16/04/2013

Good morning. National and international aid agencies have made us aware over the years of the plight of those across the world who are starving, but it’s probably only recently that we’ve begun to wake up to those nearer home who are no longer able to guarantee that they can buy food on a daily basis. There can’t be an area of Britain that hasn’t already set up a food bank or is at least thinking about or planning to do so.

Rising costs of food and fuel, together with low incomes or redundancy, changes to benefits or domestic circumstances have meant an incremental rise among those who seek emergency help in the form of food boxes. But like all ventures that we would wish never had to be undertaken, food banks have shown us how communities, religious bodies and the business world can work together effectively, without any sense of one-upmanship or superiority. Many people who work as volunteers are only too aware that, for all of us, prosperity one day can easily turn to poverty the next. And many who have done this work for a year or more report a marked increase in the numbers who come to the distribution centres for life’s basic necessities.

Whatever lies behind the changes in legislation or social conditions that have brought about this need, we can’t get away from the fact that, within the Christian and many other religious traditions, the call to provide food for the hungry is central to faith.

Lord God, through your Son Jesus Christ, you command us to provide for the needs of those who are less fortunate in our world. Help us to be generous, not only in our giving, but also in our service of others. Amen