BE PART OF A MIRACLE
by Adam Harbinson
Imagine for a moment that by an accident of birth your skin is black. You’re poor, really poor. You have no home, unless a couple of sheets of corrugated iron roughly tied together can be defined as a home. You’ve watched at least one of your children die because the crops failed again, or perhaps it was the foul water that the child had to drink. And now with your own health failing, your supply of breast milk is drying up, risking the life of your latest child – this is a day in the life of hundreds of thousands of people in many countries across the world. But in Sudan there is an added fear: the Janjaweed militia. Your accident of birth has placed you in Darfur, the western province of Sudan.
The inhabitants of north Sudan are mainly Arabs, those in the south, including Darfur, are either Christians or animists, and the Muslims of the north believe they own their southern brothers. And so the Janjaweed, or ‘Devils on Horseback’ – that’s what the name means – supported by the government in the north, have for years engaged in a methodical programme of murder, rape and arson. Two million people have been left homeless and live in vast refugee camps, and perhaps a quarter of a million have been butchered, although we’ll probably never know the true number.
The world wrings its hands in righteous horror and the UN argues for years about the proper word to use to describe this systematic hell; is it or is it not genocide? – ask the lady with the dying baby on her lap how important the word is.
And still little is done, even though fine words would have you believe that a million deaths in Rwanda have taught us that history won’t repeat itself. Ah, but China’s national interests are at stake, and the mighty Yuan speaks; money rules and the milk of human kindness is frozen out.
A statement was issued at the end of the G8 summit in Germany last week; ‘We wish to express our grave concern over the humanitarian, human rights, and political crisis in Darfur. Those violating the human rights of civilians must be held responsible.’ Sounds familiar, but you’ve got to ask, will anyone ever actually do anything?
So where does the church stand? Or more pointedly, what are Christians to do? Well, we can find out by looking at the life and example of Jesus. The first time he spoke publicly he said, ‘The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released, that the blind will see, that the oppressed will be set free, and that the time of the LORD’s favour has come.’
What good news can we bring to the lady with the dying baby? How can we release captives? How can we help the blind to see? There are people all around us who are oppressed. How can we set them free? And does the expression, ‘the time of the LORD’s favour has come’ make any sense?
For the answer we must look beyond empty words and politically correct resolutions to an organisation with a reputation for meaningful direct action. Tearfund are effective at the practical level, and impressive as they motivate people to pray. There’ve just launched a new 10 year vision to see 50 million people released from material and spiritual poverty through a worldwide network of 100,000 local churches.
That’s how to do it, and their first step is to invite churches, groups – you and me – to join millions of others around the world to take part in a Global Poverty Prayer Week in November.
You can find out more by visiting their website: www.bepartofamiracle.org.uk, but be warned, if you’re serious in your prayers you might just find that God will look to you to be part of the answer. He tends to do that you know.
