.

Jesus calls us to preserve life in order to enjoy it in abundance. But in an already rich society, when maximizing material abundance itself becomes our goal, all of us lose life. Now we are increasingly aware of what is wrong—so now is the time to turn to a better way. What good is it to conquer the world but lose your soul? Is that not the message of the gospel for today?

Bob Goudzwaard, co-author of Hope in Troubled Times: A New Vision for Con­fronting Global Crises (Baker, 2007), is a former member of the Dutch Parliament and professor emeritus at the Free University of Amsterdam. Recently he chaired a two-year consultation between the World Bank, the IMF, and the World Council of Churches.

source: http://www.sojo.net/index.cfm?action=magazine.article&issue=soj0906&article=a-paper-god

Indigenous theologians discuss Christianity from a Native perspective

In this video Rev Richard Twiss, Terry Leblanc and Raymond Aldred, Ph.D. talk about the revival of indigenous theology in North America.

FOCUS North America - Introduction Video

FOCUS North America, is the Fellowship of Orthodox Christians United to Server Charity

The vision of FOCUS North America is a network of Orthodox Christian social action ministries and volunteers throughout North America working to alleviate the suffering of impoverished or marginalized persons of any age, race, or creed.

The Mission of FOCUS North America

To express Christ's love in North America for those who are hungry, thirsty, strangers, naked, sick or in prison (Matt. 25:35-6) by providing aid including food, occupations, clothing, understanding, and shelter.

Praying For Soldiers During War

Christ our True God, who loves mankind, look down with mercy and compassion upon every soldier who is facing a daily struggle with war, aggression and terrorism. Each one desires to live before You, and be ever protected by Your Right Hand. Preserve them, we humbly pray, and watch over them every given hour. Guide their steps, give wisdom and discernment to all who are in leadership, that Your will may prevail, and that they may return safely to their homes and loved ones.

We beg You to hear the cry coming from our hearts, dear Lord Jesus Christ. We know that we are surrounded by many dangers. We are frightened as destruction; pain and death seem so near. We hurt with those who are hurting, and grieve with those who grieve, whether on the battlefield or in their homes.

Draw us closer to You, we pray. Grant to us and to each soldier the desire to say as the Psalmist did, "I will say of the Lord, 'He is my refuge and my fortress; My God, in Him I will trust.' He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge." (Psalm 91)

In Your righteousness forgive us as we continue in the defense of our beloved country. Watch over those whom we love, our wives, our children, relatives, and friends, as well as all civil authorities. May Your guiding Spirit be with those who govern us. Bless our country America, our allies, and all those who love freedom, peace, and good will among all men.

May Your mercy be ever granted to us, for without fear but with love, humility, and obedience we to turn to You, that we may be strengthened, stand firm, and live.

Through the prayers of our Holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us. Amen.

Humbly In Christ Our Lord,

source: http://www.serfes.org/orthodox/PrayingForSoldiersDuringWar.htm

Grand Mufti Invites President Obama to Address Muslims From Top Mosque

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=97694 <http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&amp;pageId=97694>

FROM WND'S JERUSALEM BUREAU
Obama could address Muslims from top mosque
Egypt's grand mufti invites president to speak at prominent sharia center

By Aaron Klein

TEL AVIV, Israel – The grand mufti of Egypt has invited President Obama to address Muslims around the globe from one of the most important mosques in the Islamic world.

The invitation to speak from Egypt's Al Azhar mosque follows an announcement over this past weekend that Obama will travel to Egypt next month to deliver his promised address to the Muslim world.

According to Al-Masri Al-Yawm, a state-run Egyptian newspaper, Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa and other scholars from Egypt's Al Azhar University invited Obama to use the mosque as venue for the president's upcoming visit, explaining it would promote a culture of dialogue between Islam and the West.

Al Azhar University is the most respected Sunni Islamic learning center in the world and the second oldest degree-granting school. Clerics at the university's attendant mosque decide Islamic sharia law matters for Sunni Muslims internationally.

The university opened studies in AD 975. It was founded by the Fatimid dynasty of Egypt, which is descended from the daughter of the Islamic figure Muhammad.

It is highly unusual for a non-Muslim to speak at the mosque. An Egyptian official, contacted by WND, could not think of any non-Muslim world leader who had received an invitation.

Obama had pledged he would deliver an address to the Muslim world within his first few months in office. His first interview as president was with Al Arabiya, a pan-Arab television network.

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Saturday the city where Obama will deliver the address has not been selected.

Gibbs said Obama decided on Egypt because the country "in many ways represents the heart of the Arab world." He said the issues of democracy and human rights "are things that are on the president's mind, and we'll have a chance to discuss those in more depth on the trip."

"This isn't a speech to leaders," Gibbs said. "This is a speech to many, many people and a continuing effort by this president and this White House to demonstrate how we can work together to ensure the safety and security and the future well-being, through hope and opportunity, of the children of this country and of the Muslim world."

Father Zakaria;s Truth Talk

About Fathter Zakaria Boutrous:
CWNews.com -- Father Zakaria Boutros looks like a mild-mannered, unassuming priest. But his message is rocking much of the Muslim world.
His television program called 'Truth Talk' is broadcast daily into the Middle East over the Al-Hiyat satellite channel. On it, he challenges Muslims to examine what he says are inconsistencies in Islamic doctrine -- inconsistencies that he says Muslim leaders don't want exposed and ordinary Muslims are told never to question.
"Islam cannot stand in front of intellectual questions and no one can understand because of contradictions in Koran, contradictions in Hadith, contradictions and false doctrines. So they don't want anybody to ask and to learn. 'This is Islam, you have to accept it as it is' lest you should be killed," Zakaria said.
Father Zakaria doesn't stop at challenging the teachings of Islam. He also questions the Prophet Mohammed himself, who Zakaria says had his mind set on wordly pursuits.

"He said that his concerns are three things: women, perfume, and food," he said. "Where is the kingdom of God? Where is the glory of God? Where is the salvation? Where is love? Where is the mission of a true Prophet of God?"
Father Zakaria's broadcasts have generated intense anger in the Muslim world and there's a $60 million bounty on his head. But he makes no excuses for his confrontational style.
He says the provocative statements are designed to challenge Muslims to examine their faith.
"This is my way: short, sharp, shock for the unconscious," Zakaria said
That was the case with James, an Egyptian who began watching Truth Talk late at night while the rest of his family slept.
"When I first saw the show, I was angry at him. I wanted revenge," he said.
He began studying the Koran and the Bible to refute father Zakaria's claims, and in the process learned more about Christianity and Islam.
"I started to think about things I had never thought of before. My understanding changed and things became clear," James said.
James came to faith in Jesus Christ watching Father Zakaria. His wife soon followed.
"I realized Islam was a fake religion, Mary said. "When I learned the truth, I removed my veil. I felt freedom. I had been released. "Life is not about religion it's about a relationship between us and Christ. Christ is life."
Father Zakaria says the Muslim world is full of people like James and Mary.
Thousands of people visit his Internet chat room on 'Pal Talk' every month.
They come to challenge Father Zakaria's teaching and end up learning more about Jesus Christ.

PART 1.

From the Program: "Questions about Faith"

Topic: Who is Christ in Christianity?




PART 2.

From the Program: "Questions about Faith"

Topic: Who is Christ in Christianity?



PART 3.

From the Program: "Questions about Faith"

Topic: Who is Christ in Christianity?