“ANNETICIPATION”

Magazine Letter for March

FOOD FOR CHANGE

Just last night I watched the BBC reporter, Lyse Doucet, interviewing a young boy in the midst of the chaos of a refugee camp for 20,000 people, just south of Damascus. It looked like a scene from hell, with signs of destruction everywhere and thousands of people waiting for meagre supplies of aid to be given out. The boy was describing the people’s plight and being very brave until a point came where he simply broke down and couldn’t control his sorrow and pain. In that moment the reporter stepped out of being an observer, a commentator, and, visibly moved herself, reached out to touch and comfort the boy.

His tears touched me too. What an evil, an affront to God’s justice this all is, when children cry for lack of bread in a world where bankers go on awarding themselves bonuses more than a lifetime’s earnings for most of the world’s poor, and footballers are worth more than would feed God knows how many people for God knows how long.

This year’s Lent material (Lent Food: Recipes for Change) focuses on this theme of hunger and God’s will that all should be fed. Our Shrove Tuesday party this year will begin with a meal from Brazil and a short Bible study, before our usual pancakes. And each Saturday in Lent (from 15^th March) we’ll share a meal at St Anne’s House using a different recipe from the book and exploring the issue of food justice together.

The journey of Lent invites us to follow again in the footsteps of the Man of Sorrows, whose sorrows, freely embraced out of love, are our sorrows. These are the sorrows of our poverty, our loneliness, our sin, and the sorrows of children who weep before our very eyes for lack of bread, lack of justice, lack of peace. May God bless this Lent to us, and may we and our world be changed.

For Lyse Doucet's report see: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-26333533