Reports about the moving “U2charist” made the news services. Here’s one Episcopalian priest-blogger’s experience:
From Father Jake Stops the World
Last night it suddenly dawned on me that the Episcopal Church has moved on from a focus on human sexuality issues. We are doing an unexpected and wonderful new thing. We have a new vision emerging. We have seen the movement of God’s Spirit, and are beginning to join that dance.
What are the specifics of this vision? Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation spells things out well for us, and offers practical suggestions of what we can do. The vision is focused around making the Millennium Development Goals a reality:
1. Eradicate extreme hunger and poverty.
2. Achieve universal primary education.
3. Promote gender equality and empower women.
4. Reduce child mortality.
5. Improve maternal health.
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases.
7. Ensure environmental sustainability.
8. Develop a global partnership for development.
Making poverty history is a movement that has been gaining momentum for some time, under different names. In this country, it falls under the ONE.org umbrella, with celebrity spokespeople such as Brad Pitt and George Clooney. In Britain, it’s a much more mass-movement kind of thing, but there are also celebrities and rock stars and big concerts. The Make Poverty History website, and also ONE.org urge people to buy and wear white wristbands, or wrap large objects or buildings in white, in order to gain visibility for world poverty issues and to remind the nations of the Millennium Development Goals.
I wear such a wristband to remind me of the poor and hungry, and to remind me of how much remains to be done. I often fiddle with it in church. I have given one or two away as gifts, and hope to give more.
It’s possible to make a difference in this world, to make poverty history, even in small ways. What can we do? How can we respond, as the lyrics say “in the name of love, One more, in the name of love?”
