This Sunday we are privileged to have Reverend Joel Edwards as our guest minister. Those of us who have been at Bronx Bethany for a while will remember he joined us back in October of 2009 during a leadership conference.
Reverend Joel is the international director of Micah Challenge, a worldwide ministry that seeks to bring hope and provision to the disenfranchised of the world. Specifically, Micah Challenge seeks to hold governments accountable for the ways in which they care for the poor. The prayer of the organization is to see extreme poverty cut in half by 2015. You can read more at http://www.micahchallenge.org/.
Our church, and churches all over the world, are asked to do our part in helping to make this happen.
What is “extreme poverty”? It's living life on LESS THAN one dollar and twenty-five cents per day.
For about $1.25, in my neighborhood, I can get a quart of milk and have enough change to get one banana. No flour, no eggs, no fish- all those are well over $1.25.
If I may, can I challenge you to feel the condition that fuels the passion of Reverend Joel and the Micah Challenge staff? Try to live one day on less than $1.25.
Jesus did say we will always have the poor with us, but He also indicated that He keeps record of how we bless (or ignore) the poor.
Lord, please transform our hearts. Cause us to love deeply, to pray earnestly, and to give in a way that reflects Your heart for the poor, the widow, and the stranger in our gates.
I thought about living on $1.25 a day. I couldn't drive down the block, much less all the way to work on $1.25 worth of gas. How would I get to work on $1.25?
ReplyDeleteI have food in the refrigerator, but what if I didn't. What in my refrigerator or cupboard costs $1.25 or less, not much.
It definitely puts extreme poverty into perspective. I pray that I make a difference, but I have to do more than pray.