BROTHERS IN THE RACE TOGETHER

To what can we compare the Kingdom of God? It is like two brothers who race together. Specifically Conner & Cayden Long.

Community Builder Conference - Nov 2,3

An amazing conference with Shane Claiborne, David Adcock and many more. Details and registration are here:

http://newsongwindsor.blogspot.ca/2012/10/blog-post.html

WWJD WITH THE PROVINCIAL BUDGET?

In Ontario, a single person receives under $600 per month if they are on social assistance. With that amount they are expected to pay rent, buy groceries, travel to job interviews and take care of essential needs.

If that single person is disabled, Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) pays up to $979 per month.[i]

If you qualify to receive this government assistance, it is likely that you have been unable to find employment that will provide better than this. Even if you work full-time at a job paying minimum wage, you will still make an annual income that falls below the poverty line.

If you have special dietary needs because of a health condition, food allergy or disease you may qualify for up to an additional $250 per month.

Last Monday[ii] in Toronto, Doctor Roland Wong appeared before the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario for a disciplinary hearing to determine whether he followed professional standards in prescribing the special food allowance to more than 14,000 patients.[iii]

He did this so that poor people could eat healthy food. He is being investigated to see if he stretched the rules in order to provide nutrition to people who did not qualify to eat healthy.

Dr. Wong did not come to his hearing alone. ‘His poor supporters rolled in with walkers, combat boots and a red banner that declared “Raise Welfare and Disability Rates.” ‘[iv]

It is well documented that poverty and poor health go together. The more money you have, the greater the likelihood of living longer and healthier. If you address poverty, you reduce the need for healthcare.

In one of the richest nations of the world, we do not provide enough for our most vulnerable citizens. With the current release of the Ontario budget, there is a freeze on social assistance and disability allowances.

In a press release this past week, a group known as ‘Doctors And Lawyers For Fair Taxation’ [v]appealed to finance minister Dwight Duncan to have fair taxation practices. They are high wage earners who are saying ‘Tax us. We can afford it.’ They recognize that taxation most affects the poorest.

If there are doctors and lawyers who feel a responsibility to the poor, what is to be our response to addressing poverty and equity issues?

New Song Church identifies itself as a group of people called by God to get involved in poverty. This is a passion for us. People who attend this church long term tend to have compassion for the well being of others.

The theologian Frederick Buechner said, ‘The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s hunger meet.’[vi]

I hope that you have discovered the deep gladness that comes from God and responded to the hunger of the world.

As followers of Jesus Christ, how are we to live in response to the world around us? The gospel of Jesus Christ is good news for the poor and bad news for the rich. Is Jesus bringing you good news or bad?

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[i] http://www.toronto.ca/housing/pdf/ODSP.pdf

[ii] Monday, March 26^th, 2012

[iii] http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1064145--porter-robin-hood-doctor-gave-to-the-poor-but-earned-big-money

[iv] http://www.thestar.com/news/article/1064145--porter-robin-hood-doctor-gave-to-the-poor-but-earned-big-money

[v] http://doctorsforfairtaxation.ca/2012/03/doctors-and-lawyers-to-duncan-tax-us-ontario-is-worth-it/

[vi] Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking: A Theological ABC, http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/76809.Wishful_Thinking

CHAPLAINS IN THE WORKPLACE

This video is an example of the pastoral influence that chaplains in the workplace can have. This is from Corporate Chaplains of America www.chaplain.org

BUY BREAD WITHOUT MONEY

I believe that churches everywhere can make a serious impact on poverty in their community. All you need is Jesus, some fish and bread and a table.

Consider this article from the Windsor Star. I would love to chat with you about how your church can start to change the face of poverty in your city.

Shining a light on Windsor homelessness

TEDIOUS BOREDOM & SHEER TERROR

I spoke with a man whose job was to drive locomotive through Northern Ontario. When asked what his job was like he said, “It is days of tedious boredom combined with moments of sheer terror.”  

So why had he devoted his adult life to the rails? 

Why do truckers endure the long haul and why do daycare workers put up with demanding parents and low pay?

Some work because it is a means to an end. They endure their job in order to pay the bills and put their kids through college. Still, others are engaged in their work (paid and unpaid) because they are compelled to. They have an inner sense of being in the right place. They see higher value than the task at hand.

Pastors, chaplains and community builders often have that inner sense. We name it ‘the call of God’. It may involve a ‘job’ that we do to pay the bills, but something deeper calls us to live each moment purposefully.

The call of God is a bit like the call of the sea. It may not be very specific. It may not be a call to this ocean or that ocean, or to this particular port or that one; it is more like a restless, yearning, which can only be satisfied by going to sea.[i]

A look at the men and women God called in Scripture reveals seasons of restless yearning and times of faith to take great risk. You find yourself somewhere in that continuum. Can you look at your current community and say that you are there by God’s choosing? It might be good to know that.

The qualifier that separates picking a career from responding to God’s Call is the sense that you must do this. It is your love response to the God who beckoned you to Himself.

‘It is God Who saved us and called us with a holy calling. Not according to our works, but to further His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before the world began’ (2 Timothy 1:9).

When we struggle with contentment, challenge and uncertainty in our place of service we need to recall the First Call. The calling to be a disciple of Jesus is the highest calling that sustains you when your position becomes redundant, someone else is elected or you are unemployed.

God chooses to further His own purpose and grace through your life, in season and out.

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[i] A sermon preached by John Hull on February 4^th 2007 in the Chapel of the Queen’s Foundation for Ecumenical Theological Education, Birmingham, to mark the end of a residential course on the Mission of the Church in Britain. www.johnmhull.biz/SermonTheCallOfGod.doc

DIALOGUE WITH YOUR MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT

The Ontario Election has passed, but not the issues that we need to dialogue with politicians about. Here's a good video that reminds us to keep our most vulnerable citizens on the radar.



Poverty Free Ontario from MetaMedia on Vimeo.