Thought for the Week - 30th July 2023

Dear Friends, 

At our recent church meeting we heard briefly about the Christian Aid campaign #RiseUpPayUp, which calls on the UK government to make polluters pay. Christian Aid tells us that at ‘the COP27 climate talks in 2022, governments agreed to create a fund to compensate communities hit by climate disasters. But the fund is still empty, and communities are still left to pay the bills for loss and damage. Meanwhile, the polluters who’ve created the crisis continue to grow rich’. Farming communities in southern Malawi are losing their livelihoods to droughts and floods. You may recall that we heard in Christian Aid Week earlier this year the story of Jen Bishop and her husband who began growing pigeon peas in 2016 but that now, because of erratic weather patterns, her financial stability is threatened. Heavy rains earlier this year from Cyclone Freddy caused Jen to lose part of a field which meant that she lost the equivalent of two bags of yield, worth at least £79, vital funds which she’d planned to use to pay for the secondary school fees for one of children. This is loss and damage – of life, livelihood, land and culture, and future prospects. Psalm 82 is a plea for justice picturing the divine council and the supreme authority of God ‘giving judgment among the “gods”’. God asks, ‘How long will you defend the unjust and show partiality to the wicked? Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and the oppressed. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked’ (Psalm 82:2-4). Christian Aid is calling for the government to honour its pledge to contribute to the Loss and Damage Fund and for those industries that are polluting the most to recompense those people and nations most affected by the changing climate, and for Christians to stand with communities who are calling for compensation to rebuild their lives. The #RiseUpPayUp campaign is a way to add your voice to this call for justice, and you can find out more by going to the Christian Aid Website at https://www.christianaid.org.uk/     

Grace and peace,

Neil

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