Saturday 3 March 2012

Taking the "Fair Trade Family" Challenge

"Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their rebellion and to the house of Jacob their sins. For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them. 'Why have we fasted,' they say, 'and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?' "Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high. Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD? Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter--when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. "If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday." Isaiah 58:1-10 (NIV)

It's Lent (the 40 days - okay actually 47 days- before Easter).  Traditionally this is a time when many Christians fast, repent and give alms.  I was doing a study of references to fasting in the bible and I was really struck by this one in Isaiah, because it has God's response to human fasting.   Let's look again right in the middle of that passage:

"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter--when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?"

So, for Lent, our family has decided that if we're gonna do any fasting it BETTER follow the kind of fasting that God has chosen.  Our humble solution is to commit to drastically cut back on the "extras" so we can give that money away (specifically to World Vision's efforts in the Horn of Africa) and also to commit to supporting fair trade. Incidentally, cutting back on extras dovetailed nicely with trying to use only fair trade sugar, coffee, tea, chocolate, and spices: we have cooked more foods from scratch since most prepared foods don't contain fair trade ingredients.

If you're not already familiar with the fair trade movement, here it is in a nutshell: Fair trade guarantees a fair, reliable price to farmers for the crops they grow - rather than forcing farmers to sell at the prices set by the commodity market.  There is a premium paid on fair trade products that is earmarked for community development - to build and support schools, wells, or medical clinics for example.  By contrast, many conventional commodity farmers in the third world are at the mercy of the commodity market (which is grossly manipulated by richer nations and their farming subsidies).  Furthermore, fairly traded products are also almost always organically grown.  For growers, organic production means better soil for future crops and freedom from pesticides which in turn means better health and cleaner water for the farmers and surrounding neighbours.  Pesticides (and the rental of sprayers) are extremely expensive relative to crop prices and are often applied without the use of safeguards such as protective clothing or respiratory equipment.  I won't even get into the problem of pesticide resistance among insects here... Sadly, the whims of the market and the reliance on extremely expensive pesticides leads to an escalating cycle of debt and many farmers are effectively enslaved to their creditors. 
 I believe that the goals of fair trade are in line with what God is calling for in the passage above.

(Here is a pretty smart explanation of what fair trade and why it's important: http://journeyforfairtrade.blogspot.com/p/what-is-fair-trade-and-why-is-it.html).

I was listening to a GREAT sermon on this Bible passage and was struck by two ideas from the pastor: "Living a life of worship means saying no to something so that we can say yes to something"  and  "(The Gospel) ought to force us to live an outward life."  (Check it out at http://www.thesanctuarymississauga.ca/media/familypodcast.html - check out February 26, 2012.)

And now... the "Fair Trade Family" Challenge!!!

So here is my two-part challenge to you and your family: First of all, choose one or more items that you usually buy from conventional sources and switch to Fair Trade.  If you already buy a Fair Trade product regularly, coffee for instance, commit to adding another product.  Then,  think about which other "extra" foods and drinks you can cut back on and pledge to use the money you'd have normally spent on those goodies (chips, beer, candy?) and give it to charity instead. 

Please leave me a comment if you're taking the challenge and be sure to let me know how it goes!

much love,

j






"Let's do for one what we wish we could do for everyone". -Andy Stanley


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