A kairos moment on poverty by Jim Wallis
The Washington National Cathedral was full on a Monday night. More than1,000 people of faith had gathered for a convocation focused on theworld's hungry people - at home and around the globe - sponsored byAmerica's Second Harvest, Bread for the World, Call to Renewal, and theInterfaith Anti-Hunger Coordinators. An amazing procession of religiousleaders from almost every major faith tradition in America led theservice.
Evangelical leaders stood beside heads of mainline Protestantdenominations, a Catholic cardinal, bishops from the historic Blackchurches, Jewish rabbis, and Muslim imams. The main homilist, AnglicanArchbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane of Cape Town, South Africa, noted themoral convergence of such a wide spectrum of American religious life andpronounced this a "kairos" moment - when regular time ("kronos") gives wayto a spirit-filled moment in history and a new sense of time takes over.
The massive reality of global hunger and poverty has revealed our ownspiritual poverty and is bringing us together. The religious leadersgathered at Washington's National Cathedral also have different politicalviews. But maybe soon overcoming poverty could become a bipartisan issueand a nonpartisan cause. That same day, I received a powerfully persuasivemessage from evangelical leader Rick Warren, who urged his entire e-maillist to join the 800,000 people who have signed on to the ONE campaign toovercome poverty, alongside sponsors such as World Vision, Bread for theWorld, Sojourners, and U2's Bono.
The next day, British Prime Minister Tony Blair was in Washington, D.C.,to meet with President George W. Bush, primarily to discuss the goals forthe upcoming G8 meeting for heads of state planned for Gleneagles,Scotland, in early July. During his packed one-day schedule, Blair askedto meet with a small group of religious leaders to discuss the issuesinvolved in the G8 Summit, especially with regard to Africa - which he hasdescribed as "the fundamental moral challenge of our time." Some of thesame people from the night before gathered again for the hour-long meetingwith the British leader whose country will be hosting the crucialinternational gathering in just three weeks.
We noted the diversity of religious leaders and traditions sitting aroundthe table, including Bill Hybels of Willow Creek Community Church inChicago, Ted Haggard of the National Association of Evangelicals, CardinalTheodore McCarrick of the Catholic Bishops Conference, Bishop John Chaneof the Episcopal Church, and Bob Edgar of the National Council ofChurches. From the Southern Baptist leader to the Muslim imam, we eachexpressed a real hope that something very new and powerful might come outof our common resolve.
We spoke of how for the first time the world has the knowledge,information, technology, and resources to substantially end extremepoverty as we know it, but that what is still lacking is the moral andpolitical will to do so. And we agreed that to generate such moral will ispart of the job of the religious community. We thanked Mr. Blair for theleadership that the British government, under he and British ChancellorGordon Brown, is taking and offered both our support and readiness to sayto ourselves and all our political leaders that in light of the growingcrises of global poverty, disease, and conflict, we all must do much more.
The goals for the G8 Summit are clear: to come to an agreement on 100%debt cancellation for as many of the world's poorest nations as possible,and to substantially increase the wealthy nations' contribution torelieving the crises of hunger and disease, especially HIV/AIDS, and mosturgently in Africa. Movement toward fair and just trade to allow poornations to better lift themselves out of poverty is also a goal for many.News reports indicated that Mr. Blair was in Washington to encourage theBush administration to take a stronger leadership role in accomplishingthese goals.
The day after the Blair meeting, Sojourners' organizer Adam Taylor leftfor London to finish planning for a church leaders forum we areco-sponsoring with Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, who will hostthe day-long gathering for U.S. and U.K. church and agency leaders atLambeth Palace on the eve of the critical G8 meeting. In September, moreplans are under way for religious leaders and congregations across thenation to focus on an important U.N. Special Session to assess theprogress of the Millennium Development Goals, which have been signed by147 countries (including the U.S.) and aim to cut extreme poverty by halfover 15 years.
All these efforts are being undertaken to bring the religious community'smoral energy and agency to bear on the world's pre-eminent moral issue.Despite our many deep and sometimes painful divisions, the growing crisisof the world's most vulnerable people is serving to bring many of ustogether. And that is a sign of hope in a world that desperately needssome right now.
-- Carlos Navarro
State Coordinator,
New MexicoBread for the World
carlos@breadnm.org
Local website: http://www.breadnm.org
National website: http://www.bread.org
Click Here to Read More!
Evangelical leaders stood beside heads of mainline Protestantdenominations, a Catholic cardinal, bishops from the historic Blackchurches, Jewish rabbis, and Muslim imams. The main homilist, AnglicanArchbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane of Cape Town, South Africa, noted themoral convergence of such a wide spectrum of American religious life andpronounced this a "kairos" moment - when regular time ("kronos") gives wayto a spirit-filled moment in history and a new sense of time takes over.
The massive reality of global hunger and poverty has revealed our ownspiritual poverty and is bringing us together. The religious leadersgathered at Washington's National Cathedral also have different politicalviews. But maybe soon overcoming poverty could become a bipartisan issueand a nonpartisan cause. That same day, I received a powerfully persuasivemessage from evangelical leader Rick Warren, who urged his entire e-maillist to join the 800,000 people who have signed on to the ONE campaign toovercome poverty, alongside sponsors such as World Vision, Bread for theWorld, Sojourners, and U2's Bono.
The next day, British Prime Minister Tony Blair was in Washington, D.C.,to meet with President George W. Bush, primarily to discuss the goals forthe upcoming G8 meeting for heads of state planned for Gleneagles,Scotland, in early July. During his packed one-day schedule, Blair askedto meet with a small group of religious leaders to discuss the issuesinvolved in the G8 Summit, especially with regard to Africa - which he hasdescribed as "the fundamental moral challenge of our time." Some of thesame people from the night before gathered again for the hour-long meetingwith the British leader whose country will be hosting the crucialinternational gathering in just three weeks.
We noted the diversity of religious leaders and traditions sitting aroundthe table, including Bill Hybels of Willow Creek Community Church inChicago, Ted Haggard of the National Association of Evangelicals, CardinalTheodore McCarrick of the Catholic Bishops Conference, Bishop John Chaneof the Episcopal Church, and Bob Edgar of the National Council ofChurches. From the Southern Baptist leader to the Muslim imam, we eachexpressed a real hope that something very new and powerful might come outof our common resolve.
We spoke of how for the first time the world has the knowledge,information, technology, and resources to substantially end extremepoverty as we know it, but that what is still lacking is the moral andpolitical will to do so. And we agreed that to generate such moral will ispart of the job of the religious community. We thanked Mr. Blair for theleadership that the British government, under he and British ChancellorGordon Brown, is taking and offered both our support and readiness to sayto ourselves and all our political leaders that in light of the growingcrises of global poverty, disease, and conflict, we all must do much more.
The goals for the G8 Summit are clear: to come to an agreement on 100%debt cancellation for as many of the world's poorest nations as possible,and to substantially increase the wealthy nations' contribution torelieving the crises of hunger and disease, especially HIV/AIDS, and mosturgently in Africa. Movement toward fair and just trade to allow poornations to better lift themselves out of poverty is also a goal for many.News reports indicated that Mr. Blair was in Washington to encourage theBush administration to take a stronger leadership role in accomplishingthese goals.
The day after the Blair meeting, Sojourners' organizer Adam Taylor leftfor London to finish planning for a church leaders forum we areco-sponsoring with Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, who will hostthe day-long gathering for U.S. and U.K. church and agency leaders atLambeth Palace on the eve of the critical G8 meeting. In September, moreplans are under way for religious leaders and congregations across thenation to focus on an important U.N. Special Session to assess theprogress of the Millennium Development Goals, which have been signed by147 countries (including the U.S.) and aim to cut extreme poverty by halfover 15 years.
All these efforts are being undertaken to bring the religious community'smoral energy and agency to bear on the world's pre-eminent moral issue.Despite our many deep and sometimes painful divisions, the growing crisisof the world's most vulnerable people is serving to bring many of ustogether. And that is a sign of hope in a world that desperately needssome right now.
-- Carlos Navarro
State Coordinator,
New MexicoBread for the World
carlos@breadnm.org
Local website: http://www.breadnm.org
National website: http://www.bread.org
Click Here to Read More!
posted by Mike Hiland at 10:11 PM
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