Sligo22: Rage and Hope
Originally from Armagh, Michael lives and works in Dublin where he works for Christian Aid Ireland and leads a Church in Blackrock. Currently living in Bray. His seminar at New Wine in Sligo asked, How can the church be better advocates in the public square? Notes take in Week A
This afternoon I want us to think about advocacy and the church. previously I worked with Irish Aid. I really enjoyed the switch to Christian Aid and I started to work in campaigns and advocacy work and I’ve been in Christian Aid now for nearly 10 years. I’m going to read some scripture and we’re going to tease out about why they could should be and how we can be involved in advocacy.
Christian Aid is an international development agency working with partnerships across the world:
1) Humanitarian Aid – when an emergency happens (it is increasing) we aim to be there to provide food, water, shelter, etc.
2) Longer Term Sustainable Development – working alongside local communities and empowering them to step out of poverty.
3) Advocacy – we are quite political. We are not going to end poverty and solve injustice unless we get political.
American election… there was a Facebook meme of Jesus arm-wrestling Satan and it said.. if Satan wins Clinton will win the presidency. It got thousands of shares and likes. It was created in Russia with links to the Kremlin. A political meme pushing a political agenda and it was deeply rooted in religion. Politics is about how we order our world and our faith often order our lives. These two ideas cannot be kept separate.
I don’t know if you got the feeling, this is God speaking to his people. You might be aware that God is angry. He is furious. I like the Message version of this verse. God is furious at the start of Isaiah. This is the starting point of advocacy… your anger. Change does not happen without anger. I grew up attending church regularly. I thought my anger needed to be kept hidden. My anger was to be bottle dup. I want to say that our anger needs to be seen. The first point is to be angry and to know what you are angry about.
What are you angry about?
When you listen to Greta talking about climate justice, you will hear anger. When you listen to BLM activists in America, you will hear anger. Our anger needs a sense of direction… it can’t just be anger. It needs to be rooted.
In Christian Aid, we are angry about the changing climate. Our CEO was just in Kenya and the droughts the lack of rain in East Africa is causing millions to fall into starvation and we are angry at the rising costs of living that are hurting those in poverty the most. We are angry about girls not getting to go to school because of their gender. People not having clean drinking water or safe places to lay their head. We are angry about the ESB in Ireland who have been linked to a gold mine in Columbia that is destroying the lives of thousands of people who are living around them.
When we are angry it is important to get to the root of the problem. What are all the causes? That can be a long detailed process. But the other important thing that needs to go hand in hand with anger is hope.
If you only have rage, your rage will lead you to bitterness. If you have no anger and you only have hope; everything is going to be fine. You will not do anything. You will be naïve.
Think of things you are angry about. What does that look like in a new world? The things you are angry about? Will they exist? Imagine a world where there is no longer male or female but all people are equal. What would it look like to see a world where things are fair and right and just. Imagine what it could look like? It is important to dream big.
What does it look like if God’s will is on earth as it is in heaven. What do we do then? How do we connect these two?
I’m going to jump into Matthew 16: 1- 12
They were demanding miraculous signs from heaven. Jesus criticises them. You can interpret the weather, you need to be able to interpret the signs of the times. When we come to do advocacy work, we need to ask questions, to listen and to try and understand. There might be something you are angry about.
The first thing you need is to find out more. Hear the experience of others. Jesus talked about the yeast of the pharisees and the Sadducees. These were both religious groups but they had different tactics.
Pharisees were very Disney. They saw the world in black and white, heroes and villains. Obviously for them, they were the goodies. They kept strict rules and all of these rules were designed to make sure who was in and who was out. An exclusive group and you had to prove your worth.
The Sadducees essentially did whatever they could to stay at the top table. They were not as strict, they were willing to sell themselves for anything as long as they got a seat at the table. At one point the Roman empire appointed the high priest. They were wishy washy. What they valued was being in power and they would do anything to stay in power.
The church should never be wishy washy but neither should it be excluding people. In Christian Aid our advocacy work is our prophetic voice. It is the work of the spirit, it is speaking truth to power. It is calling out injustices. Very much part of our DNA.
It should be part of the DNA of the wider church. I would love to be part of a wider church in Ireland that was known for speaking out and calling out the injustices. I’ve often been left disappointed. It feels like when we hear the voice of the church it is only when it is defending its own values. I struggle to hear the voice about rising homelessness or any other issue that we face. I want to be part of the church that speaks out for the injustices that are outside our walls. We say that we follow Jesus. There were not many times that Jesus defends himself. When he sees injustice that’s when we see him flipping tables. That is the church I want to see.
Our Prophetic Voice
This is our prophetic voice. Without advocating for real change our charity work will go on for ever. We need to be able to research different ways in which we can bring real change. We form relationships not only with our partners in the field but with government ministers in both jurisdictions… with multinational companies, with media, newspapers, all of this is key to our advocacy work.
Once we have learnt or understood about a topic and have a plan. This is a report that we’ve been doing looking at climate justice. For countries that are experiencing climate justice there should be a pot of money available to help. When there is a big flood in Bangladesh, reserves should be available to help. The wealthy countries who have benefitted most and caused most problems should be putting most money into that pot,.
We have already had four emergencies this year that are linked to changing climate. When those appeals come out, we ask supporters to give but we are saying the Irish government should be putting up money.
Petitions only really work if you have thousands upon thousands of signees… the less time it takes to do something, the less impact it has. For an internet petition, you need a million signatures. For a signed petition you need a few thousand. Here’s the thing if each of you phoned up your local politicians or sent them a letter, you would have a far greater impact. If you went to the offices of your politicians. If you sat in front of them and told them your concern. It would have a far greater impact.
Get to know your politicians. It is not that scary. The thing is, you don’t always need to have the solution. It is their job to do that. All you have to do is tell them what you care about.
Various organisation have been part of Stop Climate Chaos – Tearfund, Methodist church, eco congregations. We have run marches. A number of years ago, we had everyone dressed up as Homer Simpson… I’m not advocating for riots but for protests. What frustrates me about the church is that it has a body of people who have hope for the future. And we should be at the forefront of this advocacy work, of calling out injustices. I’ve been involved in climate campaign for ten or fifteen years and in all the meetings, Christians are only a very small part of that. The world is advocating. The world is angry and wants change. For me sometimes it feels as if the church is slow to get outside its doors.
I don’t want us to be a group of people who are elitist like that pharisees or to be a group who are so wishy washy it is hard to know what they are, maybe there is another way.
Maybe we can be a group of people who are strong in our values. Who will consistently and constantly call out injustice. Who are willing to say we don’t always understand. To listen, ask questions and to learn. And I hope the church will be a place that won’t be so concerned about the power it holds. That it will be willing to speak out against those in power to amplify the voices of those who are hurting and living in injustice.