Remember the 73 ...

The opening worship of the World Communion of Reformed Churches started with drum beats and alleluias from various parts of the world, with a gentle and joyful dancing procession of particpants waving scarves.

Then came the banner ... "Remember the 73" ... Susan Davies of the WARC executive offered strong words of sadness at the injustice of the 46 delegates excluded because their visas had been denied, "May their voices thunder amongst us".

All of those who have visas denied come from the Global South - Asia, Africa, Latin America - we will need to try even harder to make their voices heard.

We are diminshed without them, our communion is lessened. We will have to work harder for justice and pray even more that the spirit will one day unite us in true bonds of peace.

“Grace and love are God’s economic model,” says Ofelia Ortega

Rev. Ofelia Ortega is a woman of great energy, humour and humanity. Our colleague Erick Coll, also from Cuba has captured her perfectly on this great photo.

Ofelia was speaking at a panel discussion on a document called the Accra Confession which is a document on covenanting for justice in the economy and the earth. You can download a guide to the confession here.

As I was reading about the panel discussionhere in grand Rapids on the Accra Confession and I also got a copy of the WCC's statement on the millenium development goals which begins:
"For Christian churches and the worldwide ecumenical movement, eradicating poverty is nothing less than a moral and ethical imperative"

Ortega says that God's economic model is based on love and grace. What both the Accra Confession and the WCC statement make clear is that God's love and grace chooses justice and puts impoverished people first. So love and grace are about making choices. Choosing to find trillions of dollars for improving poor people's lives rather than simply to prop up banks when they make mistakes.

So where are your economic priorities in the way your home, your organisation, your church budgets? Where does the money go? How are we helping to erradicate poverty?
It's not just someone else's responsibility, we need to model God's model of grace and love in our Christian economy.

Rev. Jane Stranz works at the World Council of Churches as head of the language service