Today is one of my favourite days of the year, because we use the proceeds from our massive church Christmas card (a brilliant design by the church children) to buy stuff from Present Aid, to benefit people in developing countries.
So today (using Jack’s credit card) we bought £150 worth of:
Brilliant gifts!
This summer, Christian Aid is asking people to walk the walk on climate change by joining the longest ever protest march in UK history.
The Cut the Carbon march started in Bangor, Northern Ireland yesterday (14 July), will last 80 days, cover 1,000 miles, and see marchers from rich countries and poor spread Christian Aid’s cut the carbon message to companies and politicians. The march ends at the London Stock Exchange on 2 October.
The march passes through Glasgow this Tuesday, 17 July, and there are a number of events planned, all in the Southside:
Further information is on the Pressureworks site, and on the Cut the Carbon Facebook site (registration needed).
Update 21/07/2007: Read the BBC interview with Angela Rowe of Renfield St Stephens Church (just one block down Bath Street), who is one of the Cut the Carbon marchers.
This Sunday, 25th March 2007, marks the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the trans-Atlantic slave trade by the United Kingdom, the result of decades of campaigning by that had been started by Quakers in the 1780s. It would be a further 31 years until the existing slaves in the British Empire were freed, and slavery was not abolished in the USA until 1865 and Brazil until 1888.
It is easy for us to identify with Wilberforce, Clarkson and other Christian abolitionists. But it is also worth reflecting that many Christians, including Baptists, also fully supported and benefited from the trading of Africans as slaves. Much of Glasgow’s early wealth was a direct result of the slave trade.
Today’s globalised world is more unequal than ever, and 27 million human beings are still in conditions of slavery, for example women from eastern Europe are bonded into prostitution, children are trafficked between West African countries and men are forced to work as slaves on Brazilian agricultural estates. Contemporary slavery takes various forms and affects people of all ages, sex and race.
We encourage you to sign the Amazing Change Petition which calls on governments to act to combat 21st century slavery. A copy is at the back of the church.
Further information is at the following sites:
One Scotland - No place for racism
Breaking the Chains
Amazing Grace Sunday