Fast for Life?

Anyone looking at my ever expanding wasteline (I cannot believe I just typed that like that rather than like this: waistline: ed) hardly needs to be told that I am not very talented at fasting.
Today is Ash Wednesday, a holy day in the western Christian calendar, Lent begins, absitinence, fasting, giving things up, praying more, being better, discipline ... hmm the pressure mounts, I think I may be developing a spiritual overload headache induced by guilt.

The Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance launched its Fast for Life campaign today. Those of us who gathered in the chapel at the ecumenical centre at midday donated the cost of lunch to the local Salvation Army, as a small contribution to feeding Geneva's poorest.

Given my own complex, difficult and sinful relationship with food, I find this time of the Christian year particularly challenging spiritually. Will I ever get past my guilt, accept something like forgiveness and move towards true transformation? Notice how even here I only evoke rather than really address the issue. Perhaps food is an issue I should preach a sermon about in order to be more honest about the meaning of food and its weight in my life and spirituality ... as well as on my hips! Still not sure what text I would choose for such a sermon, after all the Bible is full of stories of food, feasting and fasting let me know if you have an idea.
Such thoughts bring my rather neatly to the EAA sermon competition on food for life - there're still a couple of weeks left to submit your sermons, closing date March 30!
So what have you got to say about Food for life, what do you think God might have to say about food for life?

And while you're thinking about that here are some more action ideas from the EAA website
Join by taking either individual or collective action:
i) Fast from food as a symbolic gesture in solidarity with people living with hunger.
ii) Fast from fossil fuels by parking your car and walk, ride a bike, or take public transport to help reduce greenhouse gases.
iii) Fast from over-consumption by leaving your wallet at home and commit to ‘buy nothing ‘on 9 March.
iv) Organize a worship service on Ash Wednesday to reflect on the inequalities that allow for hunger and over-consumption in this world.
v) Share your resources on food consumption, reflections and prayers on Facebook on the Food for Life Campaign – Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance page
vi) Sign a letter to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in support of the land and water rights of vulnerable communities

Adamah - the land we come from

The first biblical reflection on Seven Weeks for Water this year comes from Ani Ghazaryan who has been working with the WCC as an intern for the past year. Ani is working on a doctorate in biblical studies at the University of Lausanne but has been working with the climate and economic justice teams at the WCC. She reflects on the link between land and water, water and justice, land and justice.
At the same time the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance has also made a great campaigning contribution to Seven Weeks this year and is encouraging people to sign a letter to the food and Agricutlure Organization (FAO) in support of the food and water rights of vulnerable populations. So do sign the letter and also look at the resources EAA are putting together as part of their fast for life campaign.
Sign up here to get the Seven Weeks for Water updates.

Meanwhile here's a taste of Ani's reflection:

Despite the deep relationship of humankind to the earth, today, humankind overexploits the land and water for our own interests, forgetting that we were called to take care of the Earth, God’s creation. Our greediness is such that we covet ever more without thinking about the Earth and the needs of vulnerable people.

The Tenth commandment of God commends us to not covet our neighbour’s property (Exodus 20:17). However, today many companies and governments invest in land resources for large-scale industrial agriculture in very poor countries – in a way which often affects the livelihoods of local communities, such as peasant farmers, pastoralists, or Indigenous Peoples. For these people the link to the land, including its rivers, lakes, and springs, is strong and vital.

How can we ignore the fact that millions of people are already suffering and dying because of the greediness of others? How should we address issues which are linked to the unjust sharing of land and water, such as land and water “grabbing”? How is it possible to come from the land, to be adamah and then to become a land grabber? To deprive people of the land from which they come - and to which we all will return eventually?

Seven Weeks for Water is back and it's making a splash for just peace!

River transport in a quilombo, Brazil. © Carlos Penteado/Comissão Pró-Indio

Sign up for this year's great set of Lenten meditations and reflections from Seven Weeks for Water. This year they are all about Water and Just Peace and they're available in French, German and Spanish as well as English. Do let the Ecumenical Water Network if you're translating the material into other langauges.

Don't miss any of the Seven Weeks for Water in 2011, subscribe now to the email notifications. You can already download the World Water Day tool kit with ideas and resources for activities around World Water Day on 22nd March, or the order of Communion for Maundy Thursday.

The importance of access to water was recently affirmed by the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC). The WCC governing body issued a statement during its meeting in February calling for the implementation of the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right.

Biblical reflections are being posted week by week on www.oikoumene.org/7-weeks-for-water along with complementary links and ideas for activities for individuals and congregations. Among them are reflections on Exodus and conflicts around water and oil by the Rev. Canon Dr Ezekiel Babatunde, director of the Institute of Church and Society of the Christian Council of Nigeria, on water conflict in the Holy Land by Fr Afrayem Elorshalimy from the Coptic Orthodox Church and on the role of faith for communities who defend their means of subsistence by José Pilar Alvarez from the Lutheran Church of Guatemala.

Chichester Psalms for Haiti

Last night we attended the wonderful Psalms for Haiti event at the cathedral in Geneva. It was very moving - beginning with an extraordinary noise for 35 seconds representing the noise of the earthquake.
A superlative choir and wonderful readers sang and spoke the Psalms in many forms.
Canon Ogé Beavoir, Dean of the Episcopal Theological Seminary, Port-au-Prince spoke movingly of the Haitian people's spirit and also of their need. the event was a fund raiser for rebuilding the Anglican Cathedral and its related social and educational facilities which were extensive before the quake.

The event opened my ears to Leonard Bernstein's Chichester Psalms, which I've never heard before. Last night's choir and organ gave at least as good a rendition as the full orchestra youtube version I've posted here. I also really enjoyed Arvo Pärt's de Profundis and all of the rest of the music and readings - especially the readings in creole. Thanks folks, it was WONDERFUL!
I've posted the full order in French and English here.

Le jour de la nuit - the day of the night

This Saturday is "Le jour de la nuit" across the whole of France. The idea is to switch off all municipal lights so as to be able to observe the night sky, the stars and enjoy the biodiversity of darkness. It really sounds like fun. Ferney is going to take part, though not Geneva as the idea doesn't seem to have spread to Switzerland yet.
There are several fun things taking place including a night time walk to look at excessive private lighting and the problems of light pollution. The local astronomy club is setting up telescopes in the garden of the Maison St Pierre next door to where we live so that we can all look at the winter night sky. Find out more here.
Meanwhile I just love the play on words of "le jour de la nuit" which means both the day of the night and also the daylight of the night. In spiritual terms I also love the idea of the night and the darkness also being holy. I think Sautrday night might be quite fun - and also the big switch off will really help to reduce carbon emissions - maybe we should be having more days of the night. That night is also the night we all get to sleep an hour extra as the clocks go back, so the switch off will last an hour longer too!

Ripples in the water ...

When I first saw this it reminded me of my very first physics lesson where we had to try and make ripples in the water and measure the impact of what we were doing. I think it was all about waves or something - I only did a year of phsyics.

In the aftermath of blog action day on water I've been thinking about that. About the ripples we make, the tiny insignificant but important ripples of advocacy and information. If the theme of water had not so inspired me there is so much I would still be ignorant about today: the links between water and justice, water and health, water and sexual security, water and sanitation, water and education, water and simply having access to the future ... and so much more. If you don't have to walk for 2 hours a day to carry watter you will have so much more time and energy for other things; if you don't have to pay a disproportionate amount of your meagre income for water this can be inviested in the education of your children. And so it goes on. Abundance for the rich few, overpriced paucity for the many.
Will the ripples of our advocacy make any difference? I hope so.

Water, water everywhere - today is blog action day on WATER!

All posts today will be about water in some way or another as part of blog action day.
The photo here of the mediterranean, from our recent holiday, reminds me powerfully of water as a glorious source of recreation and transformation. You can't be next to the sea without feeling the pull and energy of water.

But much as it would be fun to focus on a celebration of the beauty of water for blog action day, this day is about water and justice.

"Right now, almost a billion people on the planet don’t have access to clean, safe drinking water. That’s one in eight of us who are subject to preventable disease and even death because of something that many of us take for granted. Water is a global issue, and it affects all of us."

Over the past few years during Lent I have highlighted the work of the Ecumenical Water Network. It's a project at the place where I work which I always feel energised about and committed to. I can just see how important it is for churches and Christians to be part of a global campaign for water justice. Water is life! And of course water is also used by Christians in baptism and footwashing as well as being a major biblical theme.

But water is a deeply practical issue too, it's not just about well-building and sanitation, it's also about getting communities to act together to protect and restore their existing water supplies. You can see a great video about this here and also read an interview with the wonderful Moses Kulaba, who works in Tanzania with Norwegian Church Aid, linking accountable governance to issues of access to water.

Just access to water has the capacity to positively transform lives and communities. Lack of water justice has a desperately negative impact.

I'll write another post later today about how each of us can try to act for more water justice, locally and globally. Meanwhile as Moses said when he was talking to us in Geneva, getting people to find their voice is also part of the work of getting water to local communities.

A holiday picture in preparation for blog action day

So here's another photo from our holiday. This one reminds me of how on holiday I had time to take in life's curios, fun and decrepit things differently and appreciate them. Hey I even had time to photo things!

Because it's a dried up and out of use water pump it also reminded me of the work of the Ecumenical Water Network and of Blog Action Day this Friday which will be all about water.

Get blogging about water folk!

10-10-10 Pumpkins at the organic market in Ferney

Today is the 10.10.10 and 350.org are calling on all of us to make a difference by reducing our carbon footprint now, today.

Blog Action Day is all about WATER

So I am really delighted that the topic I voted for for blog actiona day is the one that has been chosen WATER. So please register and get thinking about how to mark Blog Action day where you are from your perspective on the one thing that no human being or living organism on this planet can do without. What do you want to write about, sing about, paint about, put up photos about, write music about ? Start thinking about it now and register below! I've already got lots of ideas!

We're excited to announce this issue as the topic for Blog Action Day 2010: Water.

Today we unveiled the Blog Action Day 2010 site, and aim to make this year's event the largest single day of action on the web in 2010. Click here to check out the new site and register for Blog Action Day 2010, held on October 15th.

You don't need to be a water expert to participate — you just have to be interested in joining thousands of other bloggers from more than 100 countries in collectively raising awareness of one of the most important issues facing our world.

After all, clean water is essential for our survival, but dangerously scarce. Nearly one billion people in the world today don't have access to clean water and 42,000 people die each week from water-borne diseases. And the issue doesn't stop there — water availability impacts a wide variety of issues from the environment to women's rights and from technology to fashion. If you're unsure what to write about on October 15th, check out our list of water post suggestions to get started.

Last year, Blog Action Day included influential voices ranging from the White House to former Prime Minister Gordon Brown. This year, we're looking forward to an even larger group of influential voices, from celebrities to politicians, to help widen the scope of our conversation.

But we need your help to get the momentum going.

Register today and help kick-off Blog Action Day 2010!

We hope you'll join us. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to email me anytime at maria@change.org.

Thanks,

Maria & the Blog Action Day team

The Churches Week of Action on Food - what will you be doing?

Our friend Colin Williams recently moved to the beautiful historic town of Ludlow. We have yet to visit him there but one of the things he particularly mentions is Ludlow's annual food festival and the question of how to link the life of the church in to that.
It's an interesting challenge - churches are places where lots of eating take place, lots of common meals - the Bible is a book with lots of stories of meals, stories too of food scarcity and also of the promise of plenty. By focusing on food justice do Christians sometimes come across as killjoys, holier than thou? Perhaps. How can we find creative ways to hold the call for justice and the real joy and pleasure of food together. With the eucharist as our founding meal we should surely find it easier than we seem to.
Human beings need food and water to even begin to be able to live. Surely, we do not live by bread alone. Certainly however folk cannot live without bread or maize or rice or some real food.
Today news comes in that the UN is warning of a major new food crisis - the situation is likely to become even more acute for many of the world's poorest.
Today I also received the information posted below from my colleagues at the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance on the churches week of action on food where they seek to highlight women and food security.

And yet even as I post this I know guilt and have once more to recognise my own very complex relationship with food - as a fat female Christian from the over-privileged north. Today I am on holiday, travelling. By midnight tonight I shall have eaten two meals in restaurants - I'm in France, these are good meals, delicious food. Sometimes holding justice and joy together is more than hard work, it makes me feel like a sinner and a hypocrite. A sinner and hypocrite who is of course nevertheless invited to the wedding feast of forgiveness and responsibility.
It would not be better if my personal sense of guilt and shame also made me silent.

So do check out some of the resources below - the sermon writing competition sounds fun. Maybe I should give that a try.

Highlight women and food security during Churches Week of Action on Food

The Churches Week of Action on Food will take place 10-17 October 2010. The focus this year is on the vital importance of smallscale food producers, particularly women, in ensuring food security particularly for the almost 1 billion people experiencing chronic hunger.

An action guide and liturgy are available in English, French and Spanish. Join with thousands of others during the week to raise awareness about the root causes of hunger in this world and what we can do to help improve food security around the world.

The resources mentioned below are available at: http://www.e-alliance.ch/en/s/food/2010-churches-week-of-action-on-food/resources-for-churches-week-of-action/

What can I do?

1. Hold a worship service focused on food and gender on the Sunday at the beginning or end of the Week of Action. Use or adapt the liturgy available in English, French and Spanish.
2. Use the resource guide in English, French and Spanish to plan actions for the week, use as a study guide, and share with others to raise awareness of the issues of smallscale food producers, women and food security.
3. Print and distribute the prayer card to members of your church to use at home as the prayer before meals during the week.
4. Encourage a national letter writing campaign calling national governments to safeguard communal land against land grabbing using the EAA Model Letter. Adopt, adapt, collect signatures and send to the same people/institutions on the same day.
5. Enter the EAA Food for Life competition by writing and submitting sermons on food and gender for promotion in 2011. Details of the competition will be available online during the Week of Action or you can write to sermons@e-alliance.ch.
6. Use the information in the resource guide to write a letter to your local paper for World Food Day, 16 October, letting more people know about the issues of food and gender.
7. Share the research and analysis in the 2010 Right to Food and Nutrition Watch, with community organizations, study groups and media. The Executive Summary is available now, and the full report will be available from 7 October.
8. Tell us what you are doing! Inspire others and share your ideas by sending information on your events and actions to foodweek@e-alliance.ch.

Cutting the diamond - reflections on how to do advocacy

Ann Pettifor of the Jubilee 2000 campaign has brought out a book called Cutting the Diamond available as a pdf through Advocacy International

Advocacy International works with our clients to achieve their public interest and social responsibility goals. We bring our strengths and experience in advocacy, communications, design and policy development.

Really I'm posting this here to remind myself to get someone to write a review of it. It looks very interesting.

Greetings from Vienna where the men in my life are meeting

Here's a picture of my gorgeous brother Richard who like Dr B is in Vienna this weekend for the international AIDS conference. Richard is normally based in Paris with the organisation AIDES.

Meanwhile Dr B has been in Vienna to write for the pre-conference for Faith Organisations meeting held by the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance. Read some of what he's been writing here.

Terrible news from Congo

A few months ago I was asked rather at the last minute to interpret into French for a fascinating planning meeting for human rights campaigners. The person I interpreted for was the director of a human rights organisation in Congo called La Voix des sans Voix. His name Floribert Chebeya Bahizire. A delightful committed man who knew he was working in desperately difficult circumstances but who seemed calm in the face of the undoubted difficulties. I spent most of an afternoon and day whispering interpretation for him into French. He was very gracious.
Today I discovered he is dead.
Meanwhile I am attending a conference with the theme witnessing to Christ today.
The price of doing what is right can be very high.
So I ask what did I do for justice today? Where did I speak truth? How did I witness to the costly gospel?

Angels and mermaids - testing the Genevan waters

So here are some of us tasting and testing Geneva water and also getting the artist Tom Tirabosco to personally decorate one of the water carafes for the WCC general secretary Olav Fykse Tveit. When Tom heard that we were from the World Council of Churches he changed the picture he was drawing from a mermaid to an angel, even adding a halo! Not quite sure what this means about the idea people have of religion.

Not walking on water but drawing on water!

On Saturday afternoon the Ecumenical Water Network encouraged folk at the ecumenical centre to join in the water days organised by the Services Industriels Genevois
We had good fun at the event which was organised with simplicity and style - face-painting and plastic water bottle ten pin bowling for children, great local organic food to learn about, some fun water taste tests and free local cordials to drink. We also took a Geneva water quiz and won some fun plastic collapsable cups to be able to drink ordinary rather than bottled water wherever we are. Our responses also got put into a prize draw for being able to switch on Geneva's famous jet d'eau. The fountain is the symbol of the Genevan water company.
One of the other fun things was having the Bande Déssinée artist Tom Tirabosco decorate the water carafes being sold to encourage us to drink local water and also help support a project in Kisumu providing drinking water. The carafes are made locally from recycled glass and very stylish.
Detailed programme here.

Bowl away the plastic water bottles

This was just one of the great fun activities that the Société Industrielle Genevoise (SIG) organised about water. Geneva water has as its symbol the city's wonderful Jet d'eau. We even got to do a taste test of Genevan tap water over and against French and Swiss branded bottled water - for me the tap water won out - definitely tasted best.
So for those of us who do have access to drinkable tap water let's try and kick the habit of bottled water. It can be up to a 1000 times more ecological to drink tap water rather than bottled water. It makes sense.
Thanks to the Ecumenical Water Network for telling us about the event. Lots more photos and short posts from the event about to follow - one day I really am going to have to learn how to deal with photos, for now you'll just have to put up with multiple posting.

Water of vulnerability and of liberation

Maike Gorsboth's sermon from yesterday's world water day service is now online. It pays hommage to the thinking of Steve de Gruchy and his Olive Agenda linking creation and liberation ethics.

"Water is more than a symbol ... Water being the source of life makes it much more than 'just' a sacramental symbol or a symbol of liberation. It also makes it a means of liberation."

Over on this week's Seven Weeks for Water there is a powerful reflection by John D. Roth on footwashing and practising the politics of mutual vulnerability.

Jesus was challenging his disciples to cultivate a life of mutual vulnerability rooted in the confidence of God’s extravagant and abundant love. By washing the feet of his disciples, Jesus offered a physical, embodied demonstration of this new kind of politics—a politics demonstrated even more dramatically in his death and resurrection in which power was “made perfect in weakness.”

I'll try to return to some thoughts about vulnerability in a later post. I've been doing some thinking about the issue linked to leadership in recent weeks, not sure where that will take me but foot washing is a challenging model for Christian leaders.

Meanwhile this picture and others of our toilet queue were taken by the WCC's great photographer Peter Williams.

one rhythm one world for the launch of the ACT Alliance

Communications colleagues over at Act alliance are busy with the launch of the new alliance and have made this great video as part of the launch. There's one rhythm, one world and we're all in it together. Better get the beat!

Prayers, art, queueing and singing for world water day

Our brilliant colleague Maike Gorsboth who coordinates the Ecumenical Water Network preached at Monday morning prayers as we marked world water day. In her sermon which will be online tomorrow, she paid hommage to the late Steve de Gruchy and his "olive jordan river agenda" linking creation and liberation. It was powerful, heartfelt and authentic; a really good sermon. Maike also managed to get enough of us to queue for the toilet at lunch time today that we were able to take part in the world record attempt at making the world's longest toilet queue. As we waited in line - we had to be at least 25 people for the queue to be part of the record attempt - we sang songs from the morning's worship and then told funny toilet stories. We also admired Manoj Kurian's brilliant artwork specially painted for the day. You can find photos of artwork and queue here.